Ascension cider

Made with cherries and Braeburn apples.

Cherry red, hazy and slightly sparkling

Very slight cherry nose but mainly of apple cider

Lots of fresh sweetish cherry flavour though. Not sweet and sickly and not sour. Slightly floral but not overly so. Nice long gentle aftertaste where the cherry hangs around a bit but the apple comes out. It's supposed to be sour cherries but I’ve had many more sour ciders. It is tangy though .

This is a gentle cherry cider, not an in your face one and it’s the better for it. You could easily drink several of these before getting bored.

Light, golden, slightly hazy and flat from the BiB

Slight honey floral nose

Interesting flavour. No real bite, but gentle flavour full fresh apple pulp. Shortish aftertaste but with a pleasant enough flavour.

I won’t call this sweet but it does lack any real bite or sharpness to it. It’s perfectly nice though, and wouldn’t turn my nose up. I wonder if it’s one that would benefit from carbonation.

Meant to be medium dry but I find it it a bit sweet for that, more medium

Pale yellow slightly hazy and sparkling.

I've tried this both in a tin and on draught and they're a bit different:

Can

Bit of a malted barley nose on top of the apple.

That smooth slight maltiness is initially there but a sharp tart apple kicks through with lots of fruit flavour. Good balance of dry and sweet apples and both bounce around the mouth. Has a nice long slightly dry aftertaste but it does leave a refreshing feeling in the end.
Rather strangely you also get a little hint of apple shandy which is strange as I doubt if there's any Lemonade anywhere near it. I blame the tin.

Not bad at all 3/5 for the tinned version.

Canned cider - sigh, I guess it's the way we're going. Nowhere near a full pint is my biggest complaint, and it does seem to influence the taste.

Draught

Similar malty taste but tartness is more pronounced almost gooseberry. You also get a lot more fruit as well and to balance it out you have a touch of honey possibly in the aftertaste and none of the shandy flavour you get in the tin. That could be down to the fizz but I'm not a fan.

Much nicer on draught than in the tin. The maltiness is very pronounced which makes it a very interesting cider and one to try if you can.

They make use of apples that supermarkets have rejected, so fair play to them for that

Ascension are doing a limited 2026 run using Red Love apples which gives it a red blush colour. Look out for this version it's better than the standard Pilot:

Grapefruit pink coloured cloudy flat.

Very much the same flavour profile as before but possibly slightly sweeter just. Sherbet sweet initial taste but then you get a sharp zing and mouthful of apple. You still get a little bit of the malt as before but not as pronounced.

I think this is a much more refreshing cider than I remember before and still very good as a session cider in the summer.

Strange colour Light copper, almost Lucozade orange, clear and sparkling from the can.

Grape is the main scent, and it's very pleasant if a bit odd

This is a blend of cider, lemon Lime and Red Grape... Ok the taste is very unusual but strangely quite pleasant. Red grape juice predominates with a very subtle floral but slightly tart cider in the background and the citrus adds to the sharpness. The cider comes more to the fore in the aftertaste which is quite dry. The Lemon and Lime isn't really noticeable as individual flavours but does add a bit of generic citrus and balances out the sweetness of the grape nicely.

This is a really strange combination of flavours but very very nice. I've had some Spanish wines with added grapes and this is as good if not better than some of them. Don't expect tannin of red wine, it is a sweet red grape juice. Very refreshing and makes a nice pleasant change on a warm summer's evening.

Not yet reviewed, watch this space

Interesting idea: Red grape with wild cider

Dark golden, clear-ish with a gentle fizz and a bit of lingering foam

Little bit of blackcurrant on the nose along with the grape skin and slight tart apple.

Much richer flavour than nose and very pleasant. Soft, mellow and sherry like. Hints of brown sugar and a little bit of tingle on the tongue. Very mouth watering and the red grape juice comes out in the slightly dry but refreshing aftertaste. Slight amount of blackcurrant in the flavour but it’s more general berry fruit of the forest.

Very nice indeed. Don’t think I could do a session on it, but it would be a nice post meal drink or as a mouth cleanser at the end of an evening

Brown yellow, very cloudy flat

Subtle clove & cinnamon nose with a nice apple freshness

Lovely drop. Just the right amount of spices and a hint of raisin to give you a nice autumnal sense but quickly let’s the fresh apple through. The spices are there all the way through but never dominate so you’re left with a nice fruity aftertaste akin to a fruitcake.

I like a nice spiced cider in winter but many are over spiced and sweet. This is not. A delightful medium cider with just about the right spice. Not sure how well it would mull as you need a bit more kick there, but imo it’s the best spiced cider out there.