Gwatkin 30 | Medium | A blend of Yarlington Mill, Dabinett and Michelin cider apple varieties Brown, dark golden, crystal clear sparkling. Lively when you open so take care. Big traditional cider apple nose that draws you in. Oh lovely deep apple flavour. Tons going on. Sweetish and buttery but refreshing at the same time.
Small amount of smokiness and oak on the tongue at the start but that goes to a very well balanced cider with a big fruit taste. Absolutely tip top 5/5 seriously dangerously drinkable for 7% I think this is now also sold as the Golden Valley Steamer (see below) | ★★★★★ | 7% |
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Blakeney Red Pear cider | Medium Sweet | Clear pale yellow, sparkling. Made from Blakeney Red pears which obviously is a bit different from a normal pear nose/flavour wise. Very hard to describe the nose. Not obviously pears (some say Apricot). Flavour is lovely. Medium sweet and buttery. Little bit like conference pear initially and then a long lingering pear flavour.
Very nice but hard to describe. A little bit like a pear cake but not sweet and sickly. Smooth almost creamy taste. Very easy to drink, and again Gwatkin comes up trump. | ★★★★★ | 6% |
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Cloudy Cider | Medium Sweet | Gold. Cloudy but if you're careful you can leave most of the sediment behind. Good fizz Sour apple smell. Bit vinegar like. Not that pleasant to be honest Curious flavour. Sweet but sharp with ever so slightly vinegar, almost sweet and sour. Slight orange flavour. Nice long lingering aftertaste. No tannin to speak of. Not sure if I’d have another one but it’s worth trying as it does have a pretty unique flavour. Reading other reviews of this I do wonder if I had an off bottle - not impossible with a live cider as they don't mention the sharp taste. Might get another bottle to re-try. | ★★★★★ | 4.5% |
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Golden Valley | Medium Sweet | Dark copper yellow slight fizz clear. Mead like nose with a slight apple overtone. As usual from Gwatkin nice trad cider taste,again with that slight mead overtones. Bittersweet, medium sweet. They claim they mature in oak barrels and I can believe that.
Slight okay overtones without it being ott. Good fizzle on the tongue and a slight catch at the back of the throat. Again very nice. | ★★★★★ | 6% |
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Golden Valley Scrumpy | Dry | Dark copper, clear slight sparkle. Good scrumpy farmhouse nose. Dry taste, sharp on the back of the throat almost citrusy, with little or no tannin (although others disagree). Dry aftertaste but eventually mouth watering. I didn't get much of the oak barrels though even though it's matured in them. Other reviewers did though so I may have had an off night. Rich and not bad at all for a scrumpy. | ★★★★★ | 6% |
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Kingston Black | Dry | Dark copper, clear with a slight sparkle Farmyard aroma of well fermented apples with slightly smokey Kingston black smell. It’s a strong deep smell.
Matured in Oak barrels apparently, which is probably what gives it that smokiness. An initial big dry crisp smokey apple flavour with lots of tannin. Stays dry but softens with a long lingering smokiness with a bittersharp sensation that gets the back of the throat and fills the sinuses. The distinctive Kingston Black is there - crisp with lots of tannin nad bittersharp. Cracking but full bodied so one to savour. As it says, one for special occasions not for a session. | ★★★★★ | 6% |
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Gwatkins Original | Medium | Dark copper clear sparkling. Nice big cooked apple nose with farmyard overtones. Fizzes on the tongue. Nice big apple taste with a gentle dry tobacco/oak aftertaste. Very easy to drink but it should be savoured. Very good as usual. | ★★★★★ | 4.5% |
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Perry | Medium Sweet | Copper coloured, clear, sparkling Big fermented pear nose. Flavour wise we have a big deep Perry pear flavour but fairly straightforward. It's bittersweet and has a long lingering smooth Perry aftertaste. Let it come more to room temperature and you start to get a slight maple/tobacco/woody hint that you don't get cold. Not over sweet, but more than a pint might be hard to swallow if you don't like your sweet ciders. Of their Perrys, I'd certainly go for the Blakeney Red Perry which was top notch. | ★★★★★ | 4.5% |
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Pyder | Medium Sweet | Copper yellow, slight sparkle, clear. Gentle trad cider nose with indeed a mix of apple and pear. Good flavour, mainly apple initially but with pear after. Buttery with a little fizz on on the tongue, the pear softening the taste.
The Pear taste is of Fresh pears not pear drops. Sugar added so it is a little sweet but not sickly sweet. Keeps its fizz well. Lots more flavour builds as the cider comes to room temp. | ★★★★★ | 5% |
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Vintage | Medium Dry | Copper, clear good fizz. Big apple skin nose with a typical old fashioned thick cider smell. Big thick cider taste with an ever so slight pear nuance. Dry initially but sweetens on the tongue to give a nice refreshing aftertaste. Bittersweet probably.
Ever so slight amount of tannin but I’d say it sits very much in the medium camp. Nice fizz on the tongue. Another cracker from Gwatkin. | ★★★★★ | 5% |
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Yarlington Mill | Medium | a blend of Yarlington Mill, Dabinett and Michelin cider apple varieties. Dark copper lots of sparkle clear. Big traditional cider apple nose. Big cider apple flavour. Bittersweet but very buttery and smooth. It’s still refreshing though and seriously easy to drink. Has a teeny tiny sour aftertaste which is not at all bad. Overall a really really nice pint and I'd certainly get more. | ★★★★★ | 6% |
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Silly Ewe | Dry | Dark gold slightly earthy colour, slightly cloudy and flat as you would expect from the big plastic milk bottle. Not a huge nose, slightly sweet, and a hint of oak. Decent fresh apple flavour though with lots of green skins. Dryish with little bit of astringency but some slight residual sweetness. Tiny bit of oak in there but you have to go looking. Shortish aftertaste but leaves it open for more. Not a bad little quaffing cider and the bottle went down nicely over 2 days. They refer to it as dry with lots of tannin, but in reality it’s more of a medium dry with hints of tannin. I’ve had a lot drier. | ★★★★★ | 4.5% |
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Steamer | Medium | Copper golden colour, hazy and slightly sparkling Lovely farmhouse cider nose. Rich, with a slight citrus. Oh lovely. Bloody hell that's good. Initial hit is wood but not harshly so. Huge amounts of woody fruit them come through with a small amount of tannin. Buttery with bits of vanilla, leather in a seriously well rounded package. Cracking lingering aftertaste leaving an incredibly mouth watering feel. That is a seriously good cider. Very easy to drink for a 7%. Lots going on not too much of anything and it's very refreshing to boot. I have a feeling this is the same blend as they used to bottle as the Gwatkin 30 and the notes are pretty much the same. The best from Gwatkin IMO and is a perfect celebration of a lovely steam engine. | ★★★★★ | 7% |
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Game Cock | Sweet | Review number 350! and what a beauty Dark copper red colour, slightly hazy and flat Deep mature nose with lots of fruit Oh cracking. So,so smooth but a hint of sharpness in the background. Flavour wise a rich well matured medium fruitiness initially and a hint of sweeter vanilla in the long smooth aftertaste. Did I say this was smooth? A little bit sweet but not sickly so. You get just enough of the tart apple to balance that out. That is a seriously good sweet cider and very recommend. | ★★★★★ | 4.5% |
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Tickling Trout | Dry | Dark gold almost copper colour, almost clear, sparkling Not a huge nose but what’s there is the usual nice fermented apple Not that dry a taste. Lots of fruit and a hint of tobacco. Little bit of crispness but I found it very smooth on the whole. Not a huge amount of tannin but it’s there . Nice oilyness to the texture. Bit whisky like with the apples. Lovely long lingering aftertaste Very similar flavour profile to the steamer but not so mature with less strength woodiness. Another cracker. Perfect strength at 5%. I’d call it medium dry not dry myself and it’s a bloody good medium dry. Lots going on and very easy to drink. | ★★★★★ | 5% |
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