Cider with Evans

Rich's Cider

A new cider maker to me, but they've been going since 1954 and are a family run cider farm down in Somerset. They came onto my radar because my brother lived just round the corner from them so I thought I'd give them a go.

Plenty of choice of traditional Somerset ciders and very fast delivery (next day pretty much).

Golden Years Dabinett 2020

Medium Dry

Golden, clear and sparkling

Very strong apple nose, you can smell it from a good foot away. Bit different from a normal fresh Dabinett smell, not so much in your face as it's been matured in oak.

Taste is very much Dabinett but not particularly apply, fairly tannic up front with a fair amount of green apple skins.
Leaves the mouth quite dry afterwards I found and the aftertaste is nothing too special I'm afraid. They label this as Medium Dry, but it's very much a Dry in my opinion

If you do like the astringent dry type of ciders then it may be for you, but not for me I'm afraid.

6.4%
Rich's Cider Golden Years Dabinett 2020 review
Rich's Cider Golden Years Dabinett 2020 review

Golden Harvest Dry

Dry

Golden, clear and sparkling

As usual it seems for Rich's cider a big nose with plenty of trad cider smell with a hint of the farmyard and leather.

Nice rich traditional flavour, bittersweet with a slight amount of pear. Not much tannin for a dry cider (no bad thing IMO), but there's enough there to make a nice mouth watering aftertaste that lingers nicely.

They add apple juice (hopefully their own), which I think does that balancing of the dryness.

Not a bad little dry cider but nothing jumps out. Many would put it as Medium dry or even Medium.

4.5%
Rich's Cider Golden Harvest Dry review
Rich's Cider Golden Harvest Dry review

Legbender

Medium Dry

Very cloudy, golden and flat

Fairly sharp but light apple pulp nose

Not a huge flavour and a bit disappointing. Nothing jumps out at you really, it's just a gentle fruit juice with a touch of apricot.

No tannin with a shortish aftertaste. Would have expected a lot more from a 6% cider. Disappointing as I’ve has some decent ones from Richs.

6%
Rich's Cider Legbender review
Rich's Cider Legbender review

Golden Harvest Medium

Medium

Dark Golden/Amber colour, clear and sparkling

Good standard traditional cider nose but quite full of fermented apple.

Nice solid cider flavour, nicely bittersweet. Starts off quite mellow but then a fair amount of tannin kicks in leaving a dry teeth feel.
The aftertaste takes a while to make the mouth all juicy again but it does eventually.

Not bad. Could easily drink a session of.

4.5%
Rich's Cider Golden Harvest Medium review
Rich's Cider Golden Harvest Medium review

Perry

Medium Sweet

Straw yellow, clear and sparkling.

Slight pear nose with slight floral elderflower.

Big Perry flavour. Initial slight sharpness mellows quickly. Rolls nicely off the tongue with a sweet Pear aftertaste that lasts. Finally leaves a lovely mouth watering flavour

Really good Perry that goes down very smoothly indeed. Recommended.

5.2%
Rich's Cider Perry review
Rich's Cider Perry review

Golden Years Tremlett's Bitter Cider

Medium

Lively little number so take care when opening.

Golden, clear and sparkling.

Nice sweet fresh fruity nose with a little bit of caramel and vanilla but not too much.

Decent fruity flavour of stewed apple with a very small amount of oak. Bittersweet with a little bit of tannin. Not a huge depth to it and the aftertaste is quite short and leaves a dryish mouth.

They say it leaves a sweet flavour but I don’t get that I must say. Not their best as it lacks oomph in my opinion.

5.6%
Rich's Cider Golden Years Tremlett's Bitter Cider review
Rich's Cider Golden Years Tremlett's Bitter Cider review

Golden Years Improved Dove Vintage

Medium Sweet

Golden colour, clear and sparkling.

Crisp syrupy Apple nose but it doesn’t smell over sweet.

Nice big dryish initial hit but balanced with lots of rich soft fruit, a little bit of honey and a fair amount of tannin. That tannin hangs around but you do get a nice bittersweet aftertaste that eventually leaves a slightly dry mouth but not badly so. You don’t get any of the oak coming through from the barrelling which is a bit of a shame. Meant to be medium sweet but I’d call it more medium.

Quite refreshing. Not bad.

5.2%
Rich's Cider Golden Years Improved Dove Vintage review
Rich's Cider Golden Years Improved Dove Vintage review

Vintage Medium

Medium

It says 1954 on the bottle, but I can't believe it's that Vintage.

Golden, clear and sparkling.

Nice smooth traditional cider nose, good mix of fresh and fermented apple.

Strong flavour but good. Rich deep dryish but fruity flavour with a fair amount of tannin to stick to your teeth. That mellows nicely to give a lingering bittersweet aftertaste with a touch of caramel. Decent amount of wood from the Oak conditioning, but not overwhelming.

Good vintage cider.

7.2%
Rich's Cider Vintage Medium review
Rich's Cider Vintage Medium review

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