Lost Pippin Heritage Cider

Lost Pippen have been inspired by traditional cider making techniques from Britain. Handmade cider from old fashioned apples. Lost Pippen’s Heritage cider shows off a dry English vintage style cider.

Lost Pippen, in keeping with tradition, started with British apples and the slightly less traditional Golden Delicious and Red Delicious. But after that, it’s back to tradition, with the first stage of the ferment happening in oak barrels. The next stage of ferment happens in the bottle. The purpose here is 2 fold. Firstly this ensures all the sugar is turned into alcohol making it as dry as the Alice Springs asphalt. Secondly, it traps in the gases released by the yeast, making it nice and fizzy.

There are 2 types of yeast used. A lab cultivated white wine yeast and a wild yeast naturally found on the apple skins. The wild yeast will help vary the flavour from year to year.

The Nose

The Aussie ciders I have been drinking recently have really been nailing the aroma lately. The Heritage Cider is no different. Pouring the 500ml bottle awakens bags of tart apples, some barnyard funk that is a little bit horsey.

The Taste.

Lost Pippins Heritage Cider finishes it’s ferment in the bottle. This means there will be some residual sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Pour it carefully and you will have a crystal clear cider, dumping the bottle into your glass and it will go cloudy. That’s what I did but the choice is up to you.

I love the mouthfeel, it’s creamy and airy like a pavlova. A full body of acids and sharp citrus freshness, a hint of banana further the pavlova experience. Plenty of funk kicking it along. The combination of Red and Golden Delicious provide the brightness while the old English apples give a little hum underneath. At 7.6% ABV a little alcoholic heat is starting to creep in. The oak barrel has left its mark, smoothing it out while not being intrusive like a woody chardonnay. With the malolactic ferment, I was expecting something a little more buttery but it’s not really present here. Maybe that is contributing to the smooth and creamy mouthfeel and certainly the funk.

Unlike the pav, it’s incredibly dry, there is no sugar left at all. The finish goes on for days.

Final Thoughts on the Lost Pippin Heritage Cider

I love this style of cider. I have been dabbling with a little bit of homemade cider recently and this is the type of thing I’ve been aiming for, I’m a fair way off achieving it yet. The thing that really impresses me is the mouthfeel. Lost Pippen say that it would go well with beef or lamb. I’ll vouch for the lamb, the funk and the lamb work a treat. I wonder how far you could push that combination? Would it suit a bit of goat?

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