Small Acres have probably won more awards than anybody else on the Australian Cider scene. The 2013 version of this took out the Best Perry at the 2016 Cider Awards. So, with this year’s awards right around the corner is the Small Acres 2016 Perry a hot tip to take out the gong again?

I can always tell when a cider maker is proud of what they make when they get in touch to tell me about it. It’s not to brag about it, it’s to share something wonderful with anybody who’ll listen.Small Acres 2016 Perry Review

Small Acres use fresh pears from their orchards. They are pressed fresh, then the juice is fermented in the bottle. Small Acres say that there could be a little sediment in the bottle, but my sample was pretty clean. Being the 2016 vintage, this should have plenty of time for the acids to mellow out in the Small Acres cellar… sheds. Real cider is made in sheds.Small Acres 2016 Perry bottle

The Nose

Fresh pears, juicy, juicy pears. It’s a little bit musty. Have you ever had a grasshopper cocktail? It bears no resemblance to the green cocktail but reminds me of that. Sorry that information will not help anyone.

The Taste

Smooth mousey bubbles, textually it’s like a bath bomb fizzing froth on your tongue. A good measure of crunchy pear, mixed with an old-fashioned lemonade tang. Thankfully there is none of that “diet cola” after- taste common in many Perry’s thanks to the sorbitol naturally found in pears. This lends itself to producing a nice clean crisp finish.

Final thought on the Small Acres Perry 2016

Generally speaking, the less off that sorbitol after taste I get in a Perry the higher I rate it. It also gets a few bonus points for being called a Perry not a pear cider. Semantics aside, one sip of the 2016 Perry and you can tell how much effort has gone into this one. Once that juice goes into the Small Acres Perry bottle, besides temperature control and time, there isn’t anything you can do to adjust the flavour, so, you better make sure the juice is spot on. And yet again Small Acres nailed it.

Product 2016 Perry
Company Small Acres
Sweetness Medium dry
Alc/Vol 7.5%
Website SmallAcresCyder.com.au
Country of Origin Australia
Region Orange,  New South Wales

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