A couple of weeks ago, I was at the CAMRA’s Scottish Real Ale Festival, of course there was a cider section. I had to try the newly released all Scottish, Morning Cider by Scottish Ciders.

So you have an apple tree in your garden. Once a year the branches hang heavy, laden with ripe apples. You eat as many as you can, make a few pies for the freezer but you have barely picked a single branch of the tree. What do you do with the rest of the bounty? Well cider, obviously

Scottish Ciders is an urban cidery with a twist. Instead of buying in juice and making cider in a town, they are sourcing their apples from the town itself. Their first cider – Clyde Cider sourced apples from around the Clyde valley, which means Glasgow’s back yards.

The Morning Cider takes the concept over to Edinburgh to the suburb of Morningside. Edinburgh has a few more sunnier days than Glasgow. So there is the potential for for a higher yield. Optimized-IMG_6336

The Nose

Sweet and sharp nose. Morning cider is a great name for this one as it smells just like the summer gardens of Edinburgh. There is the damp moss undertone with highlights of white flowers.

The Taste

There is a flash of sweet goodness and then it’s gone. Everything happens in an instant begging for a second sip just to work out what just happened. The Morning Cider is pretty light with somewhat of a strawberry bubblegum feel about it. A very smooth mouthfeel thanks to it being a still cider with low acidity this makes it easy to drink. There is a Diet Coke sweetness after taste which is exaggerated after a few more sips. Has it been artificially sweetened? I put this to John of Clyde Cider

“No – but I was wondering about this. Ciders are complex blends – and there is some bitterness that may outlive the sweetness” John Hancox

Final Thoughts on the Morning Cider

I love the concept here. I really wish it could work in Sydney or Melbourne but in this day and age I don’t think there are enough backyards with apple trees. As for the cider, it has some very appealing aspects perhaps bottled with a light sparkle, it would do very well in the Aussie market. I don’t know the Scottish market that well so maybe as a still pub pint is where it will thrive.  Compared to most of the other ciders on show it was certainly the easiest to drink.

Product Morning Cider
Company Scottish Ciders
Sweetness  Medium
alc./vol 5%
Website scottishciders.com
Country of Origin Scotland
Region Edinburgh

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