Custard & Co just keep delivering. The tiny company have 3 ciders in their standard range. Today I’m trying something a little different with my Real Cider Review, I’ve tracked down a pub that sells Custard & Co, so I’m doing a taste test of the Custard & Co Vintage Dry Apple Cider live from the bar.
I asked Iain from Custard & Co, via email, about the Vintage Dry.
Real Cider Reviews Tell me how the Custard & Co Vintage Dry Apple Cider is made.
Iain Yes, so the vintage was created after studying some Spanish techniques where the cider is pulled from the tank at a part of the fermentation when the fats start to drop- have a limited time to get it right -so we get partial cloudiness to the cider, pretty hard to get right and needs a heap of love.
All of our ciders are just whole apple, open ferment & wild spontaneous yeast.
Nice bit of tannin in the mouth from the fats
Real Cider Reviews Could you explain what “fats” are?
Iain The fats are the thick part of an apple juice that stay in solubility until the yeast has worked it’s magic around them then they fall off with the yeast- it’s not a common term just one that we use in Somerset , that and ooowwww arrrrrrgh where be that badger! Hahaha
The Nose
This could be were the company’s name Custard & Co Comes from. The perfume is rich, full of vanilla and apple. It reminds me of an apple pie with a generous dollop of vanilla custard on the side.
The Taste
The first time I tried this I got this hit, this wow factor. This is completely different to any cider that I have tried in the past. The cloudy cider is the color of plains grass in need of rain. There are so many layers of intensity here. First you are hit with this velvet like smoothness that wraps around your tongue like a spoon full of custard. The custard is broken up by a very fine bead revealing vanilla then a hint on cinnamon which, in turn, is rounded out by a lightly roasted apple flavor. While it sound like a deliciously sweet desert the cider is not sweet. You get glimpse of the taste that you would expect from a dry cider. The appleyness and the vanilla seem to make you think its sweeter than it is. The label says Dry but I would say it’s more to the medium dry / medium section of the cider spectrum. Saying that though every now and again it dries you mouth out and give you that smack your lips to together effect of a cider with a good hit of tannins. I wouldn’t call it crisp like the Batlow Premium its more comforting like the Willie Smith Organic.
The taste is just so different to anything else I’ve had recently you could be forgiven if you thought there are some others fruits in the mix, but it all apple.
There is a little sediment in the bottom of the bottle but its a small amount for cloudy cider.
Final Thoughts on Custard & Co Vintage Dry Apple Cider
Custard & Co may be a small outfit out of a small town in WA, but what they lack in size they make up for in attention to detail. I believe a taste as unique as this can only be achieved with careful selection of the fruit and techniques. I’ve meet the guys behind the Custard & Co range and its clear to me that their love of cider is one of the main ingredients that goes into every bottle. If you haven’t tried any of the Custard & Co Range before do yourself a favour try and Vintage Dry Apple Cider First. It is my pick of their range and that’s high praise as their other ciders set a pretty high bar. This is in the Top 3 ciders I’ve ever tried.
Product | Custard & Co Vintage Dry Apple Cider |
Company | Custard & Co |
Sweetness | Medium Dry |
Alc/Vol | 5.5% |
Website | custardco.com.au |
Country of Origin | Australia |
Region | Donnybrook, Western Australia |