Dickens Old English Cider

Dickens Cider, such a pun worthy name for a cider company. Today I’m reviewing the Dickens Old English Cider.
Like most of the other guys from the Tassie, the cider is made from real apples. And why wouldn’t you. The state has, what are probably Australia best apple growing conditions.
The Dickens family had a few drinks back in 2008 in their home which just happened to be a converted apple cold store. They decided to make cider. Today they now own a cider house and produce a range of ciders. Today I’m trying their Old English.

The cider if made up from Fuji apple predominately an eating apple but like a lot of Aussie ciders the makers they have been able to take the knowledge gained over generations on British cider-makes, in the case Kentish cider-makers and have adapted them to work with eating apples. While most of the ciders made in Tasmania after from more southern Huon Valley. Dickens cider is from the north of the state. All the apples are source from local farmers and all the scratting and pressing happens on site. The fermentation uses a combination of both wine yeast and wild yeast. There is not effort to kill off any wild yeast in order to preserve flavor and keep it as natural as possible. To counteract the seasonal variability, the batches are fermented and aged individually then combined for bottling. The very last of the fermentation happens in the bottle drying it out producing a fine stream of bubbles and a small amount of sediment. Again to keep the flavor in Dickens don’t bother pasteurizing or filtering the cider.

The Nose

Sun baked hay and other earthy tones dominate the smell and as Dickens claim there are some floral and tropical fruit notes as well. The smell is full and pleasant. It does remind me of a some English ciders I’ve had in the past. Their goal of creating an old English style cider has been achieved.

The Taste

This cloudy cider has a simple dry taste to start off but that gives way grassy and floral notes. The finishes isn’t as crisp and many other dry ciders, instead the finish is a little stickier, I don’t think this is a bad thing it just makes it a little more complex. That being said the next bottle I had didn’t have that same stickiness, perhaps a different batch? This cider has a soft mouth feel. The small bubbles and lees help give a creamy taste. There a good solid amount of bitterness going on here.

Final Thoughts on Dickens Old English Cider

Dickens Set out to make an old English style cider. They certainly achieved that. They advertise as being a real cider and buy using local apple and natural production methods I would call this a real cider. Its nice and dry upfront with depth flavour from wide range of yeasts. I reckon there strong competition down there in Tassie and Dickens cider more than holds its own. The only thing I don’t like about this one is I can’t think of a good way of working a pun about having a Dickens Cider.

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