Easy Rider – Pomegranate Cider

Pomegranates, you know the fruit you need to smack with a spoon to get to the sweet seedy edible bits. Well the folks at Rusty Bike Wines have chucked some into a cider to create the Easy Rider Pomegranate Cider.

To put it very simply, the Easy Rider Pomegranate Cider is a very similar blend to the other Easy Rider I reviewed the other day. It uses the same blend of South Australian Apples from the Adelaide Hills. Next comes the other key ingredient, Pomegranates. These add a whole other range of flavours. As the label says, sour apple and cherry. It also says its rich in antioxidants. The first time I read this label I thought these were other ingredients, rather than the tasting notes that they are. While we are looking at the label ignore the size on the label. It says 330ml but it’s an early label sample, the bottle is 650ml.

The Nose

Sweet Pomegranate juice, dark summer cherries and watermelon rind siting above some ripe red apples. The Easy Rider Pomegranate Cider is has perfume for days and I’m already thinking of pairing combination of Persian salads with feta and pomegranate served with a shoulder of barbecued lamb.

The Taste

Going from the scent, I was expecting a sweet fruit cider but there is a good whack of sour acetobacter to balance it all out. The sweet and sour remind me of a caramelized balsamic vinegar in cider form. Easy Riders Pomegranate Cider is full of tangy red fruits, the pop of the pomegranate and the sourness of the cherry like flavours really set this apart. I have tried some other experimental sour ciders with cherry in them that have push the drinkable envelope too far, but this nails the contrast between sweet and sour. This dark amber cider is surprisingly clear with a fine bubble. It holds its head like a beer, you could fool anyone you were drinking a pint of a red ale.

Final Thoughts on the Easy Rider Pomegranate Cider

Fruit ciders have always targeted the sweeter end of the market. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but they often fall victim to a lack of balance. Think about a lemon tart, they are very sweet but the sourness of the lemon cuts through to balance it out. The Easy Rider Pomegranate Cider understands the balance. The sour cherry like flavours cut through the sweet Adelaide Hill apples. This is quite an innovative fruit cider that is sophisticated enough to impress the wine snobs and fun enough to upgrade the tastes of the young fruit cider fans.

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