Gurneys Pear and Apple Cider

Gurneys Pear and Apple Cider, it sounds simple enough; just some pears and a few apples squeezed into a bottle and wait until cider happens. Can it really be that simple? 

Well yeah, it basically is.  All the pears and apples are grown either on the farm or nearby on the windswept Wilsons Promontory. The orchard is jam-packed with 100’s of different varieties. As the name suggests, the bulk of this cider is made up of pears.

Gurneys Pear and Apple Cider is a bottle conditioned cider. This means the cider is fermented in the bottle rather than a large tank prior to bottling. The problem with this method is that the fermentation process leaves plenty of sediment. So, Gurney Cider put it through a “rough Disgorging” procedure. A proper disgorging would remove all the sediment but with this mechanical process of rapidly opening and closing an upturned bottle shooting out the sediment, not all of it is removed resulting in a cloudy cider.

The Nose

Unmistakable pear spits itself out of the glass propelled by the vigorous fizz of a bottle conditioned cider. it’s almost a candied pear drop scent with just a little bit of a musty funk underneath.

The Taste

Straight off the bat, this is super relaxed and easy to drink. The pear is the major player it’s with slight mint-like tendencies, but it’s all tempered by the apples. The apples give a nice refreshing acid kick. There is a little cloudiness despite the light filtering and it’s still got plenty of texture. As Tom, the cider maker said: “filter it through your teeth”. Between this and the time bottle conditioning, the Gurneys Pear and Apple Cider has some excellent biscuity flavours. The best part about the addition of the apples is that it does not leave that horrible sorbitol flavour in the after taste, you know the one I mean, you get it after a mouth full of diet coke. The finish is crisp but begs for another sip.

Final thoughts on Gurneys Pear and Apple Cider

I like how relaxed and easy drinking this cider is. It’s not fussy at any stage from production to drinking. I like that the apples hide all the parts of a pear cider that I normally don’t like, especially in the finish.

All-round it is a really strong choice to share with a few friends. It would be hard to replicate but a canned version of this would be very interesting.

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