It’s about time I looked at this Crushed Apple Cider from the Hillbilly folks in the mountains. While this isn’t the first cider i’ve reviewed from Hillbilly, it is their original cider. In fact this was one of the first craft ciders I found in Sydney as I moved away from the big labels into proper ciders. Oddly never got to write a review about it.

A few weeks ago I reviewed Hillbilly’s new cider, The 2014 Vintage. I was so impressed I thought I better do its older brother.

Again like the Vintage, the Hillbilly Crushed Apple Cider is made from 100% apples from the Bilpin region in the New South Wales Blue Mountains. And like the Vintage, it’s free from the nasties found in some other ciders, like sugar, concentrates and artificial flavours. Interestingly the bubbles are formed naturally in the brewing tanks rather than a forced carbonation from a CO2 canister.
Hillbilly Apple Cider2

The Nose

A light fruity perfume is atomized by a flurry of tiny bubbles. This bubbles form a head that last all the way though the pint.

The Taste

Sweet apple. Really honest red apple flavours. Bright, bubbly and really fruity. Upfront it is zesty while giving a hint of almost a strawberry note on the back of the palate. This grows and develops into fruit salad as the cider warms. A nice balanced sweetness, not overpowering.

The finish is crisp, no residual sweetness but a soft aftertaste of red apples and maybe even apricot.

There is enough flavour to serve this over ice but there are enough subtleties that it deserves to be served cold from a glass.

 Final Thoughts

Hillbilly market their ciders as a simpler drink for a simpler way of life. One thing is for sure if you see Hillbilly Crushed Apple Cider on the menu it should be a simple choice.

The Elephant in the room is the head to head compression between the Crushed Apple Cider and the Hillbilly 2014 Vintage. The Vintage is my favourite cider out of the Bilpin Blue Mountains but it’s a Vintage cider reserved for special occasions. The Crushed apple cider is a simple easy to drink, hit of refreshment.

I would have liked to have reviewed this in the early days of Real Cider Review, this review has had a few false starts. The problem was I keep drinking it quicker than I could type. That should say a lot about the quality of Hillbilly’s Crushed Apple Cider.

Product Crushed Apple Cider
Company Hillbilly
Sweetness Medium
Alc/Vol 4.5%
Website hillbillycider.com.au
Country of Origin Australia
Region Bilpin, Blue Mountains, New South Wales

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