Sydney Brewery Oaked Organic Cider

Sydney Brewery, is the Brewery famed for pun-tastic beers named after iconic Sydney Suburbs; Manly Perry, Surry Hills Pils, Darlo Dark and Sydney Cider. Made in the heart of Australia’s biggest city. The Oaked Organic Cider may break the naming convention but how does the taste break down?

Now while Sydney Brewery do have a modest facility in the heart of the CBD the bulk of the production happens in the Hunter Valley an hour or so north of Sydney. They are using New South Wales grown organic apples.

The Ferment happens on oak. Traditional oak was used as a storage vessel in the form of an oak vat. One of the byproducts of using oak is that it imparts tannins onto the cider. Today oak barrels are still used but it’s also becoming common to use oak chips in stainless steel tanks.

The Nose

Cinnamon and spice and all things nice, Grannies famous apple crumble straight out of the oven. The wood from the oak is coming through nice and strong in the form of open fire smoke. I’m already thinking of pairing options with some sticky BBQ pork spare ribs.

The Taste

Sydney Brewery have made the Oaked Organic Cider smell much sweeter than it tastes, that’s a great thing the dryness brings out the wood notes. Those big old oak notes hide the minerals that is trying to poke through. It’s a little bit smoky probably thanks the wood. It’s a good thing that there is so much apple flavor in the scent because there is not much in the taste, I did get a little hint liquorice, it’s very subtle but it’s there.

The Oaked Organic has plenty of acid tang to make it refreshing up front, the flip side of that is the tail is long and drawn out.

Final Thoughts on the Sydney Brewery Oaked Organic Cider

There a lot going on here, this is a very complex Cider. Not complex in the way that’s code for smelly socks and cave cheese. The Oaked Organic Cider is endlessly pleasant for the cider geek and approachable by the casual Cider enthusiast. Not bad for a cider from a brewery…. winky face emoji.

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