Gwynt Y Ddraig Farmhouse Cloudy Scrumpy

Gwynt Y Ddraig is a Welsh cider making outfit with a range of traditional British style ciders.  I managed to track down a bottle of the Gwynt Y Ddraig Farmhouse Cloudy Scrumpy. 

Last weekend, in what is beginning to look like the gap between the 1st and coming second COVID lockdowns, I went for a drive over the mountains and down into the coastal hinterland. In the little hippy town of Bellingen, the rain was falling and nothing much was open. Except for a little craft bottle shop. With a handful of interesting ciders, I cleaned out their shelves. One of the ciders on those shelves was the Gwynt Y Ddraig Farmhouse Cloudy Scrumpy. 

The Nose 

This is a very heavy scent. It’s full of stewed apple and an odd musty powderiness. It is bordering on mousy and that’s never good. This is more prominent as the glass warms. It is ticking most of the boxes you would expect from a stereotypical farmhouse scrumpy.

The Taste 

The Farmhouse cloudy Scrumpy has a bit of an apple jelly vibe. There is a bit of a funky barnhouse flavour when it’s cold. Chilled from the fridge it seems dry. However, as it warms the sweetness comes out but so does that off mousy flavour. That sweetness worries me. It is an almost full favour profile, but it does seem to have elements missing, perhaps this could hint at a cider made some water? 

The warmer it gets the clingier it gets. I’d call it a medium on the sweetness scale if you have been nursing your pint glass.  

Final Thoughts on the Gwynt Y Ddraig Farmhouse Cloudy Scrumpy 

It’s got a lot of classic farmhouse scrumpy traits. The mousy aspect is a bit of a concern. Perhaps it wasn’t there when it was bottled but has developed en route to Australia.  

It was nice to try something different, but I wouldn’t hunt it down again over here. If I was in Pontypridd, Wales where this may be a little more common would I have it? It really depends on what else is on tap, I think I would rather have Gwynt Y Ddraig’s Gold Medal Cider.

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