A short drive north of Cardiff, Wales is a village called, Pontypridd. I can tell my spell check is going to be working over time tonight. Anyway, Pontypridd, is where you will find the Gwynt y Ddraig Cider and Perry company. What started off as a hobby in the back shed has turned into an award winning cider house. I found a couple of bottles of their Gwynt Y Ddraig Black Dragon Traditional Farmhouse Cider
Sometime I see a cider I have never seen before and I’ll just give it a go. That’s what’s happen here. I saw Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider. Produced from organically grown apples in the United Kingdom. Read More
For the final in my series of British Real Ciders, we visit the small town of Ross-On-Wye to sample their Traditional Farmhouse Medium Sweet Still Perry. Yeah it’s a bit of a mouth full of a name. Read More
One of things I love about reviewing English ciders is the history. Take this Bottle of Wilcox Cheddar Mill Yarlington Mill Medium Cider; you can trace its history all the way back to their first cider press which started work in 1868. History is one thing, but relying on the hard work of your great granddaddy alone does not make a good cider. Have Wilcox made a modern cider with their traditional training?
The Tricky Cider Company is about as top-secret as ciders get. Tricky’s Medium Sweet real cider is made on an ex army base somewhere on the Devonshire and Somerset border by two blokes known as the hairy one and the tall fella. Lets crack this code and review this cider.
Perry’s cider, the rather confusingly named cider company is famous for their ciders and not so much for their perrys. Since being in the UK, I’ve has the opportunity to try some of Perry limited edition ciders. But today I’m trying one of their more famous blends. Well to call it a blend is a bit of a lie. You see this cider is a single variety cider. Some say the art of cider making is in the blending of different varieties to the makers’ whim. The Somerset Dabinett is made entirely from famous Dabinett cider apples all grown in deepest darkest Somerset.
Oliver’s Traditional Cider is basically still, sour, bitter and something I’ve wanted to write about since I started this blog. Let’s hope it’s been worth the wait.
Hallets Real Cider is the first Welsh cider I’ve reviewed. Hallets is a tiny company making this a bit of a rare breed. Being a small company they embrace seasonality. The flavours change with the seasons and that is just the beginning of what makes Hallets Real Cider exciting.