It's certainly been cider weather.

Can anyone recommend a good *DRY* cider, apart from Aspall or Henney's, that are 6% or under?

Morrisons do their own box of cider (Westons in a Morrison box.) 2.5LITRES for around £5. It is strong though at 7.5%. I treat it like wine and serve in a wine glass but invariably finish the whole box. Really good dry cider.

I love Pear Cider that's made from 100% pear.

ClaretAndJew wrote:I love Pear Cider that's made from 100% pear.

That would be perry, then.

I tried Aspall’s Temple Moon whilst at Bowland Brewery, I’d never had it before. It was lovely and fresh on a nice sunny day!! It’s flat like a scrumpy but with no tangy aftertaste or smell you’d normally get. Really fruity and crisp

Cheers for the recommendations. I'll check them out.

Not a fan of cider at all really, but a few years back we went on a tour of Healeys cider farm in Cornwall. Their Rattler cider was very nice and as I say, that's from someone who isn't a Wurzle (Cider Drinker)

i have been drinking a lot of cider in the last 18 months, it's excellent in hot weather.

I'm not an expert, but I know what I like.

You've mentioned Aspall's [5.5%] which I am a fan of..then

Stowford Press
Thatchers
Weston

and in bottles

Magners [with ice]
Bulmers
Cidra [made by Stella]

I try and avoid Strongbow [the Carling of ciders].

As I live in Kent, cider is pretty big down here, although teenage Bulmers in the woods put paid to any adult interest in the stuff. I was talking with a friend about the drink and the subject got on to 8% cider and I said that I wouldn't touch the stuff as the other 92% was sand. it was a bit of a subtle joke and not really appreciated.

However there was a food fair in the local park and there was a cider stand and on it was a pint glass used for a sign to go in, rather like a plant pot for a plant. Guess what? The glass was full of sand in order to stick the sign in. I started laughing and pointed it out to my friend and said 'what did I tell you?'

I still can't believe the serendipity of the story. It was some sort of joke miracle.

I bought some Old Rosie from Morrisons a few months ago. It was a five litre job and I bought it because it came in a moonshine jug you can swig over your shoulder.

Tastes alright and it cost about 5 quid, not bad for some 7% loopy juice

hampsteadclaret wrote:i have been drinking a lot of cider in the last 18 months, it's excellent in hot weather.

I'm not an expert, but I know what I like.

You've mentioned Aspall's [5.5%] which I am a fan of..then

Stowford Press
Thatchers
Weston

and in bottles

Magners [with ice]
Bulmers
Cidra [made by Stella]

I try and avoid Strongbow [the Carling of ciders].

Surely the Carling of ciders is Carling cider?

Did a 5 litre keg of Thatchers Gold yesterday with a pal. Medium Dry.

Bought from Tescos, on offer with a couple of quid off.

Felt ok this morning....

I'm drinking Lidl's own "woodgate" reserve vintage cider atm. Very tasty and it's great value at £1.25 for 500ml. Won't be having many though, it's 7.3%

They do do one at a lower strength. But I know nowt about such stuff

hampsteadclaret wrote:i have been drinking a lot of cider in the last 18 months, it's excellent in hot weather.

I'm not an expert, but I know what I like.

You've mentioned Aspall's [5.5%] which I am a fan of..then

Stowford Press
Thatchers
Weston

and in bottles

Magners [with ice]
Bulmers
Cidra [made by Stella]

I try and avoid Strongbow [the Carling of ciders].

Dark fruits is amazing

Not much of a cider drinker. Didn't mind the taste of Cidre but it felt like someone was punching me in the stomach every time it hit my gut, never had that happen with any drink before or since.

Angry Orchard is a nice one if you're knocking round Tesco or Spoons. Tastes like Appletizer

cutsy123 wrote:Dark fruits is amazing

Yes, that's very good.
Don't mind Strongbow myself, I find it very refreshing.
Each to their own, though.

ClaretAndJew wrote:I love Pear Cider that's made from 100% pear.

What's that? Is it one giant pear?

https://youtu.be/vR_2nb16n9Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ElectroClaret wrote:Yes, that's very good.
Don't mind Strongbow myself, I find it very refreshing.
Each to their own, though.

Ice cold strongy

Nobody mentioned "Cockins" yet?

starting_11 wrote:Angry Orchard is a nice one if you're knocking round Tesco or Spoons. Tastes like Appletizer

I bought a couple of bottles of Angry Orchard the other week from Tesco. It described itself as a 'hard cider' so I was hoping for a dry drink like Henney's Dry. Unfortunately it was more like a medium dry.

I'm surprised no mention of white lightening Seems popular in some quarters any views?

Hey, don't knock it. It was recently voted cider of the decade by Tramp Life magazine.

Billy Balfour wrote:I bought a couple of bottles of Angry Orchard the other week from Tesco. It described itself as a 'hard cider' so I was hoping for a dry drink like Henney's Dry. Unfortunately it was more like a medium dry.

It's American. "Hard" It means it's alcoholic.

"Cider" is just fresh apple juice over there.

Anyone tried Pineapple cider?

Now THAT'S a tasty beverage!

starting_11 wrote:Anyone tried Pineapple cider?

Now THAT'S a tasty beverage!

Just reading that gave me heartburn

Dickens Cider always gives a nice buzz.

Czechs are finally getting into their cider and there is a nice domestic one now

Strongbow...... pint

Damo wrote:Just reading that gave me heartburn

Naaaahh son!

Think of it like a drinking an alcoholic pineapple cube

Another vote for Henry Westons
The 2016 oak aged vintage one is very easy to drink, but be a tad carefull as it is 8.2%
Can be found on offer occasionally in Sainsburys, a box of six 500ml bottles for £8.00 is great value

Kopperberg pear, Rekorderlig wild berry and Brothers toffee apple on a hot day with a load of ice are just bang on.

11..I was unaware that Carling sold their own brand of cider, I have never seen it.
It looks like Morrison's and Tesco's are the main bulk retailers of this product, I rarely go in these as I do not have a [large] store near me.

Another shout for Kopparberg from Sweden and Old Mout Cider is very good, tho' a bit pricier.

Thatchers "Haze"

Cloudy Somerset cider.

A new one to me, on my third can.
Delightful.

Four quid for four at Sainsburys. Bargain.

More of a Frosty Jack's man myself. Love it on my my morning Corn Flakes.

Karatekid : my wife sometimes like a dicken cider before breakfast !!

Used to make my own cider which was very palatable even if I say so myself.

If I had to plump for a branded cider it would be Bulmers and Westons but you still cannot beat properly, REAL cider.

Dry Blackthorn

ClaretAndJew wrote:I love Pear Cider that's made from 100% pear.

Give it to me straight

Cornish Rattler the second best thing to come out of Cornwall after pasties

Somersby is a really nice cider, very partial to scrumpy jack at 6%, can't drink dry blackthorn or strongbow, too dry, Thatchers is a good cider or any cloudy cider, they tend to be not too dry.

I knew a woman who used to do a lot of cooking with cider. Carrots, parsnips, chops, ribs - she'd have pretty much anything in cider.

Taffy apples best cider from Swansea ,delicious.

longsidepies wrote:I'm drinking Lidl's own "woodgate" reserve vintage cider atm. Very tasty and it's great value at £1.25 for 500ml. Won't be having many though, it's 7.3%

They do do one at a lower strength. But I know nowt about such stuff

The standard one is very good, I seem to remember paying about 80p a bottle. Very surprised with the quality.

Another vote for Healy’s Rattler, superb stuff!

Mr Mrs enjoys a Dickins Cider,

Frosty Jacks. Nothing comes close.

Savanna Dry Cider is the best about for me. I try to buy British if possible, but this South African beauty goes down very well. Roll on Friday night!

Claret Kitch wrote:Savanna Dry Cider is the best about for me. I try to buy British if possible, but this South African beauty goes down very well. Roll on Friday night!

Couldn't agree more, tried it in London many years ago and have bought it ever since. Absolute nectar

Rowls wrote:Used to make my own cider which was very palatable even if I say so myself.

If I had to plump for a branded cider it would be Bulmers and Westons but you still cannot beat properly, REAL cider.

How did you mush the apples?

I made a cider masher. It worked brilliantly for the first 5 sacks of apples. Then the wooden spindle snapped in half.

It was a barrel of wood which I chiselled down into a good cylindrical shape, fitted with 'teeth' by drilling screws into and leaving them standing proud, mounted on a spindle (which snapped) and fitted to a frame. The apples were poured from the top, the barrel was turned, the screws mashed the apples and we collected the pulp in a bucket at the bottom.

It was like this one (but mine wasn't as good):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxOLRBMb2j4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As you can see from that video this is his second attempt. Making cider is labour intensive and takes a lot of time. The guy who made the video evidently had a decent budget to spend on his apple masher whereas we did not.

If you want to make cider and don't have a big budget I strongly recommend mashing apples using the 'fence-post and bucket' method:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF7jrgl_2VA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's very simple but it is effective.

After my apple masher broke I used a food processor. Laborious because of the small capacity but it worked very well. I didn't have much choice given I had 5 sacks full of apples and no other method of crushing them.

I made my press out of a car jack and a frame which I made out of a fence post. Obviously you can obtain a LOT of pressure from a car jack so you have to make sure your frame is very sturdy. I used 5 brackets for each join and had I been skilful enough I'd have joined them with a peg & socket join too.

It's hard work but I just adored the thrill of tasting my own cider. It's very rewarding.

Best tip I can give you is to make sure you have a LOT of apples (I'd get through 10 giant bin sacks which were full) and to make sure you have a good mix of types of apples. Ideally you want proper cider apples. They're near impossible to get hold of unless you know an orchard owner. If you can't get hold of them (people don't tend to grow them non-commercially because they're inedible in themselves) you need to mix between sour cooking apples and sweet eating apples. It's also a great tip to throw in some of the bitter wild crab apples - that was the clincher between a drinkable cider and an enjoyable cider for me. These wild crab apples are much harder to pulp and press because they're tougher, smaller and have thick skins but they give a great full flavour to cider.

Whatever you do, do NOT buy one of those bucket mechanisms that attach to a drill to pulp your apples - utterly useless.