Yeah Christmas was over two months ago…. but better late than never?

Scott did a truly excellent job of making a DIY cider advent calendar for me this year. He went all over the city tracking down dry ciders that I mostly haven’t even heard of before. I was so excited to open the paper bag each morning!

Anyway for my own records I’m going to rate all of them. Note, I prefer quite dry ciders in general.

• Caple Rd Cider – 9/10 – bit funky, quite dry, the can described it as “oaky, smoky with subtle notes of leather”
• Zeffer Crisp Apple Cider – 7/10 – forgot to make any notes
• Young Henrys Cloudy Cider – 8/10 – quite pleasant
• Golden Axe Apple Cider – 8/10 – surprisingly nice? I thought it was going to be too sweet but it wasn’t
• Colonial Bertie Brewing Co Cold Pressed Apple Cider – 8/10 – good
• Coldstream Apple Cider – 7/10 – fine. They’re from the Yarra Valley

• Blue Elephant Co Cider No 2 – 9/10 – really dry, really nice, one of my favourites now
• Arquiteka Apple Cider – 8/10 – so hipster, quite dry, nice, not super strong flavour
• Empire Apple Cider – 8/10 – nice, quite dry
• Lost Pippin Raw Tasmanian Scrumpy 2016 – 2/10 – flat, bad taste
• Barossa Cider Co Apple Cider Squashed – 8/10 – legit tastes like apple juice

• Sidra Del Verano Spanish Apple Cider – 5/10 – too sweet, kinda yuck
• Sassy Cidre – 7/10 – surprising! Like a traditional French cider not a hipster cider at all like the design would sugest. Funky
• Fournier Poire Cidre – 7/10 – sweetish, tastes exactly like juice
• Pure Blonde Crisp Apple Cider – 5/10 – reduced sugar, reduced flavour

• Daylesford Cider Farmhouse Dry – 6/10 – meh. Don’t really care for still ciders
• Treehouse Cider – 9/10 – one of my very favourites that’s not too hard to find
• 2 Brothers Little Apple Cider – 6/10 – just didn’t like the taste
• The Hills Cider Apple – 8/10 – a good standard cider
• Pagan Cider – 8/10 – nice

• Harcourt Apple Cider – 9/10 – very tasty
• Huon Farmhouse Cider – 6/10 – tasted fine, a little funky, but not really a fan of still ciders
• Cidre de Fouesnant Pur Jus Manoir de Kinkiz – ?/10 – this one had a cork! It was the one on Christmas Day and I forgot to write anything down
• Aspall Suffolk Draught Cider – 8/10 – nice
• Fog City Cloudy Cider – 8/10 – good!

Overall very good!! A lot of 8’s and 9’s there. Lots of new ones that I will look for when I’m shopping for cider. No still ciders though please, they just taste so flat and bad. Bubbles for lyfe.

Will I ever give a cider 10/10?? I’m not sure what that would take.

PS I made Scott a comic book advent calendar which I think he also enjoyed quite a bit.

I really enjoyed last years cider advent calendar, but I didn’t want to order it again if the ciders were going to be the same. So instead Scott made me one himself! What a good egg. He put together a great mix, many of which I had never tried before.

Here are my thoughts, again mostly for my own reference.

• Mercury Draught Cider – 8/10 – better than I expected, pretty normal tasting, not too sweet
• Pipsqueak Apple Cider – 9/10 – dry, tart, natural taste, great
• Rekorderlig Apple Cider – 1/10 – smells like nail polish remover and doesn’t taste any better, couldn’t finish
• Saxton Apple Cider – 8/10 – a bit funky like French cider
• Montague Cider House – can’t remember
• Monteith’s Crushed Apple Cider – 7/10 – a bit sweet

• 5 Seeds Crisp Apple Cider – 8/10 – fine
• The Cider Lab Pink Lady Apple – 6.5/10 – ok. a little sweet, a little artificial tasting
• Orchard Thieves Apple Cider – can’t remember
• Spring Cider Co Apple & Pomegranate – 5/10 – this is cider watered down 50% with soda water, tastes fine but gets a half score for only being half cider
• Strongbow Dry – 8/10 – fine
• Pressman’s Original All Australian Apple Cider – 8/10 – very apple juice-y, nice

• Little Green Apple Cider – 3/10 – nooooo, fake apple flavour, sweet, like Sommersby (my least favourite cider ever)
• Bonamy’s Apple Cider – 6/10 – don’t like it that much, don’t know why exactly
• Willie Smith Bone Dry Apple Cider – 7/10 – dry but not sure about fermented flavour

• Twisted Sister Apple Cider – can’t remember
• Batlow Cloudy Cider – 8/10 – good
• James Squire Orchard Crush Apple – 8/10 – tart, has chunks, I still like it

• Cheeky Rascal Passionfruit Cider – 6/10 – fine I guess, a little passionfruit flavour, sweet
• Sunshack Feijoa Elderflower Cider – 6/10 – i just don’t think i really like feijoa or elderflower
• Dr. Pilkington’s Miracle Cider – 9/10 – light taste, refreshing AF
• Renberg Apple – 7/10 – Aldi version of Rekordelig, tastes ok
• Cheeky Rascal Apple Lime Mint Chilli – 6/10 – not as spicy as i hoped

This year I got myself a cider advent calendar, because… Treat Yo Self. I figured it would be a great way for me to try out a bunch of Aussie ciders and hopefully find some new favourites! It was mostly great, there was only one that I couldn’t finish (why would someone make a cider with hops in it?? blech). And it really was a fun way to count down until Christmas.

Here are my thoughts, mostly for my records. Note: I prefer very very dry ciders.

• 1. The Hills Cider Company Apple & Ginger – quite gingery, not too sweet 7/10
• 2. Bilpin Blush Pink Lady Cider – really tasted like pink lady, a little sweet 6/10
• 3. The Apple Thief William Pear Cider – fine 6/10
• 4. Pipsqueak Apple Cider – not too sweet, yum 8/10
• 5. Woolshed Utopia Hard Lemonade – not too sweet, but not a cider! 6/10

• 6. Napoleone Apple Cider – standard, not too sweet 8/10
• 7. James Squire Orchard Crush Pear Cider – tasty 7/10
• 8. Batlow Premium Cider – pretty dry 8/10
• 9. Pagan Cider Apple –  nice 8/10
• 10. Crushed Pear Aussie Cider –  generic, bleh 5/10

• 11. Treehouse Cider – nice 9/10
• 12. Tuckerbox Premium Apple Cider – also nice 8/10
• 13. The Apple Thief Pink Lady Cider – meh 7/10
• 14. Willie Smiths Farmhouse Perry – different 6/10
• 15. Batlow Cloudy Cider – good 7/10

• 16. Golden Axe Apple Cider – Jemma drank this one ?/10
• 17. James Squire Orchard Crush Apple Cider – one of my pub favourites 9/10
• 18. Australian Brewery The Fresh Press Cider – kinda gross 5/10
• 19. Crisp Draught Aussie Cider – fine I guess 7/10
• 20. Pagan Cider Cherry – I don’t like cherries 4/10

• 21. Woolshed Brewery Utopia Apple & Pear Cider – literally tastes like juice 7/10
• 22. The Hills Cider Company Hop Edition – why would I want a cider that tastes like beer 0/10
• 23. Napoleone Cloudy Cider – not too sweet, nice 8/10
• 24. Willie Smith Bone Dry Apple Cider – very dry! 8/10
• 25. Forbidden Fruit Cider Original (unpictured) – smelled like body odour 4/10