Morningcider The Lucky Taco
The Lucky Taco Cider is a 4.9%, clean, contemporary style cider flavoured with habanero, ginger, honey, lemon and lime. If that sounds controversial to you, you’re right. You’ll either love it or hate it. Cider is a difficult beverage to add flavours to. The acidic base and lean body makes balancing boldly flavoured adjuncts difficult. Morningcider has pulled off something quite remarkable. Honey and ginger gives this cider a spicy and fragrant palate, while the citrus makes the finish super zesty. Dominant over all though, is the habanero kick – I would describe this cider as ‘white-person hot’ (you’ve been warned). It really is reminiscent of Mexican cuisine, yet it is surprisingly drinkable, provided you have the heat-tolerance.
Peckham’s Reserve Dry
To say that this cider is dry is understating it. The bottle claims a residual sugar content of 1.5g/l. For context, a cider from a mainstream flavoured brand can have up to 40g/l! Peckham’s reserve dry is a deep-gold, almost light amber cider. Its aroma gives a huge hit of rich, earthy, wild ferment characters, followed by biting, mouth-drying tannins and robust acidity. A cider such as this is not easy to make. Without fruit sugars to balance the body, a dry cider can quickly become austere, even astringent. What gives Reserve Dry its eminent drinkability is a long oaky finish, which balances out the tannin. This is a remarkable cider and one for true cider lovers.
Zeffer Apple Crumble
This is a clean, golden, 5% apple cider infused with cinnamon and vanilla to recreate the flavour of a classic apple crumble. Let’s be clear, this cider is definitely desserty: The body is full, the profile sweet, and the cinnamon is warming. But unlike a lot of flavoured ciders, it has a crisp, pointed acidity that runs through it. The effect is like caramelised brown sugar atop sharp Granny Smith apples. It also lends it a maturity and direction that elevate it as a beverage. The result is a cider that should appeal to enthusiasts and new cider drinkers alike.
Peckham’s Apple with Boysenberry
I love berry ciders. The trouble with most of them is that they are sweet berry RTDs masquerading as ciders. Peckham’s have a different approach – this is a cider with berries. Specifically a 5.2% wild-fermented single-varietal made with Jonagold apples. The base cider is clean and lusciously fruit-forward. Into that goes locally grown Riwaka Choice boysenberries. Peckham’s are very specific about using that exact variety of berries. The resulting cider is full of juicy apple flavors with a full, sweet boysenberry middle, reined in by the tart berry acidity. At once a fun and fruity cider, but also a drink for grownups who want more than berry sugar-water.
