Cider Sunday - John Kepplers Irish Cider
My love affair with cider first began during our honeymoon when we visited London, where the popularity of cider is huge! Since then I have watched Australia's cider market really take off - all within the space of 2 years. It's been an exciting ride, and I love sampling all of the new Australian ciders that have entered the market - there are some really talented cider makers here.
In stark contrast, comes this weeks cider from Ireland - John Kepplers Irish Cider. An interesting cider mainly due to its fairly lengthy ingredients list: cider, sugar, malic acid, tannic acid, apple aroma and several colours. Not the best way to start, I know.
That said, I was very surprised to read that this cider is one of the best sellers in Ireland and has a wide distribution around the world. Hmmm.
Firstly, you can't help but notice ( be blinded) by the bright yellow hue of this cider - but again this can be best attributed to the 'ponceau4R & tartazine' colours which have been added to the cider. The apple aroma is very pleasant and almost delicious, however, it too has been added.
In terms of the rest - Well this one has nice apple flavours and quite a nice balanced sweetness albeit added through the addition of sugar. It has a light to medium carbonation, is medium bodied and finishes somewhat dry.
Overall, an ok cider - but I couldn't get past all the added extras - especially the added colours and sugar. In my opinion, a good cider needs none of these.
At 4.5% a 568ml bottle will give you about 2.6 standard drinks.
The Food Mentalist purchased John Kepplers Irish Cider at The Wine Society, Ultimo.
In stark contrast, comes this weeks cider from Ireland - John Kepplers Irish Cider. An interesting cider mainly due to its fairly lengthy ingredients list: cider, sugar, malic acid, tannic acid, apple aroma and several colours. Not the best way to start, I know.
That said, I was very surprised to read that this cider is one of the best sellers in Ireland and has a wide distribution around the world. Hmmm.
Firstly, you can't help but notice ( be blinded) by the bright yellow hue of this cider - but again this can be best attributed to the 'ponceau4R & tartazine' colours which have been added to the cider. The apple aroma is very pleasant and almost delicious, however, it too has been added.
In terms of the rest - Well this one has nice apple flavours and quite a nice balanced sweetness albeit added through the addition of sugar. It has a light to medium carbonation, is medium bodied and finishes somewhat dry.
Overall, an ok cider - but I couldn't get past all the added extras - especially the added colours and sugar. In my opinion, a good cider needs none of these.
At 4.5% a 568ml bottle will give you about 2.6 standard drinks.
The Food Mentalist purchased John Kepplers Irish Cider at The Wine Society, Ultimo.
It does look radioactive! I don't care how popular it is in Ireland, I much prefer not consuming unnecessary additives.
ReplyDeleteOh I'm so glad to see your blog back! Last week I tried a few times and it wasn't working. But now I feel like an ice cold glass of cider :P
ReplyDeleteAhh yes that colour, that looked so yellow, like a really sweet dessert wine! :o
ReplyDeleteHoly, yellow! That's bright. Not sure I'm fully on board with all the additives. Good on you for trying it so we don't have to!
ReplyDeleteIts not popular in Ireland. Sold as cheap alternative to Builmers for alcos.
ReplyDelete