In which we discuss Cider

[Jiggers McCoy]

I'm 28 and I've only been drinking for about 10 years. Sure, I had the odd beer in High School, but I didn't really cut my teeth until college. Of course, back then it was all Natty Ice and the sugariest rum and cokes you could find. My palette has matured greatly, I routinely drink whiskey neat, love a bold Shiraz, and can find the subtleties in the most in-your-face IPAs and Barleywines.

But in all my drinking days, I've never had a taste for Cider. Woodchuck, Strongbow, Magner's, I find them all unbearably sweet, even the higher proof ones. So to my mind, I lumped them in with other alcopop drinks like Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade: drinks for those that don't like the taste of alcohol.

But last fall, I travelled to Ireland and chatted up a group of local nogoodniks and found that they were all pounding the Magner's, and from the looks of things had been for about 12 hours. These gents looked tough and seemed like great drunks, but still, cider? The mind reels...

Additionally, I've recently met several bartenders whose drink of choice is strongbow...ON THE ROCKS. As if it didn't taste enough like fountain soda before.

So anyway, after these shocks to my worldview, I must put it to the board - Cider: For Drunkards, or merely Drunkards-in-training?

[Mayhems]

Love Cider I do.

[ThirstyDrunk]

It's been awhile, but a buddy and I used to drink alot of Hornsbys cider. It was pretty good. we used to add a shot of gold rum to ours.

[John Barleycorn]

First of all, among the purists putting cider on the rocks is a foul heresy. Then again, the purists would probably also consider Magner's to be a heresy on its own as it fails to fill the conditions of "ye ideal olde scrumpy".

I cannot speak for Ireland but cider survives in the UK largely as a tax dodge. In order to preserve that traditional British industry they are not taxed as highly as beers, which are more popular than ciders even with such an unlevel playing field. A side effect of this is that in addition to the traditional ciders and respectable stuff like Magner's and Bulmer's there is a group of ciders called white cider that pack whopping 7.5%-8.5% abv and are essentially Britain's answer to Malt Liquor being sold in 3 liter bottles for about 3 pounds.

Imagine you have £6 in your pocket and you want to drink.
Your options are:
2 pints of bitter in the pub.
6 pints of bitter as the special in the Wetherspoon's chain-pub.
2 massive 3 liter bottles of (sold as 2 L with 50% more free) of white cider packing that 7.5-8.5% punch.
6 2 liter bottles of Store brand cider that at least tastes like real cider but is merely 4.2% abv
12 440 ml cans of Tetley's bitter that has 3.8%
4 568 ml cans of Stella Artois with the decent 5%abv
24 440 ml cans of tesco value bitter or tesco value lager with the wretched 2% abv.

In such an environment you can see how one might grow fond of cider.

[DeeboCools]

It's been awhile, but a buddy and I used to drink alot of Hornsbys cider. It was pretty good. we used to add a shot of gold rum to ours.

+1 Rum and cider done it, you get drunk.

[kowalski]

I've always found cider too sweet for day to day drinking, and whilst I hold up the cheap 3L bottles as the best abv/price available in the UK, they just taste too chemical for me. That said, I'm quite a big fan of snakebite and blue bols <-- the drink of champions...

[The Limey]

Johnnyboy has it covered up thread. It's the wino drink of the UK.

I cannot bear the stuff, i had a 'dry' perry once that i thought was ok. Traditional scrumpy jack is a risky business, just rots the gut.

[Wingman]

had savannah cider in s. africa. not too sweet, and great for hot days.

The Redhead likes it.

half-n-half ain't bad.

i guess if i never had another cider in my life, i would be okay. or, you know, as okay as ever.

[Jiggers McCoy]

I didn't know that thing about it being a tax dodge, but the blokes I observed chugging it were doing so in a pub, so I don't think they were saving too much.

Anyhow, I will continue to not partake, but perhaps curtail my judgement slightly.

[Badfellow]

Cider doesn't have to be cheap, shitty and overly sweet, although too often it is.

Normandy sets the bar for dry cider with America quickly catching up. I've had one from the UK called Aspell Demi-Sec that was damn good. I drank it with Ophelio crab. Say what you will about Crispin being the choice drink of douchebags (it is), but then you've probably never tasted a shot of dark rum dropped into a glass boilermaker style. 4-5 of these generally separate the douchebags from the drunks pretty quickly.

Cider has it's place. Usually next to some sort of amber liquor.

[Jiggers McCoy]

Maybe I just haven't had any good ones. Any recommendations? Stuff I can find in florida?

[Shane-O-Matic]

I don't often drink cider, but I will buy a few three-litre bottles of Sainsbury's Dry Cider when the money is short. Quite pleasant with a few bits of ice in it, if I'm being honest.

One of the many enjoyable aspects of the CCC was discovering Old Rosie (which, before any jokes come flying, is an English cider). I will have the occasional pint of it if the weather's nice and I can sit in the sun. Could never have cider as a go-to drink, though. I like beer.

[BanqosGhost]

I don't really have time for cider drinkers.

It's either for people who want to get pissed quicker for cheaper, or who just aren't mature enough to force enough beer down their kneck till they start liking it.

If I'm short on coinage I'll more than happilly drink some 8%cider for just a few quid. Problem is, it's rare you remember finishing the bottle.

[Badfellow]

Maybe I just haven't had any good ones. Any recommendations? Stuff I can find in florida?

There's one called Original Sin, and I believe it's produced in Florida. Pretty well balanced but on the sweet side. Put it next to a bottle of Gosling's Black Seal or Flor de Cana and you won't be disappointed.

[John Barleycorn]

Sometime when I'm in Pennsylvania, I want to visit this place http://www.arsenalciderhouse.com/