The Cider Diaries-18/1/09
The morning after the night before...Me and Fog dragged ourselves up and out of (separate)bed(s) to get ourselves to the radio on time. I could still feel last night's cider sloshing around inside of me and despite Emma trying to persuade us to spend the afternoon feeding the ducks in Roath park I was in desperate need of some food. So, immediately after finishing the show we headed down to Koko Gorilaz for a Sunday roast and, predictably a cider. A glassy eyed Ceri had been drinking Stella all morning but he gamely joined us at the pub for food and cider.
31. Magners Light
Our cider of choice, i.e. the only one behind the bar we hadn't already tried, was not one I anticipated with much relish. To be honest, I didn't really fancy drinking any cider. I was still feeling a little delicate from the previous evening's drinking which had been mostly cider topped up with some deeply suspicious, unaturally pink 'punch'. But if I did have to have a cider, I would have preferred almost anything to this.
For a start, I'm not even a fan of Magners and I didn't expect Magners Light to hold any surprises for me. I considered arguing with Fog that it didn't count as a different cider. After all, the whole point of the stuff was to provide the same taste of Magners but fewer calories. If it's supposed to taste the same, what's the point in us sampling it?
But I knew deep down that it wouldn't taste the same. After all, Diet Coke tastes completely different to Coca-Cola doesn't it? It's no substitute. The diet stuff tastes somehow hollow and empty and I don't care how many calories it saves me I'm never going to enjoy it. So I was expecting the Magners light to taste worse than the regular Magners I already dislike. Thank God it comes in small bottles!
Sure enough, I was right, it was, Fog and Ceri agreed, worse than Magners. There was something deeply unpleasant about the taste that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I concentrated on enjoying my food and thinking about what ciders we might try later in the afternoon. By four o' clock we were just finishing up our desserts and I was thinking we could make a move back to the flat for cider sampling and to catch up with the cider diaries from the previous evening. Unfortunately at that point Geraint arrived, full pint in hand.
Not to worry, I thought, good to see the cunt. After he's had that we'll probably wander back to Fog's, pick up some cider on the way. It didn't quite pan out like that. Instead the others decided that a protracted game of darts was in order. This went on for some time. I hate darts. After we had all played killer I thought we'd be off but Fog and Emma decided to have a game of 500 or something like that. I'm sorry to any darts lovers but I really don't see the appeal of this game at all. Taking it in turns to throw pointy metal things at a colourful circle on the wall just doesn't appeal to me whatsoever. Nor is it any better as a spectator sport. I found myself watching not Fog and Emma or the dartboard but the electronic scoreboard, willing the numbers to get down to zero so that we could leave.
Eventually it was time to go but by now it was about half six and Fog and Emma were going out for a meal later on. There would only be time for one cider back at Fogs. I hoped it would be a good one.
32. Tesco Finest Single Varietal Cider
This one looked very nice but on first taste I wasn't very impressed. I said as much and Fog and Ceri were suprised at me, they were both enjoying it. After I had had a little more I had to admit that it was a good cider, with a strong, clear apple taste. Just a little dry for my tastes. Most cider fans would probably be very happy with it. But don't get any ideas about trying this one out for yourself. It's been discontinued. In fact we had to scour several supermarkets to find three bottles of the stuff. Special thanks to Emma who eventually found the second and third bottle in the big Tesco outside of town.
So, whatever you're drinking, raise a glass to a good cider that is no longer with us.
31. Magners Light
Our cider of choice, i.e. the only one behind the bar we hadn't already tried, was not one I anticipated with much relish. To be honest, I didn't really fancy drinking any cider. I was still feeling a little delicate from the previous evening's drinking which had been mostly cider topped up with some deeply suspicious, unaturally pink 'punch'. But if I did have to have a cider, I would have preferred almost anything to this.
For a start, I'm not even a fan of Magners and I didn't expect Magners Light to hold any surprises for me. I considered arguing with Fog that it didn't count as a different cider. After all, the whole point of the stuff was to provide the same taste of Magners but fewer calories. If it's supposed to taste the same, what's the point in us sampling it?
But I knew deep down that it wouldn't taste the same. After all, Diet Coke tastes completely different to Coca-Cola doesn't it? It's no substitute. The diet stuff tastes somehow hollow and empty and I don't care how many calories it saves me I'm never going to enjoy it. So I was expecting the Magners light to taste worse than the regular Magners I already dislike. Thank God it comes in small bottles!
Sure enough, I was right, it was, Fog and Ceri agreed, worse than Magners. There was something deeply unpleasant about the taste that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I concentrated on enjoying my food and thinking about what ciders we might try later in the afternoon. By four o' clock we were just finishing up our desserts and I was thinking we could make a move back to the flat for cider sampling and to catch up with the cider diaries from the previous evening. Unfortunately at that point Geraint arrived, full pint in hand.
Not to worry, I thought, good to see the cunt. After he's had that we'll probably wander back to Fog's, pick up some cider on the way. It didn't quite pan out like that. Instead the others decided that a protracted game of darts was in order. This went on for some time. I hate darts. After we had all played killer I thought we'd be off but Fog and Emma decided to have a game of 500 or something like that. I'm sorry to any darts lovers but I really don't see the appeal of this game at all. Taking it in turns to throw pointy metal things at a colourful circle on the wall just doesn't appeal to me whatsoever. Nor is it any better as a spectator sport. I found myself watching not Fog and Emma or the dartboard but the electronic scoreboard, willing the numbers to get down to zero so that we could leave.
Eventually it was time to go but by now it was about half six and Fog and Emma were going out for a meal later on. There would only be time for one cider back at Fogs. I hoped it would be a good one.
32. Tesco Finest Single Varietal Cider
This one looked very nice but on first taste I wasn't very impressed. I said as much and Fog and Ceri were suprised at me, they were both enjoying it. After I had had a little more I had to admit that it was a good cider, with a strong, clear apple taste. Just a little dry for my tastes. Most cider fans would probably be very happy with it. But don't get any ideas about trying this one out for yourself. It's been discontinued. In fact we had to scour several supermarkets to find three bottles of the stuff. Special thanks to Emma who eventually found the second and third bottle in the big Tesco outside of town.
So, whatever you're drinking, raise a glass to a good cider that is no longer with us.
posted by Chris Chopping @ 4:46 AM
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