The Cider Diaries-18/2/09

I invited Fog round for a cider at my house on Wednesday. It was another picked up at T&As, next to Koko Gorilaz.

67. Nectar's Finest Pear Cider

We weren't too impressed by this cider, it had a funny aftertaste that I couldn't quite place. Fog was amused by the bottle's label, which suggested we try adding some blackcurrent to the cider. That's real confidence in your product right there. It was Fog who hit the nail on the head when he said, "It does taste of pears but it tastes of pears that are over-ripe." As bad as it was, this first cider had given us a taste for more ciders so we headed back to Fog's to try some more of the ciders we bought in Bristol.

68. Cidre Breton
I thought this was going to be our first French Cider but it's the same one that Fizzy D had on the train back from Bristol and since I mentioned that in my blog he's corrected me. Apparently the people of Breton don't consider themselves to be French, it's an independent region or something... He compared it to Wales. So, this is our first Breton Cidre.

This was a dry, opaque, yellowy cider that brought to mind the disgusting Thatcher's draft ciders from Old Dukes in Bristol. Its saving grace was a light fizz that made all the difference. It was far from my favourite cider but it was perfectly drinkable, not even unpleasant. Fog quite enjoyed it.

69. Bayeux Cidre
This really was our first French Cider. If the name didn't give it away then another clue was the Bayeux Tapestry style characters on the label. This one had a rich, golden colour and certainly looked promising. It was nicer than the Cidre Breton but nothing particularly memorable.

The Cider Diaries-17/2/09

Fog and I did did our radio show down at the hospital as usual and then, as usual, we headed to Koko Gorilaz to meet Ceri for our Sunday Roast fix. Normally after that, give or take an extra pint or two, we would head back to Fog's for TV and cider. Today however Fog and Ceri were wanting to watch some sort of sport thing or other and I couldn't be bothered with it so I arranged to meet back at their place later.

I knew Fog would be expecting me to bring some ciders from our trip to Bristol for us to try but I hate to be predictable so when I left Koko Gorillaz I went to an off-licence opposite to find something new. So when I met the others later I had something they weren't expecting.

64. Kopparberg Apple Cider
Kopparberg is best known, in this country at least, for its delicious pear cider that we've already sampled. In fact their apple cider is rarely seen, buried in a crowded apple-cider market. Personally I prefer the pear variety although the apple is decent enough. Very sweet, a strong apple flavour. Ceri said, "I didn't think it was too bad, not brilliant though, I'm not a fan of Kopparberg in general." Fog thought it was quite drinkable and offered the revelatory insight that it was, "Like an apple version of its pear cousin."

65. Cripple Cock Farmyard Cider
Fog was still expecting a Bristolian cider but I had another suprise in store for him. My housemates had been on holiday to Cornwall and by all accounts had an adyllic time. They picked mussels and seaweed up on the beach and cooked the mussels and made lavabread with the seaweed. More importantly, they brought me back a cider. The amusingly named Crippled Cock comes in a plastic litre bottle and features a picture of a cider swigging rooster on crutches on the label.

It's quite a strong cider and tasted more distinctive than pretty much every other cider we've had from a plastic bottle this year with is definitely something in its favour. Fog said, "It's good: you can tell it's quite strong." It was very nice but nothing spectacular.

66. Ashton Press Cider
Finally one of our Bristolian purchases. It looked pretty classy and I was expecting big things for its Bristol associations alone but Fog thought it was a little bland. I thought it was alright but again, nothing special.

The Cider Diaries-Yet more Bristol pictures

The Cider Diaries-More Bristol pictures

The Cider Diaries-Pictures from the Bristol trip

With credit and thanks to Fizzy D.

The Cider Diaries-10/2/09

I mentioned very early on in this blog that I am not the worlds biggest drinker and expressed my concern that this might hold us back at some point. That point might've been today.

We had planned a day out in Bristol or more specifically a day out in The Apple, a pub on a barge that specialises in cider. As well as me and Fog my friend Fizzy D and my friend Kyle came along for the day. On the train down the discussion of cider got well underway. We talked about buying homebrew from farmers. D's friend Tom once bought some home brew that turned green after a few days while Kyle once bought three gallons of cider from a farmer that slowely turned into something akin to wine vinegar.

Fog mentioned his idea for a beer net in passing and the other two looked at us blankly. We had to explain that it was an idea for keeping the ice down in a pint of cider so that the ice cubes don't clink against your teeth or get in the way of drinking. This led to a long discussion of different ways of dealing with ice in pints, including a suggestion of magnetic ice cubes in glasses with a metal bottom.

Kyle suggested making ice cubes out of something that was solid at room temperature so that they wouldn't melt but as I pointed out to him, that would only keep your drink at room temperature, something you could do just as easily by simply leaving your drink in a room.

So then Kyle suggested liquid hydrogen, telling us that you would only have to put a bit in to chill your pint and then it would evaporate into the air leaving you without any ice cubes to worry about. Our objections to this ranged from damaged glasses to potential death but it was an idea that Kyle would return to with some tenacity all day.

Our plan was a simple one. Arrive in Bristol, find The Apple, sit there all day drinking cider with a break in the afternoon to check out local off licences, eat cider related meals from their food menu and then catch the last train home again. We found The Apple easily enough but that's about as far as we got following our original plan.

We had checked in advance on The Apple's own website, http://www.applecider.co.uk/ to find that thir opening hours were from 12pm daily but when we arrived at about 12.30, ready to crack on with the first cider of the day(having already sensibly passed up the opportunity or a Strongbow from the train's buffet cart) we were met by a locked gate and a sign that told us The Apple would be open at 5pm.

As we read and re-read the sign in consternation a long haired, wild eyed, bent, brownskinned old man emerged from the bowels of the barge. He threw a bucket of something(possibly spilled cider or dirty water from the mop bucket but just as possibly, I felt, the morning after contents of a chemical toilet) overboard and went back down below. He didn't look especially pleased to find curious visitors at his gates. I wondered if we would be trying to befriend him at the bar later.

Anyway, with four and a half hours to kill there was one obvious course of action. We decided to find another pub. Luckily there were several pubs and bars within very easy walking distance and we decided to head inside a pleasantly dingy, independent looking place called Old Dukes, after Duke Ellington. With a bar like The Apple on your doorstep I suppose you can go on of two ways. You can give up and serve nothing but beers and strongbow or you can accept the challenge, step up to the plate and do your best to serve some quality/unusual ciders of your own.

Luckily, or so I thought at the time, Old Dukes had gone the latter route, with four or five ciders we hadn't tried elsewhere. The first of these was called,

57. Thatcher's Chedder Valley Traditional Cider
I asked for a half and Fog bought me a pint. I didn't mind, I was quite looking forward to this one. Thatchers had consistently provided us with delicious ciders and I had no reason to believe that this would be any different. It was flat but no matter. Had I not confidently managed and even enjoyed a pint of Old Rosie just the night before? More interestingly it was orange, bright orange, like Fanta or cheesy wotsits. It looked more Red Leicester than Chedder.

But it isn't the colour of a cider that matters, it's the flavour. This is where Chedder Valley let us down badly. It was horrible. It is hard to describe the flavour. It wasn't sharp or sour or dry. If anything it was bland in a way that was actively offensive. The consistency was wrong as well. It was too thick, almost soupy, or so it seemed. There were many complaints at the table as we sat and tried to drink the stuff although it would be fair to say that most of them were coming from me.

Fog started out saying it'd get better after a bit, it would just take a few swigs to get into it. He soon had to admit that it didn't get any better. The others had finished their pints and although I still had loads left it was my round so I headed gratefully for the bar to buy four bottles.


58. Thatcher's Pear Cider
The Thatchers pear cider was a return to the qualities we'd come to expect from Thatchers ciders, delicious and refreshing. Unfortunately Fog was insisting that I needed to finish the Chedder Valley sludge so I was alternating one with the other as the boys enjoyed their pear ciders. Fog said it was quite sweet but nicer because it was a change from what came before.


After a while I appealled for leniancy. "Have I had enough yet? That's pretty much just dregs now." Fog was having none of it.
"C'mon Chris, man up, that's still nearly half a pint." After an interminable amount of time I eventually finished my pint and washed it down with the rest of the pear cider. Glad it was over, I insisted on a half of the next cider.


59 Thatcher's Traditional cider
Unfortunately, apart from being a shade lighter(more orange squash than fanta) this new cider was very similar to the Chedder Valley stuff I was so glad to put behind me. Again, it was horrible. It was all I could do to sip at it. It was beginning to make me gag. The others were doing better and taking no small amount of pleasure at my discomfort but they could hardly claim to enjoy the stuff either. Kyle wondered out loud why he was bothering with the stuff, pointing out that as it was only me and Fog doing the challenge he and Dave were free to drink what they liked. He had a point but I was glad the pair of them had been swept up in the spirit of the challenge.

Kyle had to leave at this point anyway to meet his mum for lunch. While Fog's back was turned I tried to pour some of my drink into Kyle's vacated glass but Fog noticed and poured it back again. I didn't know how I was going to finish this horrible stuff.



Eventually Fog went off to the toilet, leaving me and Dave with part-filled glasses. When Fog returned both glasses were empty. Looking back now, I don't remember very clearly what had happened but between me and Dave the drinks were all gone. It was time to move on.


Fog's friend James had turned up while we were drinking. He was on a lunch break from work and didn't come into Old Dukes but Fog went outside to say hi and James told us that the best place to look for off-licences was back toward the station. So, having finished our ciders that's exactly where Fog, Fizzy D and I headed. Unfortunately we couldn't find any off-licences. I was beginning to doubt that James new what he was talking about.


"James has proved me wrong too many times," Fog told us. "If we give up now he'll drag us out of the pub later and take us right to an off licence right where he told us." I was all for giving up when, sure enough, we rounded a corner and found a quite classy looking off-licence which specialised in various wines but also had a chilled room at the back which had a variety of interesting new ciders. We had to try and restrain ourselves from buying them all but limited funds prevailed. We did buy a choice selection take home and try again some time. Fizzy D also bought himself an attractive looking bottle of French cider.



It was finally time to return to the by-now-open Apple. From the outside the place looked a little rickety but we headed down inside the barge and down there the place actually looks pretty classy. I was expecting such a specialist bar to have something of an old-man-pub vibe to it, full of cider connoisseurs with beards and arran sweaters. The straggle haired old man we had seen earlier in the day had only reinforced this idea in my head.



However, when we got inside it was nothing like that at all, it was quite classy looking with a friendly, young barman and a load of great reggae playing in the background. I sensed that I would feel at home here. I had hoped that they might have some sort of gift shop with bookmarks and pencil sharpeners etc, so that we might pick up a souvenir of some decsription. But The Apple is a quality drinking establishment, not some tawdry tourist trap and they have no time for such cheap fripperies. Luckily however, they do sell t-shirts and hoodies.


We couldn't miss the opportunity to buy some specialist cider drinking clothing so Fog bought himself a brown t-shirt and I got a green hoodie. Fizzy D abstained, perhaps preferring to save his money for the drink itself. Then the barman allowed us to pose behind the bar and have our pictures taken pretending to pour pints, Fizzy D acting as official photographer for the afternoon. All of which was fun but it was a distraction from the main event. We were here to drink and I had already spotted two ciders I wanted to try. One of which shared a name with my mum.


60. Janet's Jungle Juice
Still feeling a bit funny from the earlier ciders I was sticking resolutely to half pints. The others mocked me, Fog going so far as to get absent, mutual friends to send me abusive texts, but I knew my capacity for drink wasn't the best and I didn't want to end up having to ruin the evening by crying off at 6.30 or something ridiculous.

A shame really because under normal circumstances I would've very much welcomed a full pint of Janet's Jungle Juice. It was a silly name but a fine cider, very much the sort of thing I was hoping The Apple would provide. It was rich, full flavoured and weighty. You could taste its strength but it wasn't overpowering. Kyle soon returned and he and Fizzy D continued to match me and Fog in our choices.

James, work over, joined us in The Apple and I was appalled when he arrived at the table with a pint of Chedder Valley, a drink he was apparently familiar with and had chosen to drink again of his own free will! The others took cautious sips from James' glass and each assured me in turn that it was nicer here, that The Apple must keep its pipes in better order. Good for The Apple but I decided to refrain from finding out for myself. It wasn't a tough decision. The sight of it on the table was enough to make my stomach turn over.

61. Rich's Medium Cider
Fog, Richard Fogharty to his employers, was delighted to find a cider with his name in it but cider number 61(Pints for Fog, Kyle and D, another half for me) was on the sweet side of medium, almost syrupy in fact. I thought it might just be me and my churning insides but Fog agreed it was very sweet indeed.

By now I was feeling a bit funny. It was time to get some sort of food inside ourselves, I was convinced of that. The Apple's website had led us to believe that a number off booze based dishes would be available, including shoulder of pork in cider sauce. Fog seemed to thing these would be cooked on site and of fairly decent quality so that they shoudn't be a problem for him and his gluten free diet. Unfortunately, the menu outside seemed to suggest that these meals only came encased in gluten heavy pastry under the guise of the 'Bristolian Pasty'. A quick enquiry revealed to us that even these were off the menu tonight as, 'No one prepared any today.'

Nevermind, perhaps a break from cider would do me could, settle my stomach. I figured we could head somewhere to eat, get some fresh air on the way, enjoy some food and maybe a soft drink and I'd be all set to carry on drinking back at the apple. We decided to go to the Brewer's Fair just down the road, opposite Old Dukes. It was recommended to us by the barman at The Apple and had the added advantage of being very, very close. What I hadn't counted on was that they would actually stock a new cider of their own.

62. Aspell's Peronelle's Blush Suffolk Cyder
It was against my better judgement to have another cider with dinner but I could hardly turn it down now we had unexpectedly found it. Besides, I thought this would be a good one. It came in the distinctively shaped Aspell bottles and was flavoured with a small amount of blackberry liquer.

Fog has traditionally been against fruity ciders and this wasn't much to his tastes either but he had to admit that it wasn't artificial tasting or too sweet. On the contrary, the authentic taste of blackberries gave this cider a slightly sour kick. I really liked it, although I found it a bit rich along with my fish and chips.

Over dinner we returned to the subject of liquid nitrogen, Kyle still convinced it could be used to chill pints of cider. James disagreed and, what was more, thought his girlfriend could give a decisive verdict one way or the other. I don't know her credentials but i do know he reffered to her as 'Science Girl' and she was apparently out at a swanky dinner with other scientists. After a couple of back and forth texts she informed us liquid nitrogen would freeze the pint instantly. Kyle remained convinced that it was just a question of getting the quantity right.

I was starting to feel dizzy so I took myself upstairs to the toilet. I sat for sometime in the cubical, wanting to sleep and knowing I couldn't. I don't really know why I felt so funny but I knew where it was leading. In the end I secumbed to the inevitable. I got up, leaned over the toilet bowl and threw up.

I have known several people who, on a night out, will go off to the toilets, throw up and then happily carry on drinking. I am not one of them. If I am sick, and it happens only rarely, that's it for me, I'm off home to bed. I very much felt like taking that option now. But I knew it wasn't an option. There were people downstairs waiting to drink cider and Fog in particular would be let down if I didn't keep on drinking. I cleaned up the toilet and then washed my face, rinsing my mouth out thoroughly. Then I headed down stairs to find the others, minus James who had gone for his bus, waiting for me. I walked to the table, took a last, decisive swig of Aspell's Blush and said, "Right, on to The Apple?" I very much doubt that this contrived performance looked half as composed or confident as I had intended.

63. Premium Black Rat Dry Cider
It was time to prioritize. We had seen this cider advertised on The Apple's website and were keen to add it to our list. It was this cider in particular that I had used to tempt Kyle along on our trip. He and my housemates Matt and Patch used to drink it back home in Frome before coming to Cardiff and always talk about it in glowing terms. It was famed for it's strength. One pub offered £1000 for anyone who could manage ten pints without falling over or being sick. For a brief time last year they had even served it in our local at the time, The Claude where I tried a pint myself.

I'd never seen it served in bottles before and I was suprised by the 4.7% volume the website claimed but we ordered four bottles anyway. It was immediately apparent that the 'Black Rat' presented to us was different to the 'Black Rat' we were hoping for. The Black Rat in The Claude had been still and cloudy, this was clear and sparkling. It tasted like Strongbow only slightly drier. It wasn't unpleasant, only slightly dissapointing.

Time was running out. There wasn't long left before we had to leave to catch the last train. At this point me and Fog had a bit of a disagreement. Fog really wanted to try some 8.3% cider that they only sold in half pints, claiming not to feel drunk enough for a day's drinking. Despite, or perhaps because of, being sick I didn't feel especially drunk myself but on the other hand I felt I was doing pretty well to still be drinking at all. I offered as a compromise to have a bottle of a new different cider but Fog wouldn't budge. I could see it from his point of view but I was already feeling bad enough, like I had let the side down. This argument was only making me feel guiltier. In the end Fog tried the 8.3% cider alone, so it didn't count towards the challenge, while I continued to nurse my bottle of Black Rat.

After that we had to head back to catch the train. Once on board Fizzy D couldn't resist cracking open his bottle of cider from the off-licence. Fog and I had to save ours but D seemed to be enjoying himself. By the time we arrived back in Cardiff I found myself in the mood for a take away. All in all, it hadn't been a bad day.

The Cider Diaries-9/2/09

The plan for the evening: Go to The Ernest Willows, a Weatherspoons pub on City Road for a cider and a meal. Then, head on to town for a gig by a band we saw once before and really enjoyed.

The first part of that fairly simple plan went swimmingly. Fog and a curry, I had nachos and we both enjoyed a pint of...

55. Weston's Old Rosie Cloudy Scrumpy Premium Cider
When these had been poured for us Fog remarked that it looked like orange cordial and I responded with a predictable comment about it looking more like urine. In truth I wasn't looking forward to this one. I have tried Old Rosie once, a couple of years ago and not enjoyed it at all. Neither Fog or I are fans of still ciders at the best of times and I gave Fog a few words of warning about what to expect...

So I was pleasantly suprised when I actually tasted Old Rosie to find that it was perfectly drinkable. Fog was also relieved to find it was much nicer than I'd led him to believe.
"This actually isn't nearly as bad as I thought."
"No, it's very palatable." It reminded me of Drunk Dewi, both in appearance and flavour. Elliot and Cath had warned us how horrible it would be but again it was perfectly drinkable. I began to theorise that the last time I'd tried Old Rosie I had been used to drinking Strongbow almost exclusively and that over a month of trying different ciders this year has already refined my palate to allow me to appreciate ciders that would have disgusted me before. "Do you know what I mean?" I asked.
"Yeah, you mean you're becoming more pretentious."

The idea now was to head to town for the gig. The band in question was called The King Blues and they were putting on a show that was free entry if you had a copy of The Big Issue. Despite wind and cold and bucketing rain we suspected it would be busy but didn't think it was worth queing massively early. We would turn up with our Big Issues, if they let us in great, if not, we proceed to the nearest warm pub and try to find a new cider. "Either way we win" as Fog put it.

We got there about five minutes before the doors opened to find a massive queue outside and reluctantly we joined the end of it. An hour later we were still queing in the unrelenting rain.
"Are your feet wet?" Fog asked me.
"I don't know, they might be wet or they might just be really cold, it's hard to tell at this point."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." My big toes in particular were so cold they were going numb. We didn't know if we'd get into the gig or have to go to the pub but it was beginning to feel like either way we've lost.

It wasn't long before the rest of the queue was turned away and it was time to find a nice, warm pub to sit in. Cold and wet, we were in no mood to be messing around popping our heads round the door and checking out ciders. We wanted to sit down and have a drink but without a new cider the evening really would be a damp squib. So we headed to the one bar that we thought would guarentee us a new cider. Bar Copa.

Last time we were here we tried Aspall's Suffolk Cyder but didn't try Strongbow Syrrus which was also behind the bar. Instead we made note of it for future reference, for just such an occasion as this. So we headed to bar Copa (Copa bar?) confident that we'd get at least one more cider under our belts as well as getting out of the bad weather. However, we were gutted to discover that the Syrrus had gone. As for the prospects of them getting more in? Not great. "It's the slowest selling cider we've ever had," the Barman told us, "We only got in a couple of cases months and months ago and it's only just gone."

Now we were here we decided to enjoy a bottle of Aspell's each and allow ourselves to ruminate on how much we both liked it. Which was all very well but it didn't do much to distract me from the fact that the evening was going quite badly. Since dinner we'd endured the elements and failed to get into a gig or enjoy a new cider for our troubles. We decided to head towards home and hope we could find somewhere on the way that had a new cider.

We didn't have much luck. We looked in on a posh looking place called Henry's but with no joy. They only had Strongbow and Magners. On occassion this year we have wandered into pubs and, finding nothing new, headed straight back out again. Usually we briefly explain to whoever is behind the bar what we're doing and why their selection of ciders isn't up to scratch right now but no offence it's just that we've already tried them all. The selection at Henry's was so feeble that neither of us could summon the energy to explain ourselves, instead we turned on our heels and headed for the door.

Fog remembered seeing a different cider in a bar called Bar Enroute not too far from where we live so we headed there next. Only to find that it was closed at about 9.45. Luck was clearly not on our side. As a last resort I invited Fog back to my house where I had two bottles of cider waiting. I warned Fog not to get too excited but he was still suprised and slightly disgusted by what I handed him back at mine.

56. Sainsbury's Low Alcohol English Cider
"I know, I know," I told Fog, "but it's still a new cider and it won't get us wrecked for tomorrow at least!" At less than 1% alcohol this cider could practically be used to sober you up after a long evening's drinking. I can see that there might be some practical uses for really low alcohol cider, designated drivers and that sort of thing. But this cider didn't have the weight and feel you expect from drinking a pint and it tasted of apple juice so if it comes down to it you may as well just drink apple juice, which is cheaper. Not a favourite for me and Fog, this ended an unsuccessful evening with a whimper, rather than a bang but I wasn't too crestfallen. I had a feeling that there was some good solid progress and fun ahead. Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

The Cider Diaries-8/2/09

Fog had a pretty epic hangover yesterday and while I picked ciders in the shop next to Koko's for our by-now tradtional Sunday drink at Fog's it was all he could do to lean against a shelf edge and groan. I didn't feel massively sympathetic because his hangover had led us to miss this weeks radio show completely and I wasn't about to take pity on him.

Still, he did look very pale and his colour didn't improve when we spotted yet another Brothers' cider. At this point Fog was in no mood for any ciders whatsoever but unfortunately for him he didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. I bought the ciders and we took them home. Still, I'm not entirely cold hearted and I did allow him the length of the Wales/Scotland six nations rugby match to steel himself for the drinks. He wasn't quite ready for the Brothers so we went instead for our other selection.

53. Country Choice Pear Cider
Sadly for Fog, and for me come to think of it, this cider wasn't very nice at all. When you first sip or swig it it has quite a strong, nasty flavour and this is hardly redeemed by the only slightly unpleasant pear aftertaste. Fog agreed that it was horrible but contrary Ceri quite liked it. After these it was time for the dreaded Brothers stuff. Brothers, we mustn't forget, have consistantly produced some of the worst ciders we have had the misfortune to try.

54. Brothers Toffee Apple Cider
Actually, me and Fog had tried this cider once before. We had a bottle each over lunch at Koko's one weekend last year. It's a very sweet drink that doesn't really compliment a Sunday roast, ordered by me more out of curiousity than anything else. So, knowing it was out there somewhere, we've been keeping an eye out for it but most pubs have stopped selling the stuff because no one wants to buy it. So when I saw it in the shop this morning I knew we had to get it while we could.

The name would be enough to put most people off, toffee apple cider? But it was the smell that got Ceri. "Ugh, that smells disgusting. If it doesn't taste any better than it smells I can see myself struggling with this one."
"It tastes better than it smells," I assured him blithely. I could see Fog over Ceri's shoulder, grinning and shaking his head.

Ceri winced on his first sip. "This is horrible, it's gonna be difficult to drink this."
"I think," Fog suggested, "It's one to drink as quickly as possible, get it out of the way." But when I was finishing my bottle off Ceri still had over half a pint left. An hour later again and it looked like he had barely touched it. Eventually it was gone but he hadn't enjoyed the experience. To nobody's great suprise Fog didn't care for it either.

I actually didn't mind it. Yes it was sweet and sticky and no, you couldn't drink more than a bottle at a time but it did have a distinctive toffee flavour which I thought was quite a pleasant novelty. The trick is, think of it as a sweet, soft drink like a milkshake or smoothie. It's not the same pleasure you get from a satisfying pint of good cider but it is a pleasure nonetheless. Because of this it may well be my favourite of all the Brothers ciders but I still can't imagine any of us bothering with it again.

The Cider Diaries-7/2/09

Today is a sad day for Cardiff Cider Diarists, of which I am the chief and possibly only example. I took a call from Fog at lunchtime and he had some bad news for me.

A couple of weeks ago I was walking home from the pub with Fog and Emma, fresh bottles of cider in hand, when we passed an off-licence on Woodville Road close to our where we live. Although we had some cider already I wanted to check if they had others we hadn't already tried. Especially because Fog thought that they wouldn't.

Inside I was soon gloating because they had three new ciders. This would have been good enough but there was more. Amongst the three was Frome Valley Medium cider, a close relation to Frome Valley Dry cider, one of the highest ratest ciders we've tried so far. I was genuinely excited to try some. I was going to buy them but Fog stopped me. "We don't need any now. We've got some for tonight. Now we've found them we know where they are for when we're running out of places to find new ciders." Reluctantly I agreed.

So you can imagine my display when Fog called to tell me that the place was closing down. "I just walked past the place and the shutters are half down, they're loading everything into a truck." I'm gutted. This experience has taught me a very valuable lesson. If you get the chance to try and seldom seen and delicious cider seize it. Don't let that opportunity slip through your fingers. It's too late for me this time, I only hope others can learn from my mistakes. Or Fog's mistakes, if we're being strictly accurate.

The Cider Diaries-3/2/09

I met Fog briefly today for a quick cider in O Neil's between work and the cinema.

52. Jaques Cider with Fruit De Bois

This cider comes in a bottle that makes it look more like wine and has a colour that could be red wine as well. We ordered one bottle between us and found a table for two while Fog expressed mock horror that we might be taken for a gay couple. "Oh Fog, you are silly!" I told him as I patted him playfully on the arm.

The cider didn't taste of pink as we suspected but rather, in Fog's phrase, "like the berry goodness of Ribena." We both agreed that while it wasn't exactly unpleasant we'd never order it again. This has been a rather brief and boring entry so I'm adding a couple of cider photos.

The Cider Diaries-2/2/09

My friend Sian has been warning me about the dangers of brewing alcohol at home. "You have to be really careful to sterilise everything properly. We brewed our own beer when we were at uni, to celebrate the end of our exams but it ended up with blue mould floating on the top of it."
"Ugh!" I could feel my stomach turning over at the very thought of it.
"Yeah, it was quite grim, I only managed half a pint. Mind you I was quite hungover that day." Lovely.

Anyway, I went round to Fog's place last night where a bunch of us were watching the Will Ferrel movie Stranger Than Fiction. We have already learned that it is difficult to follow a film properly and give the discussion of cider the attention it deserves. We're not about to stop trying though.

50. Marks and Spencer Vintage Herefordshire Cider 2007
Me and Ceri both quite liked this strong(7.2%) but tasty cider. Fog on the other hand wasn't impressed, complaining that it was no better than the Marks and Spencers Organic Cider from before. This led on to a long and protracted discussion about Fog's wrong headed opinions about organic food and distracted us from furthur discussion of this cider, which was very nice.

51. Orchard Mill Medium Dry Cider
By this point we were all quite engrossed in the film and in any case it Orchard Mill was another run-of-the-mill large plastic bottle of cider, barely worth our attention. Ceri called it 'bland' which pretty much sums it up.

The Cider Diaries-1/2/09

Ever since we started our cider challenge, there is one question that people have been asking me. 'Are you going to make your own cider?' My stock answer to this question has been 'We're looking in to it.' So far, 'looking into it,' has involved little more than Fog suggesting we visit a friend of his who makes his own ciders as a 'research trip'. We had the best of intentions but those intentions weren't getting much done. However, this week we have made some exciting steps towards our own cider brewing.

A few days ago my friend and colleague Nick Shepley kindly volunteered some of his own apples from his own apple trees for us to use to make our own cider. I gratefully accepted this offer, not realising that Fog would have some similar good fortune over the weekend. I don't know what variety of apples Nick grows but if their good enough for Nick to make apple crumble with, and apparently they are, I'm sure they'll be more than good enough for us to make our own cider. Apparently this year's crop should be ready in july/August which should give us plenty of time to prepare.

It was short sighted of me but I considered Fog's trip home to Leicester something of a hindrance to our cider challenge. How could we possibly make any progress with Fog in a different country to me?

Of course, if I stopped to think about it for a moment I might have realised that at the very least Fog's trip might be a chance for him to find some new ciders and bring them back with him. As it turned out, Fog achieved much more than I could have hoped for.

Much of the credit must go to Fog's mum. Apparently, while Fog and his dad enjoyed a rugby match on TV Fogs mum took the time to read all of the cider diaries so far and after the match she offered to take Fog to a local off-licence with a fine selection of ciders where she proudly introduced him to the shopkeeper and explained the cider challenge.

According to Fog this shopkeeper was a lovely chap called John who told Fog all about the cider making process and also gave him prices for the equipment we would need to make our own cider. One of the key things you need is a press for juicing the apples. I know of one guy who brews his own cider with a press made from the drum of a washing machine. I figured that if people were cannibalising household appliances to make these things buying an actual press of our own might prove to be prohibitively expensive. Not according to John, who reckons he can sell Fog everything we need, including a press, for under £100.

So, from having nothing a week ago, we now have a supply of apples, a source for cider making equipement and that's not all. Ceri has also pitched in with an exciting contribution. He has a giant, novelty money box in the shape of a beer bottle(I'd prefer a bottle of cider but what can you do?) He's been saving up all his coppers in it for months and reckons there's already about £80 in there, roughly speaking. He said to us this evening that if me and Fog wanted to start contributing to it we can put these savings towards our cider making. Despite little real effort it seems everything is coming together for us. It goes to show, sometimes good things happen to lazy people.

As well as introducing Fog to John, Fog's mum also helped us by buying six bottles of cider for Fog to bring back and enjoy with me and Ceri. So thanks Fog's mum, if you're reading this, your help is much appreciated. We tried the first of these this evening and I was genuinely excited when a handed me a bottle of...

46. Thatchers Wurzel Me Cider
According to the bottle this is the official cider of somerset band The Wurzels. The Wurzels of course are famously cider drinkers. There are clues to be found in their music, in the lyrics of such cryptic songs as I Am A Cider Drinker, Drink Up Thy Zider, Drink Drink Yer Zider Up and I'll Never Get a Scrumpy Here. Not only that but Thatchers have been behind some of the finest ciders we've tried all year so I was expecting good things from this cider and I wasn't dissapointed.

The label claims "Thatchers ciders have real character and are full of Somerset flavour and tradition-just like The Wurzels." Personally I'm in no rush to taste a Wurzel so I'll take their word for it about the Somerset flavour but Wurzel Me Cider is certainly a tasty drop. It's not quite as lovely as Thatchers Katy but it's still very enjoyable and refreshing. Fog and Ceri enjoyed it too.

These days it seems like almost anyone will put their name to almost anything if the price is right. It's good to know that The Wurzels are only endorsing good quality cider products and not simply taking big money to sell poor quality rubbish. Another bonus is that for every bottle of Wurzel Me Cider sold 5p is donated to the BUI Prostate Cancer Care Appeal. Another good reason to try it if you get the chance.

I looked up "I Am A Cider Drinker" on youtube where I found a clip of The Wurzels playing their anthem to our favourite refreshing beverage on what appears to be a kids TV show. There are even children in the background singing along to the chorus. I'm pretty sure that these days they have guidelines that prevent that sort of thing.

With such a good start me and Fog were settling in for a good evening's cider drinking but Ceri had promised his girlfriend Claire that he would go round to her house in Barry. It was with a heavy heart that he headed into the cold night toward the train station leaving me and Fog to enjoy our next cider.

47. +46 Apple cider
Maybe this should have been our 46th cider, given the name. I've tried visiting their website(www.plus46.co.uk) but I can't find anything that tells me +46 what?!? "This is very appley isn't it?" was Fog's first reaction. It was indeed appley, and sweet and fizzy. It was, on first taste, delicious but it was too sweet. It was like an apple flavoured cousin of the Broadoak Pear Cider. Fog really liked it but thought it was probably a bit sweet to have more than one pint at a time.

Having enjoyed both of the ciders Mrs Fog had bought us it was time for my contrubution to the evening. A while ago I was walking past Marks and Spencers when I had a thought. M&S famously sell all own brand foods, no Heinz beans or Kellogs cereals etc. So it seemed to stand to reason that they'd have their own ciders. I was right, they had two. The first of which I brought round to Fog's this evening.

48. Marks and Spencer Organic Cider
A pretty good cider too I thought, so I was suprised by Fog's reaction. "It's alright, not great but what do you expect from organic stuff?"
"What!??!" I asked, ever so slightly scandalised.
"You know when you have organic stuff like apples or whatever and it's not as good as the regular stuff?"
"No," I was suprised, my experience of organic food was pretty much all positive. When I was at uni my friend Sarah used to have organic vegetables delivered and she cooked for me on occasion. Those parsnips and carrots I had in her stews and stir frys were the finest I have ever tasted. Full of flavour. Fog remained impassive and unconvinced by my telling him this.
"For me organic just means a less good version. This is ok but it's lacking something, I don't know what." Oh well, I liked it.

49. Special Vat medium dry Cider
This was another cider from a two litre plastic bottle, most of which are pretty average. I had slightly higher hopes for this one because unlike most of the ciders we have found in bottles like this Fog had actually seen this one on tap somewhere. Apparently they used to serve it in The Central bar in town a few years ago. Fog used to drink it because it was both cheaper and stronger than Strongbow. So, we poured it out and tasted it and it was...pretty average.

The Cider Diaries-30/1/09

What with various commitments this week, Emma leaving for eight months, my work at the comedy club etc, I wasn't expecting to drink any more ciders this month. I thought I'd have to settle for 43 in January. Which isn't too bad when you think about it. Our last chance was the weekend but Fog, not unreasonably, was off home to see his mum for her birthday.

Luckily he decided to go home on Saturday morning rather than Friday night so when I got a call on Friday night I was happy to go and meet Fog in The Slug and Lettuce with Ceri and all of his colleagues from work for a drink. For a moment it looked like Magners and Strongbow were the only options but luckily they had one other cider behind the bar.

46. St. Heliers Pear Cider
After the blueberry version last Sunday it was nice to actually try the original pear St Heliers. Actually, I used to drink this stuff fairly regularly. It used to be the pear cider they served in The End when Fog used to put on bands there on Sunday nights. Every week I would have steak and chips plus a couple of bottles of St Heliers until they sold out and stopped stocking it.

I remembered it as the finest pear cider I had ever tasted, a lovely pear flavour, not too sharp but not too sweet and very easy to drink. On tasting it this time I enjoyed it but not quite as much as I was expecting. It was still very pleasant but not as nice as the Western's premium Organic Pear Cider we tried while cooking stew the other day. It certainly tasted like it had real fruit in it, which is more than could be said for its blueberry flavoured brother.

Fog rated it just below the Broadoak Pear Cider but admitted if you had to drink one all night it would be this because the Broadoak is just too sweet. Ceri dissapointed by not only choosing not to join us for a bottle but even refusing a sip from ours.

After that we followed Ceri and his colleagues to Bar Cuba for another drink only to find that the only ciders they served were Magners and Strongbow. I ordered my third strongbow of the year and for the second time found myself let down by it. After so many enjoyable ciders in recent weeks I found it a struggle to finish a whole pint of Strongbow. Make of that what you will. Anyway, it is now my solemn duty to inform you, objectively and without bias, that BAR CUBA IS RUBBISH AND ANYONE WHO DRINKS THERE IS A TOOL.

Fog, Ceri and I enjoyed a conversation about WWE wrestling, because yes, we are that cool, but I found myself restless, unable to concentrate. I couldn't really enjoy myself knowing that and Fog were together, drinking cider that didn't in any way contribute towards our challenge. I knew that it was time to move on. And we did. We headed for Koko Goriliaz where, I had been assured, there was yet another new cider waiting for us.

47. St. Heliers Pear Cider-Raspberry and Lime
Jamo was behind the bar at Kokos and he served us this cider with just one glass between us so we could pour some out to check the colour. It was very pink. I offered Jamo a swig from my bottle. "It's very sour isn't it? Fog clearly doesn't think much of it." He nodded at Fog who was wincing and pulling a face. "Fog hates anything that that tastes of pink," I explained, "but I think this is better than the Brothers Strawberry. It's not too sweet."
"I like the Brother's Strawberry," Jamo admitted. The St Heliers Raspberry and lime was pretty horrible, sour and artificial tasting. Fog, with typical tact, declared it, "shit."

Jamo also recommended we try a cider called Smiling but Legless. He's the third person to recommend this particular cider after my housemate Matt and Matt's friend Kyle. Clearly we will have to give this a go at some point. As soon as we can get hold of some in fact.