Gwatkin Norman Cider

Bottle from Oakchurch Farm Shop, Staunton on Wye, Herefordshire, consumed 13-10-09 Pours golden edging towards orangey and perfectly clear. Medium sweet with a nice curly apple skin flavour, some apple blossom as well. This is really tasty stuff. A6 A5 F8 P4 Ov14 3.7

3rd cask fest at Chelsea. $7; I really ran through these sheets. Unsettled, dusty orange color. Practically still. Faint fungal smell, along with some skins & just a little vinegar. Taste was much less barnyard then I expected. Gently sweet, quarter-sour. Dusty, deep, & juicy. A so-so tart bite on the finish. Barely a trace of carbonation. Didn’t notice much alcohol. Felt a little itchy finishing up, but refreshing overall.

Bottle, from stall at Lincolnshire Show. Gold, no head and no condition. Full entincing apple sweet nose with touches of alcohol and oakiness, soft and fruity in the mouth with plenty of sweetness balanced by a dry oakiness and low phenol notes and a faint hint of apple skin, long sweet apple finish with retronasal alcohol and oak and a drying at the back of the throat. Dangerously drinkable.

Cask… Cloudy golden cider with no head. The aroma is a bit funky; certainly appley - red delicious. Light to medium-bodied and astringent with a rumor of carbonation. Sweet, sugary and appley with only a hint of acidity in the flavor and finish.

Pours light copper. Aroma is tart apples. Flavor is pretty much a direct hit of a sweet dark apple cider, without a lot of funk or tartness. Like something Grandma would have made.

Cask @ Redlight. Pours a nice dark apple color. Aroma of apple skins and cherry. Taste is tart apple skin, cherry sourness with some sweetness on the end. Very nice easy drinking cider.

Cask @ redlight redlight. Medium amber, verging on copper. No head. Big apple nose. Fruity apples in the flavor, apple skins and a touch boozy. Very round mouthfeel, nicely drying.

Cask at Redlight Redlight. Pours a cloudy medium amber color with no head or lace. Thin sheeting coats the glass on a swirl. The nose is quite nice, showing notes of overly ripened red apples, cider vinegar, tart green apple skins, and traces of citric lemon. Flavors follow suit, showing nice balance between browned, sweet red apples and tart green. Traces of brown sugar and tannic, dry skins lend complexity. Medium-light bodied and round up front, transitioning to dry and chalky on the finish. Tasty stuff.