John J. Kellys Traditional Irish Hard Cider

Brewed by Florida Beer Company
Style: Cider
Melbourne, Florida USA

If you are looking for a dry hard cider, this is the deal. It has the taste, color and finish of the stuff that I used to get in the pubs in England. A total pleasure to drink.

Perry-like apple aroma, slightly doughy and almost buttery. Clear, light golden color. Fantastic balance and even tastefully salty. Hearty for a cider. Fair amount of carbonation. Listed ABV of 4.6% is suspect; mine seemed considerably less potent. Highly recommended.

Pours clear pale gold with a moment of bubbly white head. The aroma is moderate in strength and emits some green apples, a sense of white wine and a bit of alcohol chemicals. The taste is a bit apple-y with mostly semi ripe mixed with ripe apples to give it a bit of apple tartness and apples sweetness. Midway and into the finish it really dries out and takes on a bit of a white wine fruitiness. Decent stuff creating a nice balance between sweetness and dryness.

Poured into a pint glass. Soapy head. Clear, cream soda color. Smells of still water, faint apple juice, & Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Taste is mostly just mildly sweet apple chips mixed with a little white grape juice & sloppy alcohol. Half sour, mild tartness. Carbonation is just strong enough. It dries up on the blank finish. Sulfites are mostly in check. Better then Magner’s. Better then average cider.

I think only the second Irish cider I’ve had. This is substantially more sweet than Magners/Bulmers Original, but still leaves a bit to be desired.

Draft at Penny Lane. Smells like apples, typical appearance, maybe a bit on the lighter side of yellow. Quite sweet, standard apple flavors. Decent, no off flavors, but nothing to get worked up over.

Pours like a ginger-ale with a fizzy, white head to boot. Aroma and flavor showed more complexity than I expected, with wooden notes and honey along with light vinous sourness to complement the predominant apple presence. Spritzy mouthfeel, dry finish and not as much of the gut-bomb acidity as I’ve found in other ciders. Above average for the style, and an interesting addition to the standard lineup of Guinness products I encountered at a St. Pat’s Day gathering.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/ohe/library/bodyima in my sister-in-law’s fridge. <font size=-1>

Not terrible as a cider. It’s um, hard, and it’s name is Kelly. And it’s Irish!