James Thornett

Back from holiday and desperately in need of a drink, another two ciders take the test.

From the same Thatchers set of single variety ciders, similar to the previously reviewed Katy variety, these drinks are made purely from Coxs and Spartan apples.

First, Coxs.

A simple and stylish. yet rather boring label is only let down further by [...]

You know what it’s like… you spend ages waiting for a bus and then two come along at once.

Judging by the number of people that reach this blog via cider related google searches there’ll be at least 2, if not 3, very happy people that the cider survey is back on track with another [...]

Another variety from Gwatkin Cider, Herefordshire – and this time one that is going to seriously confuse the scoring system.

It’s a perry, otherwise known as pear cider. Yep, that’s right, it’s made from pears, not apples.

Worst of all, I didn’t actually realise this until after I had initially scored the drink thinking it was [...]

This is more like it, a cider with a properly stupid name and a ridiculous label to boot.

Sadly I couldn’t understand what the picture on the front was about until someone explained to me the story of William Tell. Later, on looking at the rear label on the bottle, it became even clearer… I [...]

Another variety from Westons who’ve been scoring pretty well on the survey so far. Now, normally I prefer my cider dry rather than sweet so I was quite interested to see how this would compare to the others.

As is the way with sweet ciders the alcohol content is also slightly lower than the dry [...]

This is “… the most popular cider in Thatchers single varietal cider range.” according to the dedicated Katy website.

Thatchers Cider have produced a clever concept of creating cider from a single variety of apples, their Cox and Spartan varieties are coming up later in this survey.

As for Katy, she’s not half bad when it comes [...]

Having just seen the Westons Cider website I think they deserve bonus marks – you can even adopt a tree! …and go visit your tree at any time, Wow!

Anyway, back to the cider. According to the bottle, “‘1880′ is a premium, pale amber cider blending a number of selected ciders. Rich and fruity [...]

“Gold is a crisp, refreshing cider with a smooth appley taste and bright sparkle”, it says on the bottle.

Thatchers Gold, from Somerset, is labelled as a medium dry cider and, whilst it does everything it says on the bottle (see above) I think maybe it’s just not my cup of tea (or cider).

In fact the [...]

For anyone following this exciting and informative survey you can now access the current standings, with links back to each individual review, from this league table page.

The new brand was launched in February this year with the aim to promote a “a contemporary and confident cider brand with unisex appeal that has authenticity and taste appeal at its heart.” according to Brand Republic.

The outcome of this work is a dull, boring label and, sadly, the cider within is not much better. [...]