The Ultimate Craft Cider Advent Calendar - Tasting Notes

Welcome to the Cider Advent Calendar 2021 Tasting notes, here you will find a brief intro to the cider and the cider makers themselves.

All the ciders featured in our cider advent calendar are made from 100% fresh pressed juice, from traditional cider makers with real stories, plenty of passion and not available in supermarkets. Whatever your tastes there is a cider for everyone and lets not forget all these ciders are vegan-friendly, have no added flavourings and are gluten-free. What’s not to love?

Day 1 - Pilton Tamoshanta

Based in the cider heartland of Somerset, Pilton make an exciting range of whole juice ciders.

Their core ingredients are the bittersweet cider apples that are grow in traditional orchards around the parish of Pilton. These use the artisan method of keeving to transform the juice from this full flavoured fruit into unique naturally sweet ciders. 

Finally, they weave in different yeasts, other fruits and barrel aging techniques to create a variety of small batch drinks.

Tamoshanta is a fruity keeved cider, partially fermented in oak barrels.

Keeving and initial fermentation takes place in large vats but on Burns Night the young cider is transferred to Scotch whisky barrels to finish and mature.

Medium sweet with smokey vanilla tannin, Tamoshanta is great served chilled, with Somerset Cheddar.

 

DAY 2 - Oliver Cider - Pomona Rollling Blends

Oliver's make a selection of fine Herefordshire ciders and perries with an emphasis on "balance" and  "character" coupled with "drinkability". 

Based around the spontaneous ferment of selected varieties of cider apple and perry pear from fruit grown in Herefordshire and the surrounding 3 Counties orchards.

Nominally referred to as "minimal intervention", Olivers strive to "take what the fruit gives", respecting the great heritage and traditions of the past but with an eye to innovating for the future. What that really means is we mill and press great fruit, expose the juice to marauding and hungry wild yeasts and then for our part blend and bottle the resulting ferments.

Pomona Rolling Blend has a Fruity and spicey nose. Bittersharp cider apples blend featuring the Catley Red apple with some Browns acidity. Refreshingly satisfying when drunk straight from the fridge. Full mouthfeel with bright ripe fruit and round body finished with drying tannins and crisp acidty.

 

 

DAY 3 - Blue Barrel Cider Day

Blue Barrel Cider is a CAMRA award winning traditional Nottingham cider produced in Sherwood and Clifton, Nottinghamshire. Their cider is crafted by the local community, picked, milled and pressed locally and helps support Summerwood, a community garden project.

Blue Barrel cider was born when Summerwood Community Garden in Clifton purchased a tiny press and cobbled together a homemade bike scratter and with the help of local volunteers started to produce our own cider. Due to its popularity, they decided to start selling it to raise funds for the garden. 

All proceeds go towards running projects for local residents including sessions with local families, vulnerable adults and educational projects with local youth and school groups.