Made by: Cidersmiths

Made in: London

Style: Medium Sweet

ABV: 4.5%

Carbonation: Sparkling

Bought: Waitrose

Price: £2.19 (500ml bottle)

Producer’s website: Cidersmiths

So this is a good example of where the ‘honest’ bit of honest cider can get messy and complicated. Cidersmiths is a London company based in Hoxton and if you read their website it says all the right things. It declares a ‘relentless pursuit of interesting cider’ (tick), and highlights its three guiding principles: ‘Good cider is never made from concentrate, only from juice because it tastes way better’ (tick); ‘knowing where our apples come from, what varieties they are and how they are grown’ (tick); and ‘cider should be made in a sustainable way that leaves our beautiful countryside just as we found it’ (tick). What’s not to like about any of that?

As is so often the case with properly-made cider, however, what complicates matters is not what’s said – but what’s left unsaid. Cidersmiths ciders are, apparently, made under contract for them by Sheppy’s Cider. (If this is not the case, I’ll be more than delighted to stand corrected.) The website does make one small and fleeting reference to working ‘closely with Somerset cider maker David Sheppy’ but it’s hardly full disclosure.

How this fact affects their claims to being craft cider makers is up for debate, but it’s quite an important thing to leave out. Then there’s the fact that the bottles (and website) no longer refer to Hoxton Cidersmiths, having dropped the ‘Hoxton’ bit. Presumably because hipster north-east London doesn’t resonate with the wider world of potential cider buyers in quite the same way as, say, Somerset or Herefordshire.

Is all of this dishonest? Or merely just pragmatic? At the end of the day, they’re setting out to make good quality cider more or less the right way and that’s what really matters, I suppose.

TASTING NOTES, AFTER A FASHION:

Tonight’s tasting is the Harry Masters’ Jersey, a 4.5% blend ‘based’ on bittersweet Harry Master’s Jersey apples sourced from Somerset. It’s not clear if that means it’s a blend based on HMJ or whether it’s a single varietal. Cidersmiths say it’s towards the sweeter end of the scale ‘with enough character to be different but not too challenging’. Shame. I like challenging. But here goes.

It pours a very pale gold, crystal clear and quite lively.

On the nose it’s a gentle, sweet, approachable creature, as Cidersmiths promised it would be. There are little hints of depth in there with tiny notes of something leathery and a very, very feint smokiness.

On the palate it’s very sweet and light with a gentle acidity that develops the longer you hold it in the mouth and actually brings it together quite nicely for a brief but almost-dry-enough finish. No astringency worthy of the name. It’s the fizz that lifts it in mid-palate but it has a sort of vague sweetness towards the back end that reminds me of licking a candy apple.

It’s clearly been designed as a crowd-pleaser and I’m sure it performs that role admirably but for me it’s a bit flat-footed, lacking in depth and, well, unchallenging. Having said all that, it’s a well enough made cider – it’s just not my bag.

3️⃣/5️⃣