Made by: Ramborn Cider Co

Made in: Born, Luxembourg

Style: Medium Dry

ABV: 5.8%

Carbonation: Lightly Sparkling

Bought: N/a (PR sample)

Price: N/a (330ml can)

Producer’s website: Ramborn Cider Co

This being a blog about honest cider, I should admit up-front that in the interests of transparency the Ramborn cider I’m trying out tonight was a free sample from the PR company that handles Ramborn in the UK.

The fact that Ramborn even has a PR company in the UK is interesting in itself and tells its own story, but there’s no question that this quirky Luxembourgish brand has earned a lot of respect among the UK’s real cider loving fraternity with its commitment to 100% freshly pressed juice from apples grown in traditional local orchards on large, standard trees. No concentrate. No industrial plantations.

Ramborn claims to be the first Luxembourg cider producer, and is possibly the only one too, although I haven’t been able to confirm this yet. Apparently, people have been fermenting the juice of traditional apples and pears in the region at least as far back as the Romans. Alas, over the last century this tradition has been in decline with much of the fruit going to waste. Ramborn has committed to changing all that by reviving the tradition of cider-making, putting all that fruit to good use and breathing new life into traditional orchards throughout the country.

Today the company works with more than 100 farmers to revive, maintain and improve traditional orchards, paying a fair price for their fruit into the bargain. I’ve no idea what a fair price for fruit is in Luxembourg, but I’d hazard a guess that it’s not cheap because nothing in Luxembourg is.

TASTING NOTES, AFTER A FASHION:

The Original Medium Dry is made with a traditional (for Luxembourg) blend of apples including Rambo, Boskoop, Bohnapfel and Luxemburger Triumpf, all sourced from the traditional meadow orchards around Born.

It pours very, very pale straw and is crystal clear.

On the nose it’s quite restrained and takes a bit of work to get it to start sharing its secrets. There’s some crisp red apple and some little woody notes.

Take a sip and it starts being a lot more co-operative with some very sweet red apple that quickly develops into a deeper apple pie sweetness with some burnt candy notes. There’s a damp wood thing going on too, but it’s not unpleasant. Quite low acidity and also quite light and a little thin. Keep working at it and there is some vanilla and cream notes in there too and a bit of liquorice.

By mid-palate a bit of astringency muscles its way in and hangs in there for a smooth, gently drying finish with some odd savoury notes towards the back end too. I’d say smoked ham if that didn’t sound so bizarre.

3️⃣/5️⃣