How's winter treating everyone? Anyone travel to some exotic places to escape the cold? Not me, I love the winter! However, the last vacation Liz and I traveled for was a great one. We've mentioned it before, but in 2012 we traveled over to the United Kingdom for a week. We spent half of our stay in England, and the other half in Scotland. The whole experience was amazing, but our time in Edinburgh, Scotland is something we yearn to return to as soon as we can! So when I was shopping around for this weeks cider, I was more than happy to bring a little bit of Scotland home with me.
This Scottish Cider from the Thistly Cross Cidershed comes to us from Dunbar, Scotland. It's imported for our drinking pleasure by USA Importer Orchard Gate in Raleigh, NC (thanks guys!). On the bottle, they keep it strictly business letting us know that this one packs a fair punch at 6.2% alcohol by volume. As you can see in the picture below, they do give you a little pamphlet about themselves and the brew you are about to enjoy. Here's a little bit of what they had to say about their Scottish Cider.
Thistly Cross is at the forefront of the craft cider movement in Britain, and the first and only Scottish cidermaker recognized by the Association of Cidermakers.
Thistly Cross Cider promises full and real fruit flavor. Brewed in small batches, we slow ferment our ciders for a strong taste profile, and mature for smoothness and a beautiful depth of color that varies from fruit to fruit, season to season.
I have a feeling that liz should go first because she talks about Scotland all the time. I'm sure she's more than excited to give this one a go:
Thistly Cross is definitely not thistly. It is so incredibly smooth, a bit heavy, a bit sweet, and has that almost caramel-like flavor of an almost perfectly fermented apple. Even with all of those fantastic things, I feel like it's missing something. I don't think it's quite sweet enough, maybe. It could use just a little bit of tartness. Pour me a tall one, because I think this is one of my favorite ciders I have ever tasted. I am giving Thistly Cross Scottish Cider 4.5 apples.
Now it's my turn:
First thing I noticed is that Thistly Cross smells like a regular beer. It pours with the texture of a regular beer as well, but it is noticably sweeter. Another nice thing is that nothing about this one is overwhelming. Towards the end of the sip there is just a hint of iron and the tartness is mellow throughout the sip. I also get the impression that this cider could be enjoyed bottle after bottle and wouldn't be a problem at all. Being so smooth but heavy, Thistly Cross gets 4 outta 5 from me.
I guess everything from Scotland is having a lasting impression on us, find out if it does the same for you! There ya have it, another cider adventure in the books. Tune in next week and as always, drink responsibly. I'm going to go find some haggis to enjoy now...
Happy Tasting!
-Liz & Rob
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