I recently suggested I may take advantage of the Hastings Old Town Cider Festival 2023 (blog), and imbibe cider during the festival... Well, I just sort of missed it, arriving at each of the 4 venues the day after the festival ended, surely they wouldn't have run out of ciders already?!? And I was correct, I drank cider at them all, only small measures of course...
I first visited The Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA (website), as it's the first pub you reach in the old town when approaching from the west, which, unsurprisingly had many ciders left, although they always have plenty of ciders on sale anyway... So I had a couple there, first off, the 4.0% Gooseberry Cider (above) from (Sussex) South Downs Cider (website), which suggests the use of gooseberries in addition to their usual desert apples in the fermentation. It had a deep reddish colour, slightly cloudy, starting off sweet to the taste, but drying out a wee bit sharp, I wrote 'not bad' which means I was very happy to drink it! 👌
My second cider was from Herefordshire producer Gwatkin Cider (website), their 6.0% Norman Cider (above). Apparently, the Norman Cider apple was imported from Normandy, and there are 'half a dozen apple varieties of the same name' differing in size and shape, but mostly sharing a similar flavour. This cider had an orangey colour, was cloudier, and was much drier than the first cider I had imbibed, medium dry to dry in taste, and another 'not bad' scored by me! 👍
I then wandered on up to the Jenny Lind, 69 High Street TN34 3EW (website) and had the first of a few ciders/perries from Sussex based Ascension Cider (website), both cloudy here, their 4.0% Shimmy (on the left in the photogroph above). Now this is a very interesting cider to taste, my notes say a big apple flavour, as I expected, but I've since found out that it includes lemon and pineapple in the mixture! The lemon obviously offsets the pineapple to the taste, a sweet start with a dry tartness in the finish. It wasn't my favourite cider of the day, but I'd be happy to drink it if there were no other ciders available. 😉
The other cider to the right in the photograph was also from Ascension Cider (website), their 4.8% Pilot, made with 100% Pilot apples. Ascension acknowledge that this, the first ever cider produced by them, can change flavour slightly from batch to batch, as the 'sugars and acids in each apple are dependent upon their variety, their terroir and the conditions they were grown in.' This cider was dry all the way through the drinking experience, and I liked it... 👍
I then ventured over The Bourne (a road now, not a river for many a year) to the Crown, 64-66 All Saints Street TN34 3BN (website) and drank yet another Ascension (website) product, but a perry this time, their 3.3% Comice (above). The pears used are descendants of Doyenne du Comice pears first introduced to the UK from France in 1858. This cloudy perry had a fair amount of flavour considering the strength, it was dry and slightly tart, and not bad at all. 👌
My fourth and the final venue, was back down to the 'front' and the Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street TN34 3AR (website). Here I had a cider from Welsh producer Hallets (website), their 6.0% PX Sherry Finished (above). This was a clear rusty red coloured cider with a tropical fruity aroma and hints added to the apple taste, and another that was very easy to drink, vying with the Gwatkin and Pilot as my favourites of the day 👍 I'll say equal first! 😉
Cheers 🍻
My apologies for not tasting every cider and perry in the festival!
