Cider for me is the best alcoholic drink, from when I was sipping a shared bottle of white light in the local park The summer months it has always had the same refreshing, relaxing and rejuvenating effect. My appreciation of this drink has lasted year after year, so this article will hope to enlighten you just a bit more on what is cider, how cider is produced, and what is is the best cider. I hope it's useful.
Cider is a renowned drink throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland; It comes in a range of forms from the traditional dry cider to the sweet cider, which allows it to be enjoyed by a whole range of individuals.
Most apples grown are suitable for cider making, though in a region like Kent cider-makers prefer to use a mixture of eating and cider apples or just apple cider if you are in the West Country.
On collection of these apples they are immediately grounded down to what is known as a pomace Or pommage. This process back in the day would be undertaken at cider mills by hand or using either water or horse power.
After this, the all-important fermentation process takes place, this is done at a Temperatures of 4-16 degrees C, which is low for most fermentations but is beneficial to cider at this temperature. Before the fermentation process consumes all the sugar, the cider is moved to a new vat, leaving dead yeast cells and any other undesirable materials at the bottom of the old vat.
Finally the last stage of fermentation creates a small Amount of carbonation, which can be enhanced by adding some extra sugar. After a three month fermentation period, the cider is ready to drink, but it is commonplace to leave it in vats for up to two years.
They are then removed from the vats and bottled. In some large-scale cider production they have ciders produced from different varieties of apple, which in this case the cider may be blended to accord with market taste. When the cider is bottled, some extra sugar is added for sparkle. Cider bottles are normally used but some home brewers use beer bottles, which work well and are inexpensive.
The West-Country is known as a leading cider producing region and one of the best (according to my opinion). The majority of ciders in this part of the United Kingdom are known as Scrumpy which is a local term for small or withered apple.
In Cornwall there is a range of traditional ciders such as the previously mentioned Scrumpy Cider which is a strong one
Recently a new Cider has started becoming popular across the UK. The drink that I speak of is the Cornish Rattler. This cider was originally only available in draft format, but after requests from many customers they have now bottled it. Made to be different in taste and appearance, this cloudy Cornish cyder is 6% ABV and sparkling. It was voted Best Bottled Cider at ciderfestivals.co.uk 2008. If I was to recommend you try any cider it would be the Cornish Rattler, I feel its taste retains the original Cider taste but then adds some delicate sweetness which is not sickly and
So with Rattler now available in your local retailers I would recommend you go and check it out, if you like cider you will not be disappointed.