Cider?

[Jubal]

What are people's favourite sorts? How would you all rate various common ciders? I've been increasingly feeling like Birmingham is unusually bad for cider, many pubs in my bit of the city have Strongbow or Magners as their main or only tap cider, which definitely feels a cut below the Aspall's I'm used to in the East.

I had a Norfolk one called Monty's Double at the pub this evening though, two pints thereof. Was very good stuff

[Clockwork]

I don't really drink it but magners is horrible, strongbow is slightly better and frosty jacks is gross but is possibly the most cost effective way to be sick from alcohol known to man.

[comrade_general]

I like the stuff homemade by Amish that's not pasteurized. Different from the cider you mean but it's still my favorite.

[Jubal]

Is the Amish cider flat or not? I've had a few homemade ciders and some of them are really nice, definitely a different taste to commercial stuff though.

And yeah, Aspalls is the sort of base rate OK tap cider - but when you get out to smaller regional or local breweries you start actually getting really nice stuff.

[comrade_general]

You mean is it carbonated?  None of the traditional ciders we have are carbonated.

[Jubal]

Not artifical carbonation, but a lot of our ciders get some fizz/froth from the yeasts used.

[comrade_general]

Oh yeah I guess there is that.

[Jubal]

I'm not quite sure how people get the 100% flat ones. Might be a different yeast...?

[comrade_general]

Pasteurize and filter?

[Jubal]

Could be for the commercial ones, I've had really flat farmhouse ones though which I assume they didn't pasteurise.

[comrade_general]

Dunno.

[Jubal]

Update; having drunk some last night in the absence of other options, can confirm that Strongbow is still basically equivalent to alcoholic rat urine.

[Clockwork]

It's really sweet. Cheap lagers are better if you're looking for a cost/quality thing. Becks, stella, bud, fosters. I like carlsberg but nobody else seems to so I won't recommend that.

[Pentagathus]

Lambrini is where it's at.

[Jubal]

Lagers tend to taste even worse in my view