Strongbow produced one of the few beverages to come out of England that I have rated
highly. Who knew that the UK could produce a good hard apple cider... and little else? Well, I saw a sampler pack of Strongbow ciders, so prepare for a few different flavors being reviewed in the coming days. We start with the one that caught my eye first. Also catching my eye is the fact that this now says it is produced in Belgium, so there goes the last of what England could make.
It's called "Gold Apple" and I assume they meant that they came from golden apples, but the color of the beverage is... yup, gold. The aroma is ... well, would you smell that. It's apples! I'm just as shocked as you. The apples are of the sweet-but-tart variety, but it's pretty much just apples. Now, I know from past experience that hard apple ciders are all about an interpretation of the ingredients and how well everything mingles together, so it's time to see what this is all about.
The first sip is simply sweet apple juice. It has the familiar alcohol taste that mingles with the apple, but this tastes a lot less like an apple wine than the previous Strongbow apple cider. It's very drinkable, but the alcohol is so limited that this could be mistaken for a drink that you give to kids so that they could pretend to be drinking wine like the grown ups. Well, let's drink it like an adult.
Tip-in is pretty much the same sweet apple juice with a hint of alcohol that I experienced with the sip. As the beverage progresses, it starts to get a little tart in the middle, but not dramatically so. Instead, the sweet piles up in the front of the mouth during the whole thing. As the finish hits, the wine finish that I remember from the other Strongbow trails off.
Bottom Line: Not a bad take on the cider, but not quite as good as the last one from these guys.
2.75/5