Babycham

Brewed by Matthew Clark Cider (C&C Group)
Style: Perry
Bristol, England

Serve in Flute, Lager glass

Appearance: Pale, like a white wine... a light chardonnay hue or something. No head on here, (not sure to expect one?) and it sparkles a little but calms quite quickly.

Aroma: Smells more like apple than pear, at least to my nose. Not robust at all, with a slight grape scent also floating around. Maybe even a little bit of a chemical aroma.

Taste: It’s not making me spit it out in dread, but it’s not good. It tastes kind of like a very cheap white tablewine or champagne... or a weird sort of cooler. There’s almost a spoiled fruit - or maybe it’s just BAD fruit - flavour. Actually, that’s on the nose, too, a bit.

Mouthfeel / notes: It’s rather dry, which would be nice if it were any good. Unfortunately, it’s not, and the dryness isn’t even that much of a positive point, honestly. The sparkling quality of it falls way short, and leaves a little bit of a smacking tackiness after the semi-dry finish. I sometimes like to start with something that is a little lower quality so that I feel really pleasantly surprised (or even blown away) by the good stuff, but when it’s like this, it makes me feel kind of afraid to try any others. Not something I could recommend.

Pours a little grape juice .. . coasters? .. . has an interesting tang, even for a cider .. . light pear, and acidic paper .. . does not make me happy, catnip mostly...

Minimal smells. Tastes like soap and urine & very off. Pear, apples, nonono!

(20cl bottle best by 2-4-10 thanks to bu11zeye) clear near water color, very few bubbles. Nose of pear, alcohol, apple and mild funk. Taste of sweetened apple, nicely tart and pears.

(20cl bottle) Pours a clear pale yellow body with a small white head. Aroma of apples, mustiness, and plastic. Flavor of apple, tiny little yellow flowers form my childhood, metal pipe, and some yogurt.

Thanks to bu11zeye for sharing this 20cl bottle. Pours a very light yellow - nearly colorless - with some white bubbles. Strong pear aroma and some slight tart pear characteristics in the flavor. There is something off in the flavor, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Nothing special.

Bottle 20cl. @ ChrisOs Pre-GBBF Shindig 2010.

[ Raise The Roof Tasting ]. Clear light yellow almost clear white color with virtually none head. Aroma is moderate pear, sweet pear, pear syrup. Flavor is moderate sweet with a average duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft. [20100731]

Bottled@The Chriso rock the roof down pre-GBBF tasting. Quite much watery see-through colour, no head. Aroma is mainly pears and sugar. Flavour is pear and sugar. Extremely sweet and not all too pleasant.

How well I remember the jingle from the 1960’s advertisement: ’Babycham! It’s the genu-wine champagne perry!’ If you had told me then that I would one day be solemnly sitting in a garden in West London sipping it and rolling it round my mouth and taking detailed notes on the experience.... Very pale gold with a white head. Ripe fruity aroma, quite pleasant. Taste is sweet, fizzy and rather nasty.