How to rate ciders???

Reads 3378 • Replies 36 • Started Thursday, July 24, 2014 7:59:44 PM CT

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Message northropfrye beers 4425 º places 327 º 19:59 Thu 7/24/2014 Alright, I’m drinking this cider now and I’m thinking, "tastes like apples," which is more or less what I’ve thought about every cider I’ve ever had. Any tips on what to look for in a good cider? I have a couple rum barrel versions by Sea Cider, but most of the ciders I’ve had have been more or less indistinguishable. What constitutes good appearance, aroma, flavour and palate in a cider? (I won’t even open the can of worms about sake).
Message Drake P admin beers 21771 º places 1252 º 21:02 Thu 7/24/2014 Cider qualities can be tricky. Start with sweet vs. dry or somewhere in between. Any notes other than apple? Pear, other fruits, hay, tartness, etc. Beyond sweet, dry, tart, apples can be grainy, earthy, herbal, smoky, etc. I agree rating ciders can be challenging. I am lucky enough to have a cider expert friend who helped me expand my vocabulary.
Message WheatKing beers 1351 º 21:07 Thu 7/24/2014 As with rating rarer beer styles, I often find myself returning to the BJCP guidelines for ciders: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/ciderintro.php http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style27.php
Message Homer321 P beers 5369 º places 54 º 21:16 Thu 7/24/2014 Refer to http://www.ratebeer.com/View-User-20772.htm

Message Oakes P admin beers 30664 º places 1135 º 22:11 Thu 7/24/2014 Yeah, ciders are tricky. I definitely look for sweet/dry, but also the tannins or lack thereof. Of course you want some balance between sugars, alcohol and apple character. Body is important. Also complexity. Most cider isn’t very complex, but the good stuff is. And of course, do you like it? It can be a fairly ordinary cider but if you like it, that’s got to go into the score.
Message flatmatt beers 2274 º places 107 º 23:13 Thu 7/24/2014 I don’t eat apples myself, but I still enjoy the occasional cider. I generally try to break down the "apple" flavor a bit more, if possible, to green apple, red apple, tart apple, granny smith. Not sure if my descriptions are that accurate to real-life apples, but they work for me! But I wouldn’t get too concerned about find every flavor in there. A general idea of sweetness and body/flavor strength can go a long way for someone reading your review. And of course whether you liked it or not, which you don’t need us to tell you! Other words I’ve used to describe some of my top ciders: white/green grape white wine vinegar acidity minty honey funky herb(al) juicy/sugary toasty powdered sugar plastic ketchup sweet dry sour tart strong light
Message GT P beers 10001 º places 672 º 23:20 Thu 7/24/2014 I can’t tell you how to rate them, but I can give you examples of ciders that I thought were stellar and how I described them versus ones I thought were not good. Excellent: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/cave-de-mirande-cidre-brut/61280/74823/ http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/benoit-et-sylvie-noel-cidre-fermier/169407/74823/ Poor: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/julian-hard-cider-harvest-apple/119761/74823/ http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/tooheys-5-seeds-cider/108713/74823/ In general, I find there are three main areas of cider. [1] Inoffensive, apple juice style sweet styles that taste like sugar, yellow apple, and cinnamon. [2] Inoffensive, white wine and cheap champagne styles that taste like green apples, highly acidic, baby powder. My least favorite. [3] Spectacular funky and wild house yeast derived farmhouse ciders from France and Spain with nectar fruits, smoke, Brett, starfruit, pineapple. These are the best in the world.
Message Benzai beers 20020 º places 321 º 00:35 Fri 7/25/2014 I always just go for "I like it" or "I don’t like it" as I’m absolutely no expert on ciders as well

Message BlackHaddock P beers 15453 º places 1053 º 01:34 Fri 7/25/2014 If your teeth don’t itch or start to decay after a cider it is probably watered down. Hope that helps! <*))))))><
Message HaStuMiteZen99 beers 1111 º places 27 º 04:48 Fri 7/25/2014 As with most drinks, there are three categories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSMs77v2oNk With appearance, it can vary from very pale, almost hazy transluscent, to an amberish colours, so comment on that. No real head to speak of. Like others have said, there are lots of different kinds of apple. Granny Smith and Cox, for example, are completely different. Might be an idea to head to your local greengrocer and try a bunch of different varieties to get a feel for it. They vary from very sweet to absolutely bone dry and tannins are important, so comment on that. They vary in body too, and acidity. Some excellent cider is very highly carbonated (especially French stuff), so it’s worth pointing out carbonation levels. They vary quite widely in how alcoholic they are and how big a role alcohol plays in the flavour of the cider, so that’s something else. Lots of the best are spontaneously fermented, so you get lots of wild character like you’d get in a lambic that’s worth looking for. As Oakes says, complexity varies pretty widely, so if it just has a sweet, artificial apple note and not much, else, say so, and if it’s more complex, say so. They certainly shouldn’t be indistinguishable. Maybe you’ve just been drinking the wrong ciders. Try to get your hands on some traditional English cider (the good stuff is normally, but not always, completely flat), and some from the North of France (Normandy, especially).
Message chriso P beers 7540 º places 736 º 05:07 Fri 7/25/2014 Originally posted by northropfrye Alright, I’m drinking this cider now and I’m thinking, "tastes like apples," which is more or less what I’ve thought about every cider I’ve ever had. Curiously, over here in the UK at least, good traditionally made (and that means natural fermentation) cider rarely actually tastes like apples. They start out with apple varieties that don’t really taste much like apples themselves - if you are foolhardy enough to actually taste one - and are fermented out bone dry over many months. There will likely be some fruity notes but it probably won’t be too clearly identifiable as apple per se. Much like wine & grapes I guess. The presence of a very strong and clear appley character is likely to indicate a low end, mass market, commercial product that’s designed to be that way and made by industrial processes using various non-natural ingredients. The elements in the aroma/flavour/palate are tannins, acidity, fruit, farmyard and sweetness - invariably achieved by back-sweetening in traditional UK examples, although a high level of "fruitiness" may give the impression of sweetness. As I said at the start this applies specifically to the UK. Don’t know how far it holds in the US.