h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Evenin' all. Tonight myself and Rich (or kankySrihc as he is known unless his keyboard problems resolve themselves) will be tasting some or all of the following:

Gaymer's Devon Medium Cider/Thatcher's Old Rascal
White Horse Oxfordshire Bitter/Sheppy's Kingston Black
White Horse Wayland Smithy/Sheppy's Dabinett Apple Cider
Black Sheep Riggwelter
Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA/Tanglefoot
McEwans Champion

B

Gaymer's Devon Medium Cider

Lightly gassed and packed with cidery apples on the nose, this is a little drier than I was expecting and certainly not unpleasant. There are overtones of a 'stock' cider, though; not much by way of a signature to set it apart from the other West Country ciders on the market.

/5

B

Come on, B, drink up.

Very good nose, very strong, and a really bitter intensly bitter taste, and a very warm taste.
Oh, I'm drinking hot black coffee

Only 'cause you're losing at Scrabble.

White Horse Oxfordshire Bitter.

Wow! Hops just burst out of the bottle when you open this one. Loads of country atmosphere in the kitchen, even on a cold day. A good, evenly-pouring pint, a pale brownish-amber. Those hops are back on first sip, and that lovely flowey fruitiness just doesn't disperse, even a couple of minutes after the first sip. Superb!

/5

B

Yes. Can you tell me a better reason?

What a bloody palaver that was.

Where are you up to, B? Turns out that the big M is only open until 8 on Saturdays (9 every other day, weirdly) so I haven't got much that you have:

Sheppy's Kingston Black and Dabinett Apple ciders
Black Sheep Riggwelter
McEwan's Champion
Brakspear Bitter
Thatcher's Old rascal
Tanglefoot

I think I got most of that in Post 1. I couldn't translate Brakspear Bitter, but I got everything else. I'm still on the Oxfordshire Bitter and enjoying it hugely. I slowed down a bit because I caught up with the one old school pal on Facebook who can actually use lucid sentences.

B

Sorry, I completely missed that. I'll start on the Kingston Black, then

Here's to old Bill, then. And Arthur, of course

Kingston Black:

Jings, it's 7.2%. I'm not sure I'm ready for this. It's a very crisp cider, medium and verging on the local. In fact, it's like a rich man's scrumpy - all the ripe flavours but without the yeast, bits of straw and vinegar. Lovely aroma - sharp but mellow. I like this rather a lot

I think the very field of time is a little bit warped around me today, hence the keyboard problems. Our Sky keeps jumping on a few seconds, playing a couple of stills from a few seconds in the future, then going back and playing the sequence normally.

White Horse Wayland Smithy

Despite sounding uncomfortably like the overt homosexual from The Simpsons, this is a canny little man's pint. Plenty of hops again, but with that slightly malted undertone which marks out a named ale against a stock bitter. Too gassy to be a premium ale, this nevertheless is very commonsense drinking laced with liquorice notes and a touch of vanilla.

/5

Both White Horse brews come highly recommended.

B

This really is a damn good cider. I hope the other one is as good, though I'm hoping it's not quite as strong.

Hmm...I think Bel might be after you for a game of Scrabble if it is.

B

No, it's enough if I lose against you.

I'd join you both but I have to go to work in about 10 minutes. It's the last day of the month, and that means only one thing - inventory. And what will I be counting? Bottles, kegs, wine

Are any of you familiar with Aspall's cider? It's one of the few that our distributors carry. Bit pricey though. We might have to go with Strongbow

I always find Aspall's a bit rough on the digestion. It's very acidic.

B