Cider Sunday - John Kepplers Irish Cider

My love affair with cider first began during our honeymoon when we visited London, where the popularity of cider is huge! Since then I have watched Australia's cider market really take off - all within the space of 2 years. It's been an exciting ride, and I love sampling all of the new Australian ciders that have entered the market - there are some really talented cider makers here.


In stark contrast, comes this weeks cider from Ireland - John Kepplers Irish Cider. An interesting cider mainly due to its fairly lengthy ingredients list: cider, sugar, malic acid, tannic acid, apple aroma and several colours. Not the best way to start, I know.

That said, I was very surprised to read that this cider is one of the best sellers in Ireland and has a wide distribution around the world. Hmmm.

Firstly, you can't help but notice ( be blinded) by the bright yellow hue of this cider - but again this can be best attributed to the 'ponceau4R & tartazine' colours which have been added to the cider. The apple aroma is very pleasant and almost delicious, however, it too has been added.

In terms of the rest - Well this one has nice apple flavours and quite a nice balanced sweetness albeit added through the addition of sugar. It has a light to medium carbonation, is medium bodied and finishes somewhat dry.

Overall, an ok cider - but I couldn't get past all the added extras - especially the added colours and sugar. In my opinion, a good cider needs none of these.


At 4.5% a 568ml bottle will give you about 2.6 standard drinks.

The Food Mentalist purchased John Kepplers Irish Cider at The Wine Society, Ultimo.


Comments

  1. It does look radioactive! I don't care how popular it is in Ireland, I much prefer not consuming unnecessary additives.

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  2. Oh I'm so glad to see your blog back! Last week I tried a few times and it wasn't working. But now I feel like an ice cold glass of cider :P

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  3. Ahh yes that colour, that looked so yellow, like a really sweet dessert wine! :o

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  4. Holy, yellow! That's bright. Not sure I'm fully on board with all the additives. Good on you for trying it so we don't have to!

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  5. Its not popular in Ireland. Sold as cheap alternative to Builmers for alcos.

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