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Fort Cyder is a craft cider made by the Portsmouth Distillery using Hampshire Apples. Originally launched in bottles, the newest batch is presented in smart 330ml cans.
Portsmouth Distillery was established in 2018 by ex-Navy officers Vince Noyce and Giles Collighan and Dich Oatley, who has spent many years working in the wine trade. Vince and Giles shared a mutual love of rum, and the distillery was founded to make a Portsmouth Rum. Initially there the superb Fort Gin was released in late 2018, which was followed shortly by their 1968 White Rum. There will also be a spiced rum due to be released in 2019, followed by 1812 3 Year Old, 5 Year Old and Dark Navy Strength rums in due course.
In the meantime, there is also the Fort Cyder. This is a small batch, craft cider made from apples all grown in Hampshire. This is very much a hand-crafted cider. The apples are harvested, washed, sorted, scratted, pressed, fermented, bottled and labelled by hand. The cider is fermented at the distillery headquarters at Fort Cumberland in Southsea.
It is made from the finest selection of Hampshire Cox and Bramley apples with a smaller proportion of Egremont and Norfolk Russet. As Dich tells me, the cider is made from “100% hand-picked apples from the Blackmoor Estate in Hampshire to guarantee the quality of the juice. More expensive, but worth it.” No chemicals are added to the juice. It is 100% naturally fermented and left to clear on its lees without any chemical interaction, and there are no sweeteners added.
Bottled at 6% ABV.
Fort Cyder is a crisp, refreshing and lightly sparkling cider. It has a wonderful nose reminiscent of classic Normandy-esque light honeycomb aromatics. It is dry but juicy on the palate and extremely apple-y with a crisp and bright, refreshingly moreish finish.
Drink cold on a warm summers day. Try with mature hard cheeses, cold meats and charcuterie.
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