Cider taste overflows

A bunch of leading Australian cider makers arrive in Canberra tomorrow to talk and taste cider. From 5pm on Thursday, March 6, the group will be at the Durham Castle Arms, Green Square, Kingston.

The Durham’s Adrian Moran says 10 of the pub’s 12 taps will be pouring Australian pear and apple ciders, and there’ll be about 30 bottled ciders available, too. Moran says the on-tap range includes the champion of the Australian Cider Awards, Hills Pear Cider, Jolly Miller Cider (Gundaroo), and Bilpin and Hillbilly ciders from the Blue Mountains. They will remain available all weekend.

On Friday, March 7, from noon until 2pm, the cider makers will offer tastings at Plonk bottle shop, Fyshwick markets.

Australia’s phenomenal growth in cider consumption is driven mainly by the young, particularly 18 to 24-year olds, according to Roy Morgan Research released last year.

Batlow Premium Cider 330ml 4-pack $16

What a contrast between the sweet, bland, mass-produced ciders and the crisp, crunchy apple-in-a-bottle taste of Batlow Premium – an off-dry, tart cider made from apples grown within a 30-kilometre radius of Batlow. The company says it uses only freshly crushed apples, not concentrate, and adds no sugar. And it tastes like it.

★★★★

Kiuchi Brewery Real Ginger Ale 330ml $9.50

Alcoholic ginger beers often seem more like soft drink, attempting to temper cloying sweetness with the tartness of ginger. But Kiuchi is all beer – rich, warming (7 per cent alcohol) and malty, with an abundant, persistent head and a delicious, deep undercurrent of tangy ginger flavour.
★★★★