Angry Orchard Rose cider review (7.25/10) – “Pleasantly natural, but unbalanced fruit. Flowers more than apples”.
The Good
“Fairly practical”.
“Pretty bottle design”.
“Medium carbonation”.
“Strong tang, as suggested”.
“Medium-thin mouthfeel as promised”.
“Lasting tangy aftertaste”.
“Natural taste and aftertaste”.
“Pleasant, distinctive aroma”.
The Bad
“Apples not star of the show”.
“Balance off”.
“Sweetness lacking”.
“Too watery”.
“No dryness”.
“Very expensive”.
“Not smooth”.
“Lacking history or interesting backstory”.
“Smells of beer, not cider”.
“Too rich for a session”.
Packaging
The Bottle design resembled a bouquet of red flowers, I like the pink, red and white colour combination. Pleasant pastel colours entice, without startling your eyes. The characteristic entangled trees still stand on the label, which define the Angry orchard brand as a natural one.
I should say for those wondering, that Angry orchard is a cider producer in the USA which for a long time only provided one type of “hard cider” to the supermarkets I scuttled around.
Recently though, a new “Rose” offering met me in Tescos, hence this review.
At £2 per 330ml bottle, at 4% ABV, 1.3 units per bottle, it lead me to desire 3, for 3.9 units; This puts you between governments recommended daily safe limits with 3-4 units.
Unfortunately it costs £6 for the limit, and is therefore, extremely pricey.
My last Angry orchard review was written back in May 2017, over 2 years ago. This scored an impressive (8.5/10). It only cost £3.18 for the limit, making it by comparison, a bargain.
So my character and taste expectations are high here. Thankfully, the bottle greeted me with some enticing nuggets of information. “Made with rare french Red flesh apples”, and “Crisp, juicy, dry finish”, for example.
Unfortunately there is no backstory, except the use of “Red to the core”, and “Rosy blush”, as descriptors for the apples used here. These should be star of the show, due to lack of anything else mentioned.
To support this, the website lists apple varieties used, which I like. These include Gala, Fuji, and Granny Smith, to name a few.
This website is colourful and vibrant, but inconsistent with bottle data. It states 355ml capacity, and 5.5% ABV. This suggests different strengths and capacities are available in the USA, but is a little misleading for the UK consumer.
What I like though, is the information regarding taste, the website gives. It provides aesthetically pleasing rating scales which suggest:
Medium-light mouthfeel, an aftertaste which lasts moderately long, an intense aroma, a sweet taste, rather moist, and not very dry.
With the bottles’ suggestion of “dry finish” though, this does conflict with the website.
Expectations are asserted here with an err of caution therefore.
From “Crisp”, i’d expect a confident tang,
from bottle and website, medium dryness,
from “Juicy”, a good level of natural sweetness.
I’d hope for “Medium-light” mouthfeel, strong smell, and an aftertaste which doesn’t cut off immediately.
For carbonation and uniqueness, i’ll go in blind, but will hope traits provided are from the multitude of red apples selected.
Smell
The scent greeted as a beery, fairly strong and warming cider. This was moderate strength, certainly fruity, and persistent.
Taste
On first sip, the taste seemed light and fresh. After a time, a strong taste of tang greeted my taste buds, before lingering into the aftertaste. Carbonation was certainly medium, flavour was mostly tart.
This felt consistent with the “crisp” taste descriptor…
Mouthfeel felt rather thin, which was consistent with that suggested.
The tartness continued into the aftertaste, surrounded by a fragrant fruit combination.
Unfortunately here, it didn’t feel like apple was the “star of the show”. I found it difficult to pinpoint exactly what fruit was coming through in combination. After consulting the ingredients list: Hibiscus and Elderflower were mentioned on the bottle as included concentrates.
I have to say, whilst pleasant and floral, these flavours didn’t lend to what a cider “should” be.
With the previously noted red apples as “star of the show”, on packaging, this shouldn’t have been the case. The taste profile was a little overwhelmed by other elements. Perhaps showing off too much…
It had good aspects. Tartness was good. Natural sweetness was evident, if a little dominated by sharpness and flowers.
Balance wasn’t perfect though, since tartness cut across the palette too strongly. Things weren’t smooth therefore.
Summary
Pleasantly natural, but unbalanced fruit. Flowers more than apples.
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Sources
https://www.angryorchard.com/our-ciders/rose
https://www.winefrog.com/definition/5/crispness
New cider Ebook !!!! 1.99
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sidastroll-Johnny-Depp-Ben-Hattrell-ebook/dp/B07LBZBJZ8/
Our other Angry orchard reviews
Original https://reasea.org/2017/05/25/angry-orchard-cider-i-am-far-from-angry-solid-8-510/
Tags: Angry orchard, American cider, USA cider, floral cider, fruity, tart, Gala apple, Fuji apple, hard cider, reaseaorg, reasonedandseasoned, benandthegang, moist cider, modern cider, 4% ABV, blogging
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