Pulpt Flare superior south west cider review – “Well balanced, with some character” – (7.5/10).
The Good
“Bright colours, youth branding”.
“Attractive and informative packaging”.
“Pleasant and natural, fruity smell”.
“Carbonation light, as promised”.
“Natural flavour”.
“Distinctive taste”.
“Nicely session-able”.
“Well balanced”.
“Mostly smooth”.
“Distinctive tangy aftertaste”.
The Bad
“Thin mouthfeel”.
“Carbonation level too light”.
“Impractical for men”.
“Expensive”.
“Acidity too low”.
“No dryness”.
“Not enough sweetness”.
“Taste a bit weak”.
“No bitterness”.
Introduction
Packaging
The bottle is brightly coloured featuring Orange and Black, with bold font, suggesting a potentially younger audience. The brand is suggested to be vegan friendly, and it’s made by an independent cider producer. The website affirms the “new” brand image, with colourful design, and “new fashioned cider” slogan.
It wishes to be interesting and authentic, and I’d have to agree based on its bottle and website appearance. The bottle design was nice and attractive, featuring a cool and informative diagram !
The price was £2.20 per bottle, providing 2.5 units for 500ml, at 4.9% ABV. This meant £4.40 per session for the governments old “do not regularly exceed limit”, for men. This would mean 2 bottles would be needed, which would put you significantly over this 3-4 unit daily limit. This makes it expensive, more costly than many other West Country ciders including “Henry Westons Medium dry “cloudy” vintage”, aswell as Henry westons oak aged vintage 2016 (link below).
Expectations
“Balanced and easy going” was mentioned on the bottle, suggesting good balance would be present.
On the blurb, “interesting” with “real depth and character” was mentioned, suggesting full flavour and a USP.
100% fresh pressed juice was suggested which was good, since English ciders can be just 30%.
It’s suggested to use the best cider making techniques and “modern equipment”, suggesting a relatively new brand.
The blurb adds gently sparkling, suggesting light carbonation. Well-balanced and sweeter cider is also suggested, implying moderate acidity and sweetness levels. It mentions southwest apples, suggesting nature.
Right at the base of the website “Somerset”, is mentioned, alongside a business park in Hewish. This doesn’t sound the most natural of settings, but I can forgive due to the website assertion of “no colourings” or “artificial flavours” used.
Smell
The smell came across as quite strong, natural, and tangy. It remained for sometime on the nose, but faded after a few wafts.
Taste
Taste wasn’t as strong as I originally expected, so therefore was only of moderate strength. In terms of carbonation, this was light, as promised by the bottle. Acidity level was particularly low, and no dryness could be detected. Sweetness wasn’t any stronger, so didn’t overwhelm the acidity.
The taste was quite distinctive though, which I feel was due to natural flavour, and good balance. There was no specific distinctive element however, with both woodiness and bitterness appearing absent.
Mouthfeel was rather thin, yet not watery. Taste began very smooth, yet became a little harsher further into the bottle.
Aftertaste became stronger throughout the bottle. This developed into a rather nice fruity tang, which was distinctive. Whilst this tang was individual, I wouldn’t describe this as bitter, which was a notable absence.
Towards the end of the bottle, it became clear the drink would be session-able.
Summary
“Well balanced, with some character”.
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Related articles
Henry Westons vintage “aged finish” review
Henry Westons vintage “medium dry Oak aged” review
Westons old Rosie cloudy – good acidity levels
Bulmer’s cloudy – with lasting weak acidity
Sources
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/309178731
Tags: pulpt, flare, superior, southwest, cider, tangy, Tesco, blogging, reviews, reaseaorg, popularposts
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