[rescue] AS/400? Anyone?

[Mike Meredith]

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:48:18 -0500, Mike F wrote:
> > lager. Not all of it is even made from apples. Magners is much the  
> > same but
> > marketed with an Irish angle.
> >
> What about Bulmer's? when we were in Ireland in '99 my wife fell in  
> love with Bulmer's. It is a relatively light cider, but has a lot of  
> apple flavor.

It is at least a still cider. Without anything better, I can quite
happily drink Bulmers but I'm hardly a purist.

The funny thing is that some of the manufacturers producing some of the
worst commercial swill actually make some pretty creditable 'real
cider' ... Taunton's Draft used to be produced by the notorious makers
of the "Blackthorn cider".

> > Thatchers, Biddendens and Stowford Press are the ones I usually
> > come across,

Westons is another name to keep on the list. They make interesting
ciders in addition to Stowford Press ... traditional scrumpy, old
rosie's scrumpy, bounds brand scrumpy (all available online in 20L
boxes!) as well as various fancy ciders.

You can probably come up with plenty more just by googling for cider
makers or other variations.

> So if I'm reading you right, the knife-and-fork ciders are on the
> tart side? The only ciders I've had are either sweet or dry, but
> knife-and- fork sounds more interesting.

Scrumpies vary wildly ... far more so than the 'commercial' stuff. I'm
not sure I'd use the word 'tart' to describe it ... more 'bite' than
'tart'. Don't be put off by the cloudiness which can even include what
appears to be lumps floating in it! It's quite natural in a somewhat
young drink.

Many scrumpy-makers (the exception being the ones at the end of
farm tracks although I don't know how many of those are left) also
produce various speciality ciders or vintage ciders. These also vary,
but tend to be made to a very high quality.