Gaymers Pear Cider > Reviews (2)

When it comes to alcoholic beverages I tend to favour the likes of pear cider over most other drinks. I do like wine and also lager but I don't think you can beat cider for refreshment, particularly in the warm weather.

My personal favourite brands are Kopperberg and St. Helier as I have a preference for sweeter ciders but as my local supermarkets only stock these on a sporadic basis I tend to make do with whatever they do have. Whilst in my local Iceland store recently I was perusing the cider section when I noticed that they were selling bottles of Gaymers Pear Cider at a mere £1.

Not that I am alcoholic in anyway you understand (*cough*), but cider averages around £2 per bottle - that is depending on brand and size of course, but this Gaymers stood magnificently tall and contained 568 ml of the golden liquid so at just £1 I decided to buy a bottle (or two..).

I must point out that my previous experience of drinking any Gaymers cider was not really a positive one as I once tried a bottle of the apple variety and found it quite tart and off putting so I was hoping that this wouldn't be a repeat experience.

The cider is presented in a thick and sturdy glass bottle which though is green in colour also has a transparency about it too. Because of this the liquid can be seen though it is too difficult to distinguish the colour due to the green glass. There is a sticker around the centre of the bottle bearing the logo and relevant information on the back, whilst around the neck is a golden emblem telling us this is 'cold filtered'.

This as mentioned is a reasonable sized 568ml and the RRP is around £1.50 depending on where you shop but can be found on offer such as the £1 deals at Iceland for example.

The strength of the cider is 4.5% volume so drink sensibly.

My experience of drinking this~
I wasn't sure what this cider was going to taste like as there are so many pear ciders that claim to be sweeter than the apple variety but end up tasting very similar unfortunately. Though my husband isn't normally a cider drinker he said he would drink the remainder if it was not palatable for me but being the martyr that I am I decided to indulge in a whole bottle at the weekend.

On removing the cap via a bottle opener I could hear the cider bubbling away whilst still in the bottle and I noticed a hint of pear flavour that emitted upwards which did smell inviting to drink.

On pouring the cider out I found it to be very bubbly, to the point of frothy even, despite doing my 'barmaid bit' of tilting the glass at the same time. Once the bubbles had subsided I could see it was a nice 'cider colour' of the golden variety athough it did have a crisp appearance and there was a clearness to the liquid as well.

The pear scent was quite strong once poured and on tasting the drink I found it to be very crisp and intensely refreshing. There was a slight tang to it that did remind me of apple cider but mainly it was the pear I could taste throughout supping this drink. The cider hit the back of my throat and once my taste buds became accustomed to the slight tang I found it a very enjoyable beverage.

The only slight negative was there was an aftertaste of apple which may not sound like a bad thing but when you are drinking something that is supposedly made from pears then you would expect the aftertaste to be of pear surely? That was the only 'let down' if that's what you can call it because lets face it there are far worse tastes out there to be left as an aftertaste I'm sure!

Would I recommend this?~
If you are an apple cider drinker then I would recommend at least trying this out as it is very refreshing with a slight hint of apples which may go down well with apple cider fans. Unlike my personal favourites of Kopperberg and St Helier, Gaymers isn't too sweet but seems to have the right balance as it isn't *too* tangy either.

Though given the choice I would opt to buy a sweeter cider everytime but if those weeren't available I would be more than happy with Gaymers. I found it light and refreshing and quenched my thirst (even though it's alcohol) and imagine it will be ideal in the warm Summer weather.

All in all this is a very nice and tasty pear cider that I am glad I tried.