Being a teenager/student, the world of alcohol becomes a wonderful place. But its not all about getting nicely toasted. My tipple of choice for a mealtime, or an afternoon in the sun, or just simply to kick back - is Symonds Scrumpy Jack.
The very name - a great selling point for the product ... Read review
Being a teenager/student, the world of alcohol becomes a wonderful place. But its not all about getting nicely toasted. My tipple of choice for a mealtime, or an afternoon in the sun, or just simply to kick back - is Symonds Scrumpy Jack.
The very name - a great selling point for the product - evokes visions of rustic cider mills, woods, old wells, and other such old english hoohah. Apparently first brewed in 1727, this is proper scrumpy ... ...not strictly true - scrumpy jack is of course mass produced like any other mainstream cider. But certainly, the taste preserves its olde-worlde bitterness and crisp finish, while remaining similar enough to its competitors to be taken seriously as a major brand.
Jack is brewed from (taken from the ECB website) "Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill, Chisel Jersey, Brown Snout, Tom Putt, to name just a few..." a combination of quintessiantally ... more
Being a teenager/student, the world of alcohol becomes a wonderful place. But its not all about getting nicely toasted. My tipple of choice for a mealtime, or an afternoon in the sun, or just simply to kick back - is Symonds Scrumpy Jack.
The very name - a great selling point for the product - evokes visions of rustic cider mills, woods, old wells, and other such old english hoohah. Apparently first brewed in 1727, this is proper scrumpy - farmhouse cider.
Unfortunately, that is not strictly true - scrumpy jack is of course mass produced like any other mainstream cider. But certainly, the taste preserves its olde-worlde bitterness and crisp finish, while remaining similar enough to its competitors to be taken seriously as a major brand.
Jack is brewed from (taken from the ECB website) "Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill, Chisel Jersey, Brown Snout, Tom Putt, to name just a few..." a combination of quintessiantally English sounding apple varieties that aid the authentic feel. Keeping with the English theme, the drink is 'the official pint of the English cricket team' - the marketing behind this idea being that a summer drink should be partnered with a summer sport. Associations with cricket continue to build up the strong patriotic image.
So, the taste. Well, its cider - but different to the more modern high street brands. Whereas strongbow, and the horrendous diamond white, are quite sweet, fresh and therefore very quaffable, Scrumpy seems a bit more earthy. The taste is deeper and fatter than the competition, with a sweet, refreshing apple smoothness, followed by a tangy, bitter kick. The overall flavour feels very thick and fulfilling, a masculine body with just enough sweetness to keep it from slipping into extremes of taste. The aftertaste is bitter at first, gradually dulling to a dry, crisp bite.
Real, somerset scrumpy, you will discover, is nearly always manufacted still (ie, no bubbles) and in many cases drank hot. However, this can make the beverage quite overpowering for the average supermarket consumer. Scrumpy Jack has the large, nicely designed can, bubbles and inviting golden visage of many ciders, making it easily accessible for the average drinker, but keeps true to the name 'scrumpy' with thick, crunchy undertones.
Price wise, Jack competes very favourably with most canned lagers and ciders - expect to pay under £20 for a 24x500ml crate. Personally, mine is bought for me through a wholsaler - yep, i get through this stuff! 13.5% extra free is appearing on most of their cans at the moment, so now is the time to stock up!
So if you're not a cider drinker, or, perhaps you've been sticking to the sweet stuff - try something a bit more back to the roots - Scrumpy Jack.
Advantages: crisp and clean. Cheap Disadvantages: too easy to drink!
OI LOIKS COIDERR!!! The above sentence, is my best literary attempt at writing the sentence "I LIKE CIDER." in a English country accent. It is not intended to insult anyone, or to extract the michael out of anyone who resides in any of the major cider making areas of England. It simply expresses, in words, the type of mental image I get when I drink a good cider. You see, these cider-supping countryfolk, or wurzels, as I believe they are known, have ... ...lager without ever fully quenching our thirst, and there they are still able to wear a sack cloth, and suck on a bit of corn in blistering heat. I, however am still sweating in my back garden, wearing nothing buy my best tighty-whities! So, with this knowledge in my head, I started drinking different ciders recently, especially now that the temperatures have been slowly rising. The results speak for themselves. No longer do I have to humiliate myself ...
giksy21 01.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bulmers Scrumpy Jack Cider
Advantages: Great taste, relatively cheap alcohol Disadvantages: None - non-cricket fans may find the cricket connections boring
I've recently started choosing cider as my take-home tipple from the supermarket, as a change from the beer and the lager. And Scrumpy Jack's the one I've been going for.
It's made by Symonds, whose Cider Mill, in Hereford, has been producing cider since 1727 - and they claim to be the oldest cider making firm in England. Scrumpy Jack itself was first made in the 1960's. There's a very good website - www.scumpyjack.com - where we are told that Scrumpy ... ...to have become very widely available in recent years.
The drink
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It's made using many different varieties of apple, most of which I have never heard of - Foxwhelp, Brown Snout, Tom Putt, Chisel Jersey - these are all mentioned on the website; on the can itself Dabinett is also mentioned. Wonderful names, all of them, and they are all apples which are locally grown. So it all seems very true to the age-old traditions. A pure cider yeast ...
rsmith 15.02.2002
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Cider is traditionally the tipple of preference in the south west. To most of us who have spent some time in that corner of the world, 'Scrumpy' means unfeasibly strong booze in which the mushy floaty thing might be a rat. It would be fair to say that the same is not true of this supermarket thing calling itself scrumpy, but for those of you who have yet to embrace your inner Wurzel, its a good tipple.
I've thus far only found Scrumpy Jack for sale ... ...sensible sums of money I might add. (There was a load on BOGOF a while back, I stocked up, have been drinking through it slowly and cannot for the life of me remember what it would otherwise have cost - sorry.)
So, what you get, as I said is a glass bottle with one of thse awkward metal caps (handy if you want to make shakey stick percussion items though). The volume is slightly less than a pint. I'm sure it came with a metric measure, but please ...
Bryn_Pearson 07.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bulmers Scrumpy Jack Cider
Advantages: True Cider, still with bits of apple and cloudy. Strong stuff. Disadvantages: Can't be used in Snakebite. Not to everyone's taste.
Ciao is all about forming opinions, right? Let me tell you the opinion you'd form about me and my drinking habbits if you saw me going into a pub. 22 years old, 6'0", cropped hair, 16st rugby player... are you getting the suggestion of lager-lout? Well how wrong can you be, I never touch the stuff. Cider and Guinness (Review on the black stuff coming soon) are my tipples, and I'm not scared to admit it either, mind you I'm not scared of much being ... ...tried cider I was 18 years old and on a lads holiday down in Weymouth (Dorset) with a few mates. We'd been driving round and came upon this little cider-house. We decided to pop in for a quickie on the way home...
Two hours later we stumbled out of the cider-house p****d as newts. I was so intoxicated I could barely see. (Apparently the expression 'Blind Drunk' comes from cider drinkers.)The taxi back to the caravan cost us £20 and we went straight ...
WallyD321 11.01.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bulmers Scrumpy Jack Cider
Advantages: Fine taste, vit C, very easy to consume Disadvantages: after effects, very fine line between enjoyment and monged
Scrumpy Jack, this one’s the commercial version of “the daddy”, known by those in the know, feared by those who have mocked, tried & regurgitated and certainly respected by those with past experiences. But anyway, let’s talk cider.
I’m a fan of cider to the point of partaking in no other drink of volume, having had previous stomach wrenching situations involving quantities of lager exiting my system at rapid velocity. Spirits I enjoy, hence my nose, ... ...intended to quaff or strip wallpaper, but also a nose well weathered with age and seasoned through the art of brandy sampling. But I’m getting side tracked here, back to cider.
I first tried cider in my er… late teens. Not wishing to associate myself with the rabble and peasant stock swigging from bottles of 99p 2 litre bottles of windowline-esque gut-rot behind the bike sheds and bus shelters , risking pregnancy and pox, I found my taste buds swayed ...
PitSweat 22.06.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bulmers Scrumpy Jack Cider
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Advantages: very sharp and refreshing Disadvantages: tastes horried when warm
introduction to alcohol. Cider is a typlically British drink - so where and how did strongbow start.
A PLOTTED HISTORY
Strongbow is brewed by Bulmers, which also brews ScrumpyJack and Woodpecker ciders too. Bulmers was founded in 1887 in Hereford, England by Percy Bulmer.At the time Percy was 20 years old and the son of a local clergyman. It was his mother's advice to make a career out of food or drink which start the Bulmer empiry.
Percy's father had an orchard and by borrowing an old stone press from the farmer next door, Percy made his first drop of cider. Percy was later joined by his elder brother Fred - who was originally offered a teaching post to tutor the children of the King of Siam.A lady by the name of Anna(King and I) succeeded Fred And as the old saying goes the rest is history.
The brothers bought an 8 acres piece ...
Bulmers is the worlds largest cidermaker. Bulmer's Pear Cider is 4.5% and it's available from most off-licenses, restaurants and pubs - typically selling for between £2.00 - £4.00 per bottle depending on where it's purchased.
I bought it as I had enjoyed the taste of Bulmer's Original and thought it would be nice to try something new. Bulmer's Pear Cider comes in glass bottles the same as Bulmers Original.
Bulmer's claim that this new product is a "less sweet, naturaltasting brew". Bulmers is famous for its main brands; Strongbow, Woodpecker and ScrumpyJack, all market leaders in the Cider business
When I first tasted this I found it to be an interesting new twist on the original BulmersCider, it is clean and fruity to taste but I found it sweeter than I had expected to (probably as pears are sweeter than apples I would think ...
Advantages: Tastes good, cheap and gets you pretty pissed! Disadvantages: You could start fancying your family !
with Cornwall than anywhere else!
Bulmers was founded in Hereford in 1887 by Percy Bulmer, the son of a local clergyman and made 4000 gallons in the first year. In 2006 Bulmers makes 65% of the five million hectolitres of cider sold annually in the UK.
Strongbow is the most popular of the ciders produced by Bulmers, but they do also produce ScrumpyJack and Woodpecker. Strongbow is exported across Europe and Scandinavia, the USA, Asia Pacific, and the Far East.
Cider is a typically English drink, and I - for one - like to support British manufacturers and farmers, and tend to look for British produce in the supermarket when I am shopping. So, it's good to be doing my bit for old blighty when I am getting mullered of a weekend as well!
Unlike Wine, Champagne, and Whisky, Cider does not mature with age, so it is important to enjoy it ...
