I had high hopes for Addlestones, being, as I was, somewhat hungover from a night at the local. The occasion was the opening of my pal Meredy's official birthday season. It was lunchtime and I was on the "other" side of Magdalen bridge. To East Oxfordians the other side of the bridge is a place of myth, Japanese tourists, stuck up students and well, you know, weirdness.

The Addlestones certainly did the trick of liberating me from my hangover. A flat cider with a nice bittersweet taste that suffered, I felt, from being a little too light. Its a cloudy brew, with a slightly watery texture - ideal for a lunchtime sip, but not quite the stuff of legends that Westons Organic is.

The makers, Matthew Clark, are a division of Constellation Europe, so this cider may not be appropriate for drinkers trying to encourage resistance to global brand capitalism and support local, or at least UK, businesses. But, it is a fair cider, and not by any stretch of the imagination similar in character to the Strongbow pseudo cider.