Charlie Harvey

Review — Sainsburys Vintage Cider

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Vintage Cider made by Thatchers, 2010 Vintage

taste the difference vintage cider

It seems that Thatchers are doing a lot of cidermaking for supermarkets these days. You might remember I reviewed the vintage Somerset they were making for Marks & Sparks a while back. This is a cheeky six percenter made from Dabinett and Redstreak apples — a sweet and a sharp variety in the same mix. This particular bottle I am reviewing was a gift from a colleague who I did some data recovery for — shouts out to the photorec recovery software for helping me with that!

The bottle tells me that it is a "rich and fruity cider with a touch of sparkle", that it is "medium dry" and that it has a "great depth of flavour". The Ratebeer page warns that it isn’t confused with a 7.2% version in 750ml bottles which is a totally different thing. Its made by Thatchers in their Myrtle Farm base — which I imagine, perhaps a little unfairly, as a medium sized factory on an industrial estate. Its made from 2010 apples, and packs 3 units of alcohol. The bottle is green with some slightly generic feeling packaging. Big plus that they actually mark it as being vegan. That’s important when you are like me vegan.

There is a nice fizz when you first pour it, its not a fizzy cider at all but the "touch of sparkle" is certainly justified. The colour is towards the orange end of the cider spectrum; the sort of colour you would get from putting a few drops of Tizer into a pint of Stella. The smell was straightforward and honest a touch of appleyness (you’d hope!). The first taste is packed with Dabinett with the redstreak adding a little depth and some bite to it. There isn't too much body, perhaps a little on the oily side, the softness gives way to a much drier aftertaste. In the dryness there is plenty of tannin, but I still got a lot of Dabinett.

I found it pretty drinkable cider, soft and with a decent fruitiness. It'd definitely have gone well with a bit of data recovery watching, but as it was it was a good refreshing tipple on a muggy early summer evening.

2012-05-31 by Charlie Harvey


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