I had a 500ml bottle of this at my local cider pub, and wanted to share my thoughts on it with everyone.
From the maker: [A]t 8.2% ABV its a cyder to savour for the true connoisseur. Dark and golden in colour, Imperial has a rich aroma and lingering sweet mellow finish.
From the internet: The 90-year old recipe uses an exclusive blend of the highest quality bittersweet and culinary apples from the 2010 harvest with added muscovado sugar to aid the fermentation. This creates a dark golden cyder, with a rounded, rich aroma which is warm, medium sweet and mellow with a lingering fruit and oak finish, to be savoured by cider connoisseurs.
My thoughts:
Looks: Beautiful dark golden color, seems to be more from the muscovado and not from the apples. Almost no head.
Smell: Nice smell of apples, faint smell of wood.
Carbonation: Light with a few small champagne-like bubbles.
Taste (cold): Sweet apple taste with elements of rock sugar. No noticeable alcohol burn even though its 8.2%. This is a sweeter cider and seems to be mostly culinary apples. Faint notes of wood on the short finish.
Taste (warmed up a little): The sweetness is toned down, the wood comes to the forefront, and the spiciness from high alcohol content is noticeable. The finish is longer and full of oak wood. It becomes unbalanced warm, and the alcohol dominates most of the other flavors. If you drink this slow, you'll want a friend to help you.
Rating: 4/5 within the style of sweet ciders with sugar added. 3/5 apples on my personal scale. It is too sweet for my personal tastes, and could use a little bit more in the bitter apple compartment to balance it out or some notes of apple skins.
Notes: This might be a nice diversion for someone who likes Woodchuck or other ciders on the sweeter side. I'll stick to Oliver's or Ross-on-Wye when I want a proper English cider.
From the maker: [A]t 8.2% ABV its a cyder to savour for the true connoisseur. Dark and golden in colour, Imperial has a rich aroma and lingering sweet mellow finish.
From the internet: The 90-year old recipe uses an exclusive blend of the highest quality bittersweet and culinary apples from the 2010 harvest with added muscovado sugar to aid the fermentation. This creates a dark golden cyder, with a rounded, rich aroma which is warm, medium sweet and mellow with a lingering fruit and oak finish, to be savoured by cider connoisseurs.
My thoughts:
Looks: Beautiful dark golden color, seems to be more from the muscovado and not from the apples. Almost no head.
Smell: Nice smell of apples, faint smell of wood.
Carbonation: Light with a few small champagne-like bubbles.
Taste (cold): Sweet apple taste with elements of rock sugar. No noticeable alcohol burn even though its 8.2%. This is a sweeter cider and seems to be mostly culinary apples. Faint notes of wood on the short finish.
Taste (warmed up a little): The sweetness is toned down, the wood comes to the forefront, and the spiciness from high alcohol content is noticeable. The finish is longer and full of oak wood. It becomes unbalanced warm, and the alcohol dominates most of the other flavors. If you drink this slow, you'll want a friend to help you.
Rating: 4/5 within the style of sweet ciders with sugar added. 3/5 apples on my personal scale. It is too sweet for my personal tastes, and could use a little bit more in the bitter apple compartment to balance it out or some notes of apple skins.
Notes: This might be a nice diversion for someone who likes Woodchuck or other ciders on the sweeter side. I'll stick to Oliver's or Ross-on-Wye when I want a proper English cider.
