The Bar Towel

GtownRandy wrote:going to pick up some of these to try this weekend: Caple Rd No 3 by Weston's in England http://www.lcbo.com//lcbo/product/caple ... XJBGbgpWVs
rated 88 for style on "ratecider" and currently 30c off at lcbo : $2.65 for a 500ml can! thawt would be $3.98 if it was a 750ml!

Yes definitely the best cider value by far at the lcbo, would you rather have this craft cider made from cold pressed apples and aged in Oak for 2.65 or apple soda like somersbys for 3.10? On the dry side, tasty and easy drinking. Time to stock up!

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Lots of neat details on the can

Picked up a bottle of JK's Northern Neighbour Farmhouse Cider and it's really tasty. It's dry with intense apple notes, mildly tart, very refreshing. A great fall drink. Also ranked #30 on Ratebeer's top cider list.

beerstodiscover wrote:Picked up a bottle of JK's Northern Neighbour Farmhouse Cider and it's really tasty. It's dry with intense apple notes, mildly tart, very refreshing. A great fall drink. Also ranked #30 on Ratebeer's top cider list.

woah, no idea we had JK's at the LCBO... is that new? Their scrumpy is amazing

distr0 wrote:is that new?

Yes, it was listed in late Sept.

I don't drink cider often - "so many beers, so little time" being one significant reason - but I do like them now and again, particularly pear ciders. Had an Okanagan Dry Pear cider last night that I had picked up way back at Thanksgiving to have on hand for guests. Really liked it, and am disappointed as I can't find it listed on the LCBO site anymore.

I think I've had Sir Perry's before; might try that again. All things being equal, I'd prefer to buy Canadian.

The picture of the Sir Perry's can says "pear cider". This contrasts with others, such as Grower's which says "sparkling flavoured cider", and Molson which says "pear flavour". I'm guessing that the Sir Perry's is true pear cider and the others are apple based. Anyone know?

Also noticed a listing for Grow a Pear by Double Trouble. On the picture of the can you can see an address for Hwy 8 in Stoney Creek. Just checked and found out that this is the same address as Puddicombe. Good news as I know I've had Puddicombe Sir Isaac's pear cider in the past and liked it. I sent an email to Puddicombe's quite a while back inquiring about this, but never got a response. Their website is stale - it's still advertising a country music festival from 3 years ago.

S. St. Jeb wrote:I don't drink cider often - "so many beers, so little time" being one significant reason - but I do like them now and again, particularly pear ciders. Had an Okanagan Dry Pear cider last night that I had picked up way back at Thanksgiving to have on hand for guests. Really liked it, and am disappointed as I can't find it listed on the LCBO site anymore.

I think I've had Sir Perry's before; might try that again. All things being equal, I'd prefer to buy Canadian.

The picture of the Sir Perry's can says "pear cider". This contrasts with others, such as Grower's which says "sparkling flavoured cider", and Molson which says "pear flavour". I'm guessing that the Sir Perry's is true pear cider and the others are apple based. Anyone know?

Also noticed a listing for Grow a Pear by Double Trouble. On the picture of the can you can see an address for Hwy 8 in Stoney Creek. Just checked and found out that this is the same address as Puddicombe. Good news as I know I've had Puddicombe Sir Isaac's pear cider in the past and liked it. I sent an email to Puddicombe's quite a while back inquiring about this, but never got a response. Their website is stale - it's still advertising a country music festival from 3 years ago.

Not sure where your located, but Spirit Tree sell a pear cider direct at their store. Personally I hate pear cider, but enjoy apple. My wife is the opposite; we were at spirit tree about a month ago and she loved their pear one so she bought a bunch. I picked up a bunch of the dry hopped apple. Win win

Ahh, ciders... a few years ago both West Avenue and Revel Cider were both hitting them out of the park on a lot of their really masterful efforts, now they seem to have tamed back a lot, even on most of the 'special' releases. I'm sure economics are involved - ie. how much extra time & money does a cider maker want to invest in a product on draft that is more challenging than some people will want? Still, both brands hold solid quality.

Spirit Tree apple cider was good maybe once when I first tried it, quality seems fairly loose the few times since; I haven't kept up with ST.

Unless a cider tries to be a bit interesting I really don't feel like I'm missing anything. Maybe it's not really my thing.

Belgian wrote:Ahh, ciders... a few years ago both West Avenue and Revel Cider were both hitting them out of the park on a lot of their really masterful efforts, now they seem to have tamed back a lot, even on most of the 'special' releases. I'm sure economics are involved - ie. how much extra time & money does a cider maker want to invest in a product on draft that is more challenging than some people will want? Still, both brands hold solid quality.

Spirit Tree apple cider was good maybe once when I first tried it, quality seems fairly loose the few times since; I haven't kept up with ST.

Unless a cider tries to be a bit interesting I really don't feel like I'm missing anything. Maybe it's not really my thing.

Yeah, to tell the truth I'm not a fan of spirit tree's normal cider. Doesn't do it for me, never has. I do enjoy he dry hopped one. Although, it's not nearly as good as it once was as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure if they're using different hops or not. The first couple bottles I had(maybe 4 years ago) were out of this world, with some real similarities to NZ Marlborough Sauvignon blanc. Now, your get some decent flavour from the hops, but nothing too special.

S. St. Jeb wrote:I don't drink cider often - "so many beers, so little time" being one significant reason - but I do like them now and again, particularly pear ciders. Had an Okanagan Dry Pear cider last night that I had picked up way back at Thanksgiving to have on hand for guests. Really liked it, and am disappointed as I can't find it listed on the LCBO site anymore.

I think I've had Sir Perry's before; might try that again. All things being equal, I'd prefer to buy Canadian.

The picture of the Sir Perry's can says "pear cider". This contrasts with others, such as Grower's which says "sparkling flavoured cider", and Molson which says "pear flavour". I'm guessing that the Sir Perry's is true pear cider and the others are apple based. Anyone know?

Also noticed a listing for Grow a Pear by Double Trouble. On the picture of the can you can see an address for Hwy 8 in Stoney Creek. Just checked and found out that this is the same address as Puddicombe. Good news as I know I've had Puddicombe Sir Isaac's pear cider in the past and liked it. I sent an email to Puddicombe's quite a while back inquiring about this, but never got a response. Their website is stale - it's still advertising a country music festival from 3 years ago.

out of all the ciders you just mentioned the Molson Canadian Pear cider might be the best lol

Sir Perry is real but has a strange alcohol astringency for only 6% ABV.

this is the best cider I have tried to date http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo/product/le-per ... rut/456145

Brickworks now has Parkside Cherry in Singles

That Pere Jules is awesome but its availability is sporadic. As for domestic ciders, Pommie's Farmhouse Cider is still tops for me (though I haven't seen it around here in close to a year). Their regular dry cider is fine too, but the Farmhouse is fantastic.

Of all the domestic perries and 'pear-flavoured ciders' I've tried, I still think Double Trouble's is the best. Sir Isaac's will also do in a pinch.

That Okanagan Dry Pear tastes fine but I'm pretty sure it's 100% apple cider with pear flavouring. It's still good for the price.

darmokandjalad wrote:Of all the domestic perries and 'pear-flavoured ciders' I've tried, I still think Double Trouble's is the best. Sir Isaac's will also do in a pinch.

I think one is a re-branding of the other.

darmokandjalad wrote:That Pere Jules is awesome but its availability is sporadic. As for domestic ciders, Pommie's Farmhouse Cider is still tops for me (though I haven't seen it around here in close to a year). Their regular dry cider is fine too, but the Farmhouse is fantastic.

Of all the domestic perries and 'pear-flavoured ciders' I've tried, I still think Double Trouble's is the best. Sir Isaac's will also do in a pinch.

That Okanagan Dry Pear tastes fine but I'm pretty sure it's 100% apple cider with pear flavouring. It's still good for the price.

right, I don't think La Pere Jules has been around since Fall 2017. I wasn't a fan of Pommies Farmhouse but I did enjoy Pommies Cranberry. Brickworks 1904 and Queen Street 501 are my favourite ciders from Ontario at the KGBO

S. St. Jeb wrote:Had an Okanagan Dry Pear cider last night that I had picked up way back at Thanksgiving to have on hand for guests. Really liked it, and am disappointed as I can't find it listed on the LCBO site anymore.

So I'm in a local LCBO, take a look, and there it is!

I wrote down the product code and sure enough, it is on the website. Wonder why I didn't see it before.

Perhaps it's because it shows up on page 7 in the default listing of my search for "pear cider", after hitting some brandies, liqueurs, and saki.

Or maybe it's because it's listed as "premium dry cider" - no hint at it being pear.

Sigh.

I find TBS listings worse. Sometimes they list a beer with the brewery name, sometimes only with the beer name.

Okanagan seems to be undergoing a big re-brand right now. They were actually bought out by Labatt maybe 2 years ago (along with Mike's Hard). I haven't had it in a long time so don't remember how it stands. It seems the best ciders I've had from the LCBO are all seasonals that never return (eg, still in stock but marked as DC'ed is JK's Northern Neighbour, one of my higher rated that isn't Revel/West Ave).