Naish's Cider

Posted on 2013/11/15 22:31:15 (November 2013).

[Thursday 7th November 2013]
Chie and Erika were going to have dinner with one of our NCT friends this evening (although in the end it was actually postponed), so I was given a couple of hours off from the usual post-work parenting duties.

I met up with Al for a quick drink at the Argyll Arms where they had a sort of beer festival on. I was impressed that in the little booklet with tasting notes they provided that they listed the varieties of hops used in each of the beers. This was helpful as that way I could steer well clear of anything which had a whiff of "craft beer" about it - none of those grapefruit flavoured cascade hops for me, thank you very much.

Al could only stay for one as he had a dinner to go to, but on the way back I thought I'd poke my nose in at the Coach and Horses in Soho, where I was delighted - and quite surprised - to find Naish's Cider on tap. This is the stuff of legends in the cider world, and I didn't think it was usually available more than a few miles away from the farm in Somerset, let alone all the way over here in London. I have to admit it seems to be a bit of an acquired taste which I didn't immediately acquire - perhaps partly because I'd had some beer first, and it's rather strong, but I ill advisedly ordered a whole pint of the medium nonetheless. It actually made me feel a bit queasy, so I vowed to come back at the earliest opportunity and try it again without having had anything else to drink first.

This I managed a couple of days later, and went for a half pint of the dry this time, and enjoyed it much more second time round. Not really sure how to describe it without resorting to a lot of cliches - certainly the word "rustic" comes to mind, which is wonderfully incongruous when experiencing it in central London. Words like "smooth" or "easy drinking" definitely do not apply.

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