Blackthorn Cider

After drinking the cheapest cider Asda could provide for a while, i decided to try something a bit better. My cider of choice was Blackthorn. I went for it as it was quite cheap and strong. The appearance is pretty simple. The bottle and cans are mainly black and have flames coming up from the bottom. The cider is a medium shade of brown and looks ok. Next, the taste. It has quite a strong cider flavour. You can taste the apples well and it goes down nicely. It isn't like the really cheap stuff and overly fizzy. You can easily drink a 2 litre bottle over the course of an evening but it is nicest as one chilled glass. I'm not a very experienced cider ...

I don't know what they put in this vile stuff but it's pretty potent. Dry Blackthorn is 6% alcohol, which is admittedly stronger than other ciders (e.g. Strongbow, Scrumpy Jack). However, I don't think this fact alone is responsible for the effects it has. I'm a real cider fan and nothing, not even really strong white cider or scrumpy, affects me in quite this way. I've just got rid of a 24 hour migraine brought on by drinking ONE can of this cider. The whole experience is unpleasant, from the first mouthful till the last. It has a strange, bitter, very un-ciderlike taste. It kicks in very quickly after only a small amount and is thus ...

On a recent supermarket trip I was examining the drinks section, looking for a reasonably cheap cider. The stock was running low, and many brands were out of stock, but quite a few bottles of Dry Blackthorn were left. That evening I found out why. The colour (a dark brown) is enough to put you off before even tasting it. Let it, because after taking a sip you'll want to pour the whole bottle down the sink! Imagine every horrible medicine you took as a kid mixed into one, and this is worse. I imagine there must be some people out there who enjoy this - either gluttons for punishment or who have had their tastebuds removed, I assume - because ...