mr mover

When i was a kid in the 60,s they made "scrumpy" cider in the Adelaide hills ,it sold for 80 cents a flagon and it was deadly .................. mm

Pollyana

Now THAT sounds like my kind of cider

MarkMyWords

Well you're quite right, Aussie Strongbow isn't a patch on Mercury. Confusingly, it's nothing like English Strongbow and I presume there's no connection (just like the Marmite confusion then!)

MarkMyWords

Mmm yum I'm with Pollyana on that one. There must be someone making it somewhere still. I wonder what kind of apples they grew/grow there. That's the critical thing.

Pollyana

I guess thats why Mercury is a reasonable cider too - Tassies apples are excellent, though the industry suffered a lot when the EU (then the Common Market) stopped them being sent to the UK.

MarkMyWords

Alas, not the same thing at all, if you mean Tassie eating apples. (What varieties do they grow there BTW? Any decent ones?) Cider apples are a completely different kettle of... er, apples.

MarkMyWords

Answering my own question with regard to the eating apples, at least:
Variety Trees
Red Delicious 392,500
Fuji 266,349
Golden Delicious 141,452
Jonagold 129,951
Granny Smith 46,443
Gala (Royal, Imperial) 206,644
Cripps Pink (Pink LadyTM) 106,445
Braeburn 67,037
Cripps Red (SundownerTM) 86,111
Other varieties (early) 22,323
Other varieties (late) 81,389

(from http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.ns...UN-5NU7KK?open)

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, not a single really good variety amongst the lot of them. No Cox, no Russet of any kind, no Discovery, the list of decent apple varieties that they could grow is long and mouth-watering. That really is so depressing. I think I'll have to go back to England, sob. Or grow my own.

After that I hold out no hope for really decent cider.

walla

haven't seen any, why do you want to drink that for out here?

There's loads of nice out here to get you sozzled

MarkMyWords

Beer is no substitute for cider, nor vice versa. This of course is a good thing, since in countries where you can get both it means twice as much fun drinking.

Quinkana

"It goes back 10-15 years and I spent six years touring the world and ended up in the UK," he said.

"[I] went into a supermarket and there was not just an ordinary selection of apples, and I tried them and they were absolutely beautiful and I thought 'when I get home one day I'll plant apple trees'."

"It doesn't taste like apples, as wine doesn't taste like grapes," Mr Thorogood said. "The apples and oak seem to blend together and it comes out as a very full-bodied drink."

Worth trying perhaps.

Oak rules at the Burra cider house

mr mover

We have a "cox,s orange pippin" on our property , it would produce a tonne of fruit a year, look here. www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s123568.htm ... mm

mr mover

SNAP great minds think allike methinks ??? ...................... mm

Pollyana

Not too far from here then! We were off to maleny tomorrow, but perhaps we'll just take a little jaunt down there instead........

Quinkana

Generally but I tried your link - it did not work so I found a working link for you.

The Druid

Thats my kind of cider, we only get genuine "scrumpy" here in the south west counties, as I am in the north west I dont get it that often, flagons of cloudy murcy extremely alcoholic apple juice and a great big cornish pastie to boot............... dont know how I am going to manage in Aus.......