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Strongbow Apple Cider
About R65 for a six-pack, depending on where you buy
I LIKE THE DRY FLAVOUR
Don’t judge alcohol by its bottle might just become a new tagline. Strongbow’s new ciders might be in a sexy bottle, but they didn’t deliver.
The Gold Apple flavour fills up every crevice in your mouth, but after only a few sips it felt sickly sweet.
Strongbow Original Dry was a pleasant surprise. It’s crisp and light. It definitely is something that I wouldn’t mind being hungover for. At 4.5% alcohol content, it’s quite a sneaky little number, which gives me a suspicion that I’d find myself on the floor after indulging in two – or six – of those.
Red Berries was horrible. First, it has two separate smells. You get the deceptively floaty berry smell, which I absolutely loved, but when you drink it, you get a pungent beer under-smell. It tastes like Drink-o-Pop mixed with beer. Yuck! – Claudia Sibutha
THE RED BERRIES FLAVOUR IS LIKE KOOL-AID
I’d rather drink cider than beer any day, but it’s not something I do very often. Cider reminds me of being broke, the times when I couldn’t afford a decent glass of wine. So, I was a little hesitant when Strongbow delivered their now made-in-South Africa apple cider offering to our offices, but hey, any chance to drink at work… I thought, at first sip, that my favourite of the three apple flavours was Gold Apple. But the thought of drinking a whole bottle of such a sweet tipple put paid to that. I will say the bottle is quite pretty and comfortable to hold. The Original Dry flavour was less sweet, but the apple has a bit of an aftertaste. But both of those are exceptionally delicious compared with the Red Berries flavour. This is a crime against alcohol. It’s like someone mixed gin with Kool-Aid. Stahp, Strongbow! – Charl Blignaut
CRISP AND FRESH
I have never been a fan of ciders. I tried one on my 18th birthday, the first time I decided to drink, and it tasted like rubbish. That sickly, sweet, fizzy but also alcoholic vibe just wasn’t for me. I tried a few times after that, and every cider tasted just as bad. So, when it came to tasting the new Strongbow ciders, I was quite apprehensive. First up was the Gold Apple, which had a crisp and fresh taste, still quite sweet, but not off-puttingly so. The Original Dry was definitely the most palatable of the three we tasted. The Red Berries had a thankfully subtle berry flavour, which meant it was easy to drink. I won’t be buying them, but they are okay to drink. – Gugulethu Mhlungu