Friels Low Alcohol Original Cider

The branding might smack of a summery cotton-print dress but there’s nothing remotely feminine about the huge great wallop of bittersweet apple you get right from the off with this in-your-face low alcohol cider from a relatively young (founded in 2009) Cheltenham-based  cidery that makes a big deal of its devotion to small-batch, first-press ciders. Freshness and the joy of sourness are the takeaways here, each mouthful throwing out a big punch of bitter fruit that sends a fabulously satisfying tang of freshness to the back of the throat while apple-peel top-notes pop on the tongue and linger on the palate.

There’s something wonderfully earthy about putting the sourness front and centre here, summoning up images of heat-drenched harvest days, dusty late-summer wheat fields, mopped brows and a thirst the size of a bucket that needs quenching. This is low alcohol without obvious compromise and while it might not be the most complex of ciders there’s a subtlety to the sourness that keeps it just the right side of bitter. It also brings a winning liveliness to the table, with an individuality of flavour that might well convince you, if you need convincing, that bittersweet can be a wonderful thing.