BLACKTHORN CIDER
Constellation
UK, 5.5% ABV
Blackthorn used to be a dry cider called, funnily enough, ‘Blackthorn Dry Cider’. Now it’s a sweet cider, the recipe changed and only the brand name remaining, presumably to help snag a bite of the cider revolution apple. So what does ‘Ice Cold Filtered’ Blackthorn Cider offer that Magners, Bulmers, Woodpecker and indeed the Constellation-owned Gaymer Company’s own Gaymer’s Original does not? I’m struggling to come up with anything other than rather attractive bar towels. Blackthorn recently enjoyed a £3 million relaunch, which saw it receive a rocktastic new logo that looks a bit like heavy metal T-shirt design and doesn’t seem like a particularly good fit with the accompanying slogan ‘The taste of the West Country’. I’m not really a regular cider drinker – not since my teenage years – but I do know that cider is supposed to be made from apples. You wouldn’t discern this from Blackthorn’s taste, tolerable, but with a sharp metal twang when drunk from a can. Perhaps they’re only using the pips. Its colouring is darker than expected, not the bright golden colour you’d imagine from a cider, but that hardly counts as a unique selling point. The name Blackthorn brings back some unpleasant memories – I once had a blackthorn splinter slip into my finger that caused great pain and eventual poisoning. My experience of drinking Blackthorn Cider will be much easier forgotten. Years ago, the blackthorn bush was known for its medicinal qualities. Perhaps Blackthorn Cider will one day be known for its medicinal taste. HC
