Gaymer Company
UK, 7.5% ABV
 
It’s probably fair to say that a lot of people think the current vogue for drinking bottled cider in pubs (as opposed to drinking it on trains and outside of court) began only a year or two back when Magners/Bulmers brought us the cider-over-ice revolution. Not true: bottled cider Diamond White has been around since the 1980s, and was as synonymous with that decade as fingerless gloves or Anita Dobson’s perm. At a hefty 7.5% ABV (which led some to christen it ‘Diamond Fight’), the foolhardy even used this white cider as a basis for one of the more infamous ‘cocktails’ of the time – the ‘Blastaway’. This cheeky little number consisted of a bottle of Diamond White mixed together in a pint glass with a bottle of Castaway (a rather vile sparkling white wine and fruit juice combo) to produce a liquid which resembled tramp’s urine. Such was the Blastaway’s sharp taste that the first sip invariably drew your face into a rictus grin leaving you looking like Jack Nicolson’s portrayal of the Joker in Batman. Diamond White was never the classiest of drinks (and it spawned an even tawdrier copycat beverage, White Lightning), but it has survived and is still available in cans and bottles today, although it’s probably fair to say that it’s now more popular with park bench residents than those looking for a cool and sophisticated tipple. RM