Gwynt Y Ddraig 'Autumn Magic' cider

I always eyed people who had ordered a 'cider and black' with suspicion. And this is from someone who only started drinking cider a year ago.
The same went for those who put a splash of lime in their lager.
Why put blackcurrent into cider? (perhaps its something to do with the fact I dont like blackcurrents).
To me its all wrong, just wrong.

However fruit in beers really does work, there are so many examples I'm not even going to start listing some. So double standards, yes.


Autumn Magic is a cider from the Welsh cider makers Gwynt Y Ddraig, its a medium 4% cider, light by their standards really, which has blackberries in it. I like blackberries so its ok in my book.
(So again my rationale makes no sense).

The intial aroma really is full of squashed blackberries, the label mentions apple and blackberry pie, and that first hit is just when your making that pie, washing those berries, the water running red and the aroma of cleaned berries thrown into the pie dish.
Its not as sweet or syrupy in the mouth as I thought it would be, a good sharpness comes through on its light crisp body, moderate carbonation. As you get further into it the sharpness seems to dominate more but there is always that dark fruity hit just lingering in there.

Kite Brewery 'Cwrw Gorslas'

The Kite Brewery have been around since 2011 and were based in Llanelli in West Wales, producing a core range of beers such as Thunderbird and their Welsh Pale Ale, I've seen them at the GWBCF and in the Hope and Anchor in Tenby.

In 2013 they decided to relocate and chose a place down the road from me in Talbot Green. Before our trip in May to Cornwall I'd been down to their new site to the brewery shop and bought a case of their Pale Ale which went down very well with my friends and I.

Soon after their beers appeared in the local Spar shop, and a local Marstons pub had been recently having them on as guest beers too.

Cwrw Gorslas, Cwrw means beer, and Gorslas is a village located in Carmarthenshire near to their previous location.
Its a bitter, 4%, amber gold in colour, an aroma of fruit and malts. Frothy head at first, good lacing on the glass. Dry, good spicey hops and toffee, with a good body its well balanced and has a nice bitter end.