Sheppy’s Dabinett

Sheppy’s Cider is another family business, which started in Somerset over 200 years ago. Initially, their focus was on beef and dairy, less on apples and cider. However, when the Sheppy’s moved to Three Bridges in 1917 cider making became their core business. Today Sheppy’s Cider is successfully run by David Sheppy, the sixth-generation owner.Company: Sheppy’s Cider Ltd
Place of Origin: Three Bridges, Bradford-on-Tone, Taunton, Somerset, UK
Apples: Dabinett
Sweetness as per label: medium 
ABV: 7.2%
Package type:500ml clear glass bottle with crown cap
Recommended type of glass: pint glass, snifter or white wine glass

Appearance: pours a clear golden/ pale amber with no head. Lightly sparkling. The body is light.

Aroma/Nose: smells of sweet and sharp red apples with notes of caramel and wood. Pleasant.

Taste: surprisingly, it starts bitter with low acidity and perceivable strong taste of alcohol. Subsequently, flavours of wood with red apple skins, tart apples, cinnamon, caramel and butter appear. The aftertaste is dry with lingering bitter taste and a distant note of almond. The bitter taste gets milder after a while.

Overall: Dabinett is a typical cider apple, which is rich in tannins and low in acid. And, you can clearly taste tannins in Sheppy’s Dabinett, as they are responsible for the taste of wood and bitter notes in this cider. Sheppy’s Dabinett has a rich taste, but to me tastes rather unbalanced. It would have been a great cider if not the bitter taste overpowering the taste of this cider and not well-hidden alcohol. However, I must say that flavours of cinnamon and caramel make the Dabinett a great winter cider. Also, in the winter you can benefit from the warming effect of alcohol. I would buy it again since it’s available in a nearby supermarket, but I would drink it rather in the winter time and only slightly chilled. 4/6 

Availability: widely available in supermarkets such as Waitrose, Booths, Sainsbury’s in the UK. At Waitrose, online from eebria,  Dike and Son,  Beers of Europe or Beer Ritz. In Germany locally at Getränke Hoffman or online through Ciderhof, Banneke, GourVino or  Drinks of the World. In Copenhagen from Holm.

Price: purchased locally in Berlin from Getränke Hoffman at 3.35 EUR. FYI, Getränke Hoffman has recently added new cider/apfelwein/cidre to their selection!