Kerisac Cuveé Brut

Black is considered in marketing as a colour of class, sophistication and high quality. I wonder if the black label of the cidre from Brittany created by a French mainstream cidre brand Kerisac has something to do with good taste.Company: Ets Guillet Freres Cidres Kerisac
Place of Origin: Guenrouët, Brittany, France
Apples: a blend of cider apples
Sweetness as per label: brut
ABV: 5%
Package type: 750ml green glass champagne corked bottle
Recommended type of glass: flute, white wine glass or boleé

Appearance: pours a lightly cloudy golden with orange hues/pale amber and a huge white head, which slowly dissipates to a thin ring around the glass. Strong carbonation. Body is medium.

Aroma/Nose: the nose is very rich and exhibits notes of pear, red apples, dried fruits, dried apricots, peaches, raisins with underlying green herbal notes. Lovely!

Taste: the first impression is some medium sweetness with low to medium acidity. Moderate astringent taste, dried apricots, raisins, ripe pear, baked apples, ripe fig, dried fruits, thyme and green herbal notes on the mid-palate. The finish is dry with a lingering astringent taste, flavours of crisp apple with dried fruits. Also, there is a spicy tingling on the tongue combined with a slightly chalky taste.

Overall: Wow! I would never expect a mainstream cidre to taste so glorious! It’s extremely rich with a huge breadth of various dried fruit notes that don’t get boring at any time. Quite on the contrary, with every sip, you discover a new delicious flavour that moves smoothly to another one you have already identified. It makes you want to go on a real cider exploration journey. Cuveé Brut is very quaffable and perfect for any season of the year. Actually, I’ve shared a bottle of the Cuveé Brut with my friend and we both loved it so the bottle got empty within 10 minutes. It was an amazing experience, which I’m going to repeat. It’s a cidre for everyone. 5/6

Availability: broad in France. Outside of France, I was available to track it only in Berlin in KaDeWe.

Price: purchased locally in Berlin from the KaDeWe at 4.98 EUR. Worth every cent.

Reflets de France Cidre Fermier de Bretagne Brut

Reflets de France is a French food brand established in 1996, belonging to the Carrefour Group. They claim that each product was tested and approved by Joël Robuchon, who is a French chef and restaurateur possessing the highest number of Michelin stars in the world. Since Reflets de France provide typically French products, it’s not a surprise that they also offer their own cidre produced by Cidrerie Le Brun. Today’s review is on Cidre Fermier de Bretagne Brut. Company: Reflets de France, Le Brun
Place of Origin: Plovan, Brittany, France
Apples: unknown
Sweetness as per label: brut
ABV: 5.5%
Package type: 750 ml green glass champagne corked bottle
Recommended type of glass: bolée or flute

Appearance: pours a hazy pale amber with a small white head, which immediately dissipates. Highly carbonated with beautiful strings of bubbles. Body is light.

Aroma/Nose: a very rich smell pours out of the bottle with notes of barnyard, apricots, raisins, ripe apples, wood and a very distant vinegar.

Taste: it starts watery with almost no sweetness, and medium lemon-like acidity. The mid-palate is moderately bitter in the beginning, then it gets milder so I get grapefruit peel with a lingering smokiness and gentle astringency. The aftertaste is watery with a detectable taste of alcohol and a note of watermelon.

Overall: after such an inviting smell you’d expect your cider to taste at least as good. But not here. It was absolutely terrible! It tasted harsh and sour, completely unbalanced providing no drinking pleasure. It’s hard to believe that this cider was made by Cidrerie Le Brun. This is officially the worst French cidre I had so far. And the least drinkable. I can name you at least a dozen ciders available in Berlin for less than 5 Euro that are much better than this crap. Avoid! 1.5/6

Availability: at your local Carrefour supermarket. In Berlin from Galerie Lafayette.

Price: Galerie Lafayette at 4.97 EUR.

Cidrerie du Château de Lézergué Cidre Fermier

Although Cidrerie du Château de Lézergué from Brittany was set up in 1990, the first cidre was made by the Jan-Autret brothers only in 1996. This is because apples used for cidre require a minimum of six years of growth before they fruit and can be used for cidre.

Cidre Fermier is a cider made on the farm using apples grown on this specific farm.Company: Cidrerie du Chateau de Lezergue
Place of Origin: Ergué-Gabéric, Cornouaille, Brittany, France
Apples: locally grown cider apples
ABV: 4.5%
Package type:750ml green glass champagne corked and wired bottle
Recommended type of glass: white wine glass, chalice glass, flute or bollée

Appearance: pours a clear vivid orange with a large white head that quickly reduces to a ring. High carbonation. Body is medium.

Aroma/Nose: the nose is strong and sweet with notes of apricots, floral hints, fresh apples and a hint of green apples. Also, hints of wood, honey and caramel.

Taste: it starts moderately sweet with a low acidity. Further down medium astringency, fresh apple and fresh apple flesh, apricots, wood, with floral hints. Finishes citrusy with a hint of honey and a touch of apple seed-like bitterness.

Overall: Excellent! The first thing you notice is its seducing scent. It’s strong and gentle at the same time. Floral notes accompanied by fruity flavours dominated by fresh apples along with wood, honey and caramel are simply irresistible. The Fermier is something I could smell all day long. Once you decide to take a sip you fall even deeper for this cidre. The taste is again floral and fruity with apricot and apple aromas rounded up by many delicious flavours and extremely longlasting. The tannin is there but just rounds up the taste, without giving the mouth puckering effect. For me, it could be a tiny bit less sweet but perhaps it is because I’m having it on its own. With mild or delicate cheese, it would taste absolutely perfect. Well done! 5.5/6

Availability: mainly in Brittany, France. But also available from Ciderbar in Copenhagen.

Price: a sample of this cidre was provided by Lucian from Cidrerie du Château de Lézergué.

Cidre Le Kerné

Cidrerie Kerné is a successful family business founded by Pierre Bosser in Pouldreuzic, Brittany in 1947. Since Pierre Bosser in his previous job as a wine distributor has developed a good distribution network, it allowed him to grow the cider company in no time. In 1977 his son Yves and daughter Michèle took over, and today Pierre’s grandchildren, Gérard, Anne and Claude run the ciderie. Currently they produce 15.000hl / year of cider and apple juice, which makes around 1 million bottles per year.

Today I’m reviewing their Le Kerné, which has received a gold medal (Medaille d’or) from the French ‘Concours Général Agricole’ in 2014.Company: Cidrerie Kerné
Place of Origin: Pouldreuzic, Brittany, France
Apples: a blend of apples coming from Brittany
Sweetness as per label: brut
ABV: 4.5%
Package type: 750ml amber glass champagne corked bottle
Recommended type of glass: white wine, flute or boleé

Appearance: pours a cloudy pale amber with orange hues and white frothy head, which quickly dissipates. Carbonation is medium.

Aroma/Nose: the aroma simply explodes from the bottle once you pop the cork. The nose is rich and has notes of leather, barnyard, fermented and overripe red apples, fresh apple juice, dried apricots with a hint of wood and vanilla.

Taste: it starts moderately sweet with high astringency and low acidity. Smoked cheese, fresh red apple, some funk, a hint of bitterness on the mid-palate. The aftertaste is dry and tastes of fresh, pressed apple juice with vanilla, but also has lingering notes of barnyard, beeswax and leather. When you think it’s over, a delicate astringency occurs.

Overall: taking a sip of cidre Kerné is like listening to a well-conducted symphony orchestra. It’s well balanced, with a good set of flavours that linger on and on. Cidre Kerné tastes delicious and has a good level of sweetness. It’s a cidre to appreciate, to celebrate with, or just an evening companion. I would buy more. 5/6 

Availability: from their online shop. In Berlin from Monsieur Collard located in the Markthalle Neun or from Maitre Phillipe et Filles. Through Roi de Bretagne in France or Wittich in Switzerland.

Price: Maitre Phillipe et Filles in Berlin at 4.95 EUR.

Le Brun Cidre Artisanal Doux

Le Brun is a French cidre with probably the widest availability in Europe. Interestingly, Le Brun in contrast to other big French cidre brands such as Loic Raison, Kerisac or Eccusson is still in private hands. Their cidre has been produced by the Le Brun family in Plovan, Brittany since 1955 when Jean Le Brun set up the company. In 1991 the youngest son of the founder, Dominique took over and the cidery expanded while keeping the quality of their product at the same time. I’m sampling their Doux today, which won a silver medal at the International Cider Challange 2016.Company: Cidre Le Brun
Place of Origin: Plovan, Brittany, France
Apples: Kermerrien, Marie Ménard, Douce Moên, Peau de Chien, Douce Coëtligné are grown on the farm
Sweetness as per label: doux
ABV: 3.0%
Package type: 750ml green glass champagne corked bottle
Recommended type of glass: pint glass or white wine glass

Appearance: pours a lightly cloudy orange with a short-lived white foam, which quickly reduces to a ring. High carbonation. Body is medium. Some sediment settled on the bottom.

Aroma/Nose: the scent is relatively strong with notes of apricots, raisins, baked apples, fermented apples and a hint of vinegar.

Taste: the first taste is sweet with a moderate lemon-like acidity and a hint of vinegar, which beautifully cuts the sweetness. Apricot, herbal notes with a light astringency in the mid-palate. The finish is dry and has a touch of bitterness and a hint of wood in the aftertaste.

Overall: I’m not a fan of sweet ciders so before trying this cidre I assumed I will not like it (I know, I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover). But when I took the first sip I was really amazed by the taste. Le Brun’s Doux tastes delicious! A touch of vinegar breaks the sweetness making the Doux a nice, drinkable and refreshing cidre. Cidre Le Brun might be very common and easily available in your area but it’s absolutely worth a purchase. So if you stumble upon it at you local store just give it a try. Not only for those having a sweet tooth! 4.5/6

Availability: should be in your Carrefour. In Warsaw from Salon Win i Alkoholi Warsaw. In Berlin from Galeria Kaufhof. In Prague from Dobry Cider or Incider Bar. In the UK  from Roving Sommelier. 

Price: It was a gift from my parents. Thank you! 🙂

Loïc Raison Cidre Bouché Breton Brut

Cidre Loïc Raison is a French mainstream cider brand, which was originally established in 1923. Now it belongs however to a large corporation.Company: Cidrerie Loïc Raison 
Place of Origin: Domagne, Bretagne, France
Apples: a blend of Bretagne apples
Sweetness as per label: Brut
ABV: 4.5%
Package type: 750ml champagne corked bottle
Recommended type of glass: flute or bolée (looks like a tea cup; traditionally used in Bretagne for drinking cidre).

Appearance: pours a clear, pale orange/light amber body with a huge white head, which dissipates within seconds. The carbonation is average but weaker than typically seen in ciders produced with the champagne method.

Aroma/Nose: Wood, plenty of it with crisp apple and dry white wine notes. Also, some apple flesh and distant green notes are present on the nose.

Taste: Interestingly the first perceivable taste is wood. The woody taste is strong and lingers on throughout the whole sip. It is not unpleasant but dominating, not really fading away (did they use a new oak vat for this batch?). There are also bitter notes present, which after a few seconds give room to the medium sweetness with a green apple hint. I don’t sense any sourness or perhaps acids are just well balanced with sugars. Alcohol is not perfectly hidden and slightly perceivable. The finish is dry with some apple juice hints. No astringent taste on the palate.

Overall: For a mainstream cider Loïc Raison Brut tastes satisfying. Loïc Raison Brut is drinkable, perhaps not spectacular but for sure you can’t say you are drinking an artificial fizzy drink. It is an average, simple though but still pleasant cider. But, I don’t plan to buy it anytime soon. 3.5/6

Availability: Broad in supermarkets in France such as Carrefour or Auchan. Otherwise, check out grocery stores selling French products.

Price: purchased locally from  Galeries Lafayette Berlin at 3 EUR.