Taste test

THIS WEEK:

Upcider

A new pear cider

from S&NUK

Filipe Casimiro,

22, London

I can't say that I've ever really associated Finland with cider, so I was quite intrigued to try Upcider, which is imported from there. I do drink cider now when I'm out, mostly because every pub seems to have a good selection - not like it used to be when you would be lucky to have more than one brand on the bar.

It's good that most places also seem to be happy selling cider with ice. It makes you feel like a bit of effort has gone into preparing your drink, but I couldn't honestly say if it makes it taste any better.

I'm always up for trying new drinks, and I've never seen or tasted a pear cider before.

I don't know if it's the sweetness of the pears, but I found the aroma of the drink a bit off-putting - it was like pear-drop sweets, which made me think that it wasn't very natural. The label does say that it contains added flavourings, so that could explain it. The taste was also confected, not as tart as some apple ciders, which makes them refreshing.

I'm not very impressed with the overall look either. The design of the label doesn't really do much to suggest it's a premium drink, which it claims to be. I don't like the fonts and the glossy label is a bit cheap, I prefer something a bit more organic-looking and rustic. The name is also a bit of a mystery, at least there's a sense of heritage with other ciders like Weston's or Bulmers.

I prefer my ciders on the drier side generally and it's quite unlikely that I would buy this in a pub, because I think it's too sweet to be able to have more than a small glassful.

Score: 10/20