Skylark Sparkling by Kentish Pip, Cider Review

Sparkling and I like the taste

TL;DR – Refreshingly sparkling, heavy golden in colour and oddly farmhouse in flavour.

Dan’s Thoughts

It’s been a while since Jack and I got together for a cider, so we made sure to try some good ones!

A frequent question I keep asking myself is “Why am I still wearing a coat at the end of May?”.
Lucky for us, on this particular day, the sun was out with highs of 23 degrees! It was finally Cider weather.

I walked up to the Stable in Southampton, as Jack made haste on his Longboard. We both arrived with soggy armpits and needed a refreshing beverage to cool down. That’s where I locked eyes with Kentish Pip’s Skylark Sparkling Cider. I’ve had a Kentish Pip cider before, their Wild Summer Elderflower and that was divine, so I knew I was in for a treat.

As I watched Bill pour the liquid gold into the glass, my first thoughts were that it’s quite cloudy for a sparkling cider. The glass glazed over with it’s film of cold and felt good in my hands.
We took our seats outside in the sun and drank away.

I wanted something refreshing, and this cider was certainly that. However, it was refreshing in a very confusing way. Obviously it was refreshingly cold, but often sparkling ciders are sweet and light.
Skylark was different. Skylark was more on the farmhouse tasting side of things. Light tartness from the tannins, bold and fresh. This cider would be perfect for a calm, riverside setting with the sun beaming down onto you.

So far I’ve been unusually mature and serious, so lets change things up with talking about the smell. My first thoughts from the initial sniff test was “swimming pool”. This thought expanded to the first whiff you get when taking tarpaulin off a pool on a hot day. I filled my nostrils more as I really wanted to get down to why I was struggling to work out this smell. It then hit me…APPLE BOBBING WATER! A slight grassy smell but oddly nostalgic and nice.

I mentioned earlier that Skylark was cloudy for a sparkling cider. It has a thick gold colour, like the first bladder relief after a heavy Saturday night. Relieving in colour and crisp, thirst-quenching flavour, I’ll piece this review off with a relatable quote from the 2004 classic sports comedy Dodgeball.

“It’s sterile and I like the taste.” – Just an FYI, it didn’t taste or smell like urinal excretion, it was delish!

Cheers,

Dan