Friday 31 August 2012

Bell Rates... Stella Cidre Pear

type: Pear Cider
origin: Belgium
ABV: 4.5%
location: House
served: 568ml bottle to glass, over ice


So InBev have augmented their 'Cidre' with a pear version, presumably hoping to challenge Kopparberg's domination.

I can't really blame them. After all, their standard apple version is basically a Magners clone, with toned down flavour and colour, and Magners have a pear version (to try and challenge Kopparberg) so why shouldn't Stella?

Thus, we now have a Pear version - but shouldn't that be 'Poire', keeping with the French-language branding? Or, even better, 'Poiré' - which is the French name for pear cider.

Smell: As with the apple version, there's hardly any aroma at all. A slight hint of pear, but . 2/4

Colour: A very pale greenish-yellow. Actually looks a bit like weak soda water and lime, certainly more than it looks like cider. 1/4

Taste: Definitely less sweet than Kopparberg, and less flavoursome. About on a par with quite a few of the generic pear ciders, and definitely drinkable if no alternative exists. 2/4

Overall: No cider brand is complete without a pear version these days, it seems, but the Stella version is pretty generic. Another basic cash-in, rather than any attempt to make an interesting new product. 5/12
  
"C'est poiré, not pear cidre!"

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