Today's Review: Smirnoff Cider

There are an awful lot of new ciders popping up these days, and I don't mind at all, there's a lovely variety of flavours around that are mostly pretty damn tasty. Now Smirnoff want to get in on the game, so they've made their own cider. Yes, a Smirnoff cider, a mixture of fruit cider and Smirnoff vodka. The alcoholic blend was enough to pique my interest, but the flavours they've gone for were even more tempting. They haven't started out with the mainstay of apple or pear, instead we get raspberry & pomegranate, and passion fruit & lime. The bottles look great too, apart from the strange placement of the flavour titles on the bottom there.

I was sold immediately with the prospect of the flavours, and I'm happy to say they don't disappoint. Each one has a bold, fruity taste, and the passion fruit one in particular is pretty authentic. It's all blended together quite nicely, and that cider-like aftertaste isn't all that present in these bottles. Granted, it is replaced by a vodka aftertaste, but it's not bad on either count, it just tastes a bit more like a cocktail than a cider, although a lot more refreshing. The only thing I would say about the taste is that the secondary flavours aren't quite noticeable some of the time, there wasn't much of a sharpness to the passion fruit variety, and the raspberry lacked a particularly pomegranate like component. Still, it's a good selection and blend of fruits in these bottles, and these are pretty great ciders, especially from a vodka brand's first venture into the business. I'm looking forward to see what else they can do.

My rating: 4/5