Okay, those Edwort’s Apfelwein have been sitting in my cupboard for about a month now, getting all carbonated and maturing as we speak. However, I took one out and had a little taste test yet again. I am sure that after maturing for a month, the flavour should have changed quite significantly compared to the first time I took a taste test. And I wasn’t disappointed. The taste of the Apfelwein was definitely better than before.

I was told one of the most important thing about hard ciders is to ensure that there is good carbonation. This will really bring out the apple flavours in the cider. They were right. With bubbles you can really taste the “appley” flavour coming out of the cider. Previously when I tried a sample, it wasn’t fully carbonated thus the cider had a less profound apple flavour but now, it was just great. Only problem is that the sourish aftertaste still remains. Perhaps it is the apple juice I had used for this cider. If the original apple juice is sour, then I am pretty sure there will still be some residual sour taste in the end. Too bad. I hadn’t tried drinking all of the apple juice I used so I have no idea whether some of the juice had been sour. Anyway, those are all without any sugar added, so some sourish flavour should be expected from natural apple juice. If you have been drinking apple juice which tasted very sweet, then most likely they have either artifical sugar added or pear juice added. I have seen some Japaneseapple juice which tasted rather sweet and they do add pear juice into the mix.

And the bitterness I felt in the end from my previous brew is now gone! Hooray. I had thought that this bitterness would not fade but surprisingly it did. Perhaps the carbonation helped masked the bitterness. The end result is that the Apfelwein was extremely refreshing and I like it much better now. Hopefully it will get even better with more aging. However, I think it is now ready for mass drinking with my friends. Good times ahead!