I hope you enjoyed our chat with Jack Arundell – one half of Linn Cider alongside his partner Eilidh Izat – over the weekend. These producer spotlights really help capture a sense of place, and wherever you were reading that article from around the globe, my wish is that for ten minutes out of your day, your mind was transported to that magical view from Linn’s cidery, looking out over the Firth of Forth, towards those magisterial bridges carrying trains, cars, bikes and more from Edinburgh out towards Fife, the Highlands, and beyond. I cycled over the Queensferry bridge back in 2019, on a charity bikeride from Belgium, through Holland, Northern England and the Central Belt of Scotland over to the Isle of Arran. If Linn Cider HQ had been in place back then, I’m sure I would have lobbied for a detour up to see them in-person. All in good time for next year I hope. 

Onto the review in hand, and a brief disclaimer, to kick things off. Although I did purchase a couple of Linn’s bottles from the London Cider Salon, the two being reviewed today were kindly gifted to us here at Cider Review. For those looking to purchase a bottle or two ahead of Christmas, as Jack gently encourages you all to do, it looks like Fine Cider Company is due an imminent delivery of stock in time for the festive season. Linn joins the likes of Little Pomona, Olivers Cider, and Pilton Cider in offering Magnum bottle-sized versions of their drinks, and I can think of no better time than the festive end of the year to showcase cider and perry’s deserved place on the dinner table alongside friends and family in this iMax-esque, large format serving style.

I’m joined in the review of these three drinks by Cider Review’s much-loved editor and co-founder, Adam Wells – the first time I’ve specifically jointly reviewed a drink or two with him in one article. I very much enjoyed sharing the digital pages with James last year on our deep-dive into the use of BIBs by cidermakers, and this is equally a special review for me to share with Adam. I’d like to highlight the uniqueness of a new producer releasing a perry and two pyders as their initial three bottlings – Caochan and Brown Snout Perry both having a blended mixture of apple and pear in their composition. Other than 99 Pines Perry, I can’t off the top of my head think of any other producer releasing more pear-based fermented beverages than apple  other than perhaps Barry at Kertelreiter Cider on an on-year for pears. [Ed: a book coming out in May next year might include a few more, cough cough…] Nice to see the rise of the pear continue! Over to the reviews.

Linn Antricotin, Longbois, Gin, Brandy and Helleness Early [sic] 2021 – Jack’s review

How I served: An afternoon in the fridge, an evening by the stove.

Appearance: Radiant lemon gold, light bubbles rising through the perry. The clarity is immaculate.

On the nose: Refresher chews, hints of sherbet and lemon. Tropical juice from the carton.

In the mouth: Barley sugar bonbons, giving way to a brisk lime juice astringency on the side of your cheeks. Followed-up by this mouthcoating tannin that I’m guessing is courtesy of our mutual friend: Brandy pear.

In a nutshell: Is it a showcase of predominantly French varieties, grown in the English county of Herefordshire, and fermented and matured in Sherry Casks in Scotland? Yes it is! Not sure I pick up much Sherry cask influence, perhaps third-fills? Barrel-aged perry always intrigues me, as do pear varieties I’m not exposed to that often. This Perry delivers on that brief perfectly.

Adam’s review

How I served: An hour out of the fridge

Appearance: Young champagne. Crystal clear

On the nose: What a fabulous, cut-glass-crystal clear, delicate, detailed perry nose that is. Subtle, not shouty initially (though fruit grows with warmth) but so much going on and just outrageously elegant. Seashell, wet rock, even samphire. Sherbet, lemon juice and a few delicately autolytic tones. Fresh peach emerges with time (I reckon that’s the French pair showing themselves). Almost Chablis-esque at moments. Almost, dare I say it, champagne-esque at others. Wouldn’t have guessed this had been in a sherry (or any other sort of) cask, but that’s just fine by me.

In the mouth: Fab dry perry delivery. Can’t believe this is less than 20% Gin though – shows classic Gin pear qualities of lime, herbs, green pear skin, slatey minerality and lightly grippy, gum-coating perry pear tannin. Also has the clarity and elegance and nerve of great Gin pear. Fruit broadens as it sits in the glass but it retains that steely, mineral, ultra-elegant core. Citrus and seashell. Lemon sherbet. I am absolutely engrossed and obsessed with this perry.

In a nutshell: Beautiful, beautiful, refined, elegant perry. One of the best I’ve tasted this year. I’d say ‘one for fans of classic French whites’, but really this is for fans of supremely elegant drinks full stop.

Linn Brown Snout, Antricotin, Longbois, Gin, Brandy & Helleness Early [sic] 2021 – Jack’s review

How I served: An evening in the fridge, then served fireside.

Appearance: Amber resin, rich marmalade from the jar.

On the nose: Hints of rosewater and knapped flint (it has a smell!), skewing more delicate perry than cider.

In the mouth: If I was tasting this blind, I’d say it was an out and out perry. The 33% perry in this blend is pushing above its weight. Getting a stewed pear juice note. Mild allspice and tannin. As it warms up, the cider element reveals itself, nervously peeking out of the blend.

In a nutshell: A pyder where the pear juice takes centre stage. This is quite a restrained drink. If Bill Nighy was a drink, he would be this drink: intriguing and restrained. 

Adam’s review

How I served: A bit more than an hour out of the fridge. Would leave this lightly chilled personally.

Appearance: Rich copper. Bright but well-behaved mousse.

On the nose: Decadent puddingly nose but not so much that it loses fruit freshness and tension. The softness of perry pears meshing with the jellied orange of Brown Snout. Marmalade, dried herbs, juniper and brown sugar crumble topping. Both pomme fruits bringing themselves to bear nicely.

In the mouth: Comforting and autumnal of delivery. Here the orange fruit, sweet spice, dried leaves and ligniny tannin of bittersweet apple – with Brown Snout’s distinctive orange jelly and leather aspect. There the plusher body of perry. To me the cider’s flavours take the lead, but the perry seems to add a layer of glossiness to fruit and texture. Just the sort of thing I want to drink at this time of year.

In a nutshell: Another fantastic, complex, textural, whistle-clean drink. As a Brown Snout fan I was standing by to grumble about its pidering, but I’m very happy with this. We’ve not done much pider in these pages – a lovely one to bring us back to them with.

Adam’s Conclusions

What a beautiful, precise and fruit-sympathetic pair of drinks. I’ve written ‘elegant’ a lot, but the pider was also comforting and deep and pillowy. An elegant pillow? I’m losing the plot. Anyway – loved both. But especially that spellbinding perry. Even if they did call it Helleness Early.

At any rate, another maker doing wonderful things with apples and pears in Scotland. As a random aside, this is the second maker I’ve encountered this year making perry from 2021 Throne Farm fruit – and both have been exceptional. Incredible orchard? Two brilliant makers? Bit of both I expect. (And added props to Linn for the on-label transparency regarding what the varieties were and where the fruit came from).

Great things happening in Scotland, people. Hie thee to Fife.