Round 1.
Savanna Dry, Premium Cider, Product of South Africa, 500ml, 5.5% volume, contains Sulphites, best before March 2010. All of these facts were gleamed from the bottle, they were all printed directly onto the clear glass surface instead of a label. The lower half of the bottle is a standard cylinder with an abrupt curve into the neck. Crowning the bottle is a brass coloured cap with the logo printed upon it in dark green.
The liquid went into a pint glass with little fuss and minimal head generated. The audible fizzing of bubbles bursting tailed off quickly. A steady stream labours their way up from the centre of the glass bottom. Under an energy-saving lightbulb the drink appears to be a pale amber colour, a much better idea could be gained with sunlight. It smells much like the champagne we drink at christmas lunch, only slightly weaker. I don't know what that says about either of the drinks or my sense of smell.
Trying to navigate their flash based website with the touchpad turned off is a no-go. I am asked to verify my age and the default age is set to sometime in 1991, can they really drink now? There is some sort of terrible mandolin song playing, it is clashing with Earth, Wind and Fire's greatest hits. I mute the audio from the browser. It turns out this isn't even the main website, merely a promotion. I am directed to what I assume is the main site and asked to verify my age again. I was born on 3rd January 1990. It wants my nationality and I oblige. More flash based navigation, more audio, this time the background noise from a bar. I can't find where to mute it. Product info - Savanna Dry. A drinking ritual entreched in the Savanna experience, a wedge of lemon placed in the neck of the bottle and the beverage consumed straight from the bottle. Oops. It is naturally brewed and matured and is made from Granny Smith apples grown in the Western Cape. I don't know what this means. I close the page.
The only thing that I know to compare this to is apple tizer, it is perfectly drinkable, perhaps it leave a little tart taste at the back of the mouth. I find nothing majorly offensive yet nothing worth promoting, perhaps further tastes will unlock more insight.
Round 2.
For this round I relocated to the lounge, in order to gauge how the cider would fare for TV or perhaps movie viewing. It seems to perform well, I rectified my serving suggestion errors from the first drink and took it straight from the bottle, a lack of lemon in the household prevented my from meeting the ideal conditions. The bottle's diameter provides an easy grip.
Round 3.
Back to my room and the comforting glow of a notebook screen reduced to minimum brightness. It is currently plugged into the mains so I am unsure why this is. Save the polar bears. After ingesting two bottles in the space of ninty minutes I have a faint buzz. I select The Four Tops greatest hits in iTunes, Reach Out, I'll Be there; the unrelenting drums, the strained voice. Over half the bottle gone, nothing outstanding has hit me yet. A pop comes out of the speakers and it is someone messaging me on facebook. Youth footballer, long talk. Bottles gone. Four Tops play on. Midnight has struck on the clock, do I leave it at 3 or go for a beer and fataly mix drinks?
Old Speckled Hen; Strong, Fine Ale. Tinned. 5.2% volume. Leaves a bitter taste compared to the cider, maybe thats how it's supposed to be. Facebook conversation continues, I let forth more information than I would to most people. Will have to see how much of this gets around to other people. Filled up car for the first time at the petrol station, £20 took it from the petrol light being on to just less than 7/8 full. Will have to see how many miles it gets out of that. The Four Tops continue to play, he still has much pain in his voice. Surely there is a limit, I skip back to "(Thats the way)Nature Planned It", probably my favourite song of theirs. I don't know what it is about this song that I like in particular, just something clicked and I am unable to shake it. Part of me wonders what it was like to be one of the backup singers, complimenting the lead of Levi Stubbs. They mostly seem like good songs so I can't see the problem. There was '(Going) Loco In Acapulo' which I guess was a hit, the music video on youtube appears to be from a Phil Collins movie, Stubbs' voice still seems to be in fine form though, assuming he was still the lead singer at that point, I will admit at that I am ignorant of the groups later, and indeed earlier, history. I conclude from the video that technology had just surfaced that allowed the resizing of individual clips to allow them to be squeezed into one frame and provide uncomfortable collages of the Four Tops and Phil Colliins.
In conclusion, I can see no reason not to purchase Savanna Dry, yet also I can see no reason why you should purchase Savanna Dry unless the comparably priced Ciders are that much worse. Only future reviews will tell which is the King Cider in the 3 for £4 market.
