Review: Magners Irish Cider
I’ll admit that I’m not a great connoisseur of cider (hence sticking this in the “beer” category), so take my comments with a grain of salt — or a few apple seeds, perhaps.
Basically juice for grown-ups, cider is essentially fermented apple juice. Magners hails from Ireland and weighs in at an average 4.5% alcohol by volume. The juice comes from a whopping 17 varieties of apple, though I would challenge you to pick out any of them at all in the final blend.
In taste, Magners lives up to its recipe — simple, lightly sparkling apple juice with a very little buzz and a malty finish. It’s reasonably refreshing, but not very complicated. Ultimately it reminds me too much of my kids’ juice to merit sustained drinking.
One item of curiosity: Magners includes a Nutrition Facts label on the back, which I never see on alcoholic beverages at all. The tape: 125 calories, with 11 grams of sugar. Not too bad, really.
4.5% abv.
B / $10 per six-pack of 11.2-oz. bottles