My chief fear when buying this cider was that it would be too sweet. Rest easy. It is not.

Fox Barrel is owned by Crispin, so our prospects were good.

The bouquet on this thing is a strong and straight blackberry, although not so big that it makes you fear death by berry. The pour is less carbonated than I’d expect, featuring a deeply blushed but completely translucent red (I’d be curious to know if the color is achieved strictly with blackberry juice, or if something else is added).

My preference is for drier ciders. More Strongbow and less Woodchuck. That’s one of the attractive features of pear ciders for me, and this one did not disappoint. Although it was sweet (how could it not be, with berry juice?), the sugar only touched lightly on the tongue, and transitioned with the swallow to a nice bitterness, and finally a clean finish.

Fox Barrel apparently has other pear ciders. I will be trying them.