Hey Guys, a few weeks ago I won a pair of tickets to a cider tasting cruise with The Stable and Fal River. I’ve always wanted to go on one of the fal river cruises. They organise a variety of different boat trips around the Fal river some are collaborations with local restaurants like this. The Stable is one of my favourite resutant chains. This trip was perfect for me.
The Stable started in Dorest and are passionate about two of my favourite things, pizza and cider. They have venues all over the south-west (even in Birmingham). If you haven’t been to one yet, go and try their pizza.
On the Friday of the bank holiday weekend, we set of from the Prince of Wales pier. On arrival, we were given a branded glass, coaster and a can of their famous own blend cider, rapscallion. We all headed up to the top deck and got our seats. Two guys from head office began teaching us about the history of the company, how cider is made and the different types of cider. If you have any interest in cider it was super interesting and made me want to experiment with making my own, one day.
We had some sheets and booklets about the ciders we’d be trying. In total there was 11 ciders to try including the can at the start. It wasn’t 11 full pints but mixing 11 different ciders over 2 hours on a boat was still a risky game for all involved. I’d never done any formal tasting and it wasn’t as serious as I thought, no need to sniff or swirl the glass around first. Mike and I are both huge cider fans so we were in our element. Although if your idea of cider is Magners or Strongbow you might be in for a shock as were some of the people sat next to us. We had a really good variety of perries, apple ciders, both sweet and dry to try. We were meant to be rating each one on our score sheet but as the evening went on this became harder but also by the time we were on the 8th or so I’d forget exactly how much I’d liked each previous cider I’d put a tick by and it was harder to really rate the top ones.
The boat went all the way around Falmouth and out to St.Mawes a beautiful island with a small castle, we even saw some seals at the end.
At the halfway point of the evening, we went back downstairs on the boat for some food. The had laid out some amazing board of cheese and cold meats including some amazing parma ham and brie which was a lovely light way to break up the cider. We also came down at the end and were treated to one last sparkling perry a cider equivalent to champagne which was amazing and I’m never buying prosecco or champagne again when this celebratory cider exists. To complement the final drink we all had brownies and fruit and all drunkenly attempted to decide on the ultimate cider form the variety we’d tasted.
Tickers were £35 but I think it is totally worth that with the amount of drink you were given, the hosts were really entertaining. Trying to engage around 20 strangers in a small space cna often become cringe, asking annoying questions and ice breakers but they were both really natural and funny.
I’m definitely going to keep my eye out for my Fal River trips like this, I know they often do a Fizz & Chips trip in collaboration with Rick Steins which sounds fabulous.
Are you a big cider fan? If you are The Stable offer cider tasting nights and tasting boards in their restaurants too so keep an eye out.
Love Charlotte
xxx