The Apple, Bristol

I'm not really a cider drinker but as I was passing by, I decided to have a look out of interest. The bar is below deck, at the end, and has around half a dozen ciders and a perry on handpump plus plenty more in bottles. There is no draught beer, but Bath Ales Gem is available in bottled form, and there was quite a selection of rums to choose from. I chose a cider using my random pointing technique but the barman enquired if I had had the particular one before as it is "an acquired taste". It was from Cheddar, full name unknown, however fair play to the barman who was dead right, and suffice to say I won't be attempting to "acquire" that taste at all. I ended up with a half of something very pleasant if seriously dry. Food seemed to consist mainly of various interpretations of ploughman's lunches. More seating on the deck with plastic curtains to shield the wind and a couple of serious patio type heaters to keep the chill off. Lots of seating also on dry land where there is the biggest jumberella I am yet to see. Certainly worth a visit if you like cider, and as I did, for a bit of a novelty too.

A neat concept mirroring the Grain Barge further up the dockyard system (btw it's a nice walk between the two if you stay dockside). This is basically a boat that sells cider - the proper stuff. It does have a couple of drawbacks - the bar is stupidly small for such a large potential capacity and the food is too expensive. The interior also seems rather gloomy to me, whereas the Grain Barge does well at letting the light in. I wouldn’t fancy it here in the winter or a gloomy day However if you're after a real cider in interesting surroundings (there's dockside seating available as well as inside the boat itself) you could do worse than come here for a couple and then pop over to the Orchard (Bristol’s cider daddy) for a late evening session.

Official site of The Apple, includes full drinks list and menu - www.applecider.co.uk

Official site of The Apple, includes full drinks list and menu - www.applecider.co.uk