A couple of weeks back I had the chance of drinking Savanna Dry during the Sondeka Festival. Now, if you don’t know Savanna Dry then you’ve probably heard their marketing slogan ” It’s dry, but you can drink it”. Still not ringing a bell? Okay, let us introduce you to the drink here.
Savanna Dry is a South African cider, produced from crushed apples grown in the Elgin Valley of the fertile Western Cape. It is South Africa’s leading cider export and the third-largest cider brand in the world. It is available in three variations: Savanna Dry, Savanna Light and the recently added Savanna Dark. Savanna Dry is the first cider produced by Savanna and contains an alcohol level of 6% ABV.
FYI: Cider is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from the unfiltered juice of apples. Cider alcohol content varies from 1.2% ABV to 8.5% or more in traditional English ciders, and 3.5% to 12% in continental ciders.
The production of the Savanna Dry cider takes place in the apple cider plant in Paarl. The overall production process is typically two weeks in length and during this period; the product is run through a micro-filtration process where it is triple filtered and double chilled.
Now you know a bit about the drink let’s go to the review.
First of all, the slogan. “It’s dry, but you can drink it”. I don’t know about the other markets but if I was to be a loyal customer then this wouldn’t cut it for me. My friend, Olivia, hates the slogan. I wouldn’t go as far as hating it but I remain indifferent to it. I think they could put a bit more creativity into it.
When you’re used to drinking barleys then the taste of cider beer will take some time before you’re accustomed to it. I can’t really judge the drink by its taste because this is dependant on an individual so I’ll leave that to you. (reason to comment on the post 😉 ) You can add a slice of lemon to it though which is really cool and makes it a bit tastier.
Savanna dry comes with 6% ABV which is higher than most beers in the market. Beers like Tusker only have 4.2% ABV. This is one of the things that I loved about the beer but the fact that it comes in a 330ml bottle kinda balances itself off with the brown bottles in the market.
At the festival, the beer was being sold at 200bob (Kenya Shillings) so I am not sure if this is the same price being retailed in stores. Despite that, it is relatively affordable compared to other drinks in the market.
One misconception about cider beer is that it is more of a “female” drink which is utter bullocks. Savanna Dry cider beer is there for all.
Would I recomend it to you? Yes. Why? It is nice to have something different in the market and you never know. You might just love it.