Thatchers Green Goblin - not oak aged anymore?

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
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Hey hey.

Just having rated Thatchers Green Goblin, I’ve noted that it never says anywhere that it’s oak aged (anymore), just that it’s a medium dry cider, Dabinett, Somerset Redstreak, blah blah - and it’s 5%. Reading the RB old description, it’s very much oak aged, even calls itself so, and 6%. What I’m having now hasn’t seen oaks let alone oak vats flavour-wise, and you’d think they’d brag on the site if it was still like that. So - a split might be in order I guess? What do you guys think ?

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A very quick Google does suggest that the barrel aged version could be retired.

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It could just be rebranding… Thatchers also changed “Old Rascal” to “Rascal” recently, but that was still at the same abv. If it’s gone down from 6% to 5%, the abv reduction might suggest a new entry as “Thatchers Green Goblin 5%”… then again, everytime I add any new entry it seems to get merged

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I’m just looking at their website, contemporary articles and suchlike.

*The old 6% oak aged and the 5% medium dry co-existed in 2016 and 2015.

*Bottles were obviously branded as Green Goblin Oak Aged Cider and bottles obviously branded as Green Goblin Medium Dry Cider.

*The 5% version appears to have initially appeared as an export version - articles from May/June 2015 announce it, first time a picture of it shows up on UT is in June 2015.

*The 5% has never mentioned oak - I reckon that oak aging would make producing export amounts untenable? Unsure.

*By at least mid-2016, the 6% version was phased out apparently, with the 5% appearing at, say, a festival at Plymouth, without any mention of oak. Stocks of the old one were still around in the UK for some time still, but that’s basically it.

Someone might want to check with the producer, but it’s clear in my book that the oak aged version was silently phased out and the new, formerly export version completely introduced in its place. The lack of info makes sense - you aren’t gonna advertise reinventing a 6% oak aged brand as a 5% “regular” brand, aren’t you…

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