Autumn's Gold fills my glass today, and I'm curious what in particular about it can bring autumn to mind. Anything along those lines would be appreciated. The cider is listed as 9% ABV on the bottle but 10% ABV on the website, so I imagine it varies slightly year to year. This is what Eve's Cidery says about this variety, "Naturally sparkling, off dry. This cider is a blend of English, French and American cider apples. Autumn’s Gold is golden, bubbly and off dry. It has a distinctive fruity nose that comes only from bittersweet apples, smoky, tannic undertones and a rich, warm texture and lingering finish. One of the great delights of this cider is pairing it with cheese. Cave aged cheddar, stilton, smoked gouda or a unique raw-milk cheese from your local dairy. Serve Autumn’s Gold with your main course alongside savory foods such as home-made pasta with truffle butter, parsnip soup and anything with bacon." While I won't be trying the cider with bacon, I love the other food suggestions. Very autumnal and pleasant.
On Eve's Cidery's webpage about making sparkling cider, I found even more interesting factual information about the Autumn's Gold. They tell us about their aims and apple selection, "But for the Autumns Gold and Bittersweet ciders, we aim for a ratio of between 60% and 75% cider apple to desert apple varieties. We conceive of the Autumns Gold as a rich, dry, tannic cider. So two 260 gallon tanks after a long day of pressing in October might hold a 60:40 combination of bittersweet varieties such as Brown Snout, Medialle D’ Or and Chisel Jersey and desert varieties such as Jonagold and Ida red." I cannot tell you how happy it makes me when a cidery tells us this kind of information about their apple choices and rationales. Two thumbs up!
Appearance: absolutely brilliant, pale honey, cornbread
Pours with a light mousse that dissipates quickly. The honey-like color so intrigued me that I wanted to look at the specific colors of different types of honey. I matched a few and found that this looks to me most like sage honey. Now I really want to taste sage honey.
Aromas: ripe apples, green grapes, sugared walnuts
The list of aromas catalogues the nature of the apple smell, the secondary fruit scents, and other associative aromas. To be a bit more abstractly descriptive it smelled fresh and fruity, but also tangy and zesty, with a bit of yeast
Sweetness: off dry
The particular type of off dry in this cider has to be a beery near dryness. It hints at richness without really being sweet.
Flavors: grapefruit, barrel
The cider has medium high tannins and quite high acidity. These contribute to my sensing pithy white grapefruit as I drink it. Very enjoyable but intense. The barrel notes come from the tannins and are a little more relaxed than the acidity but still come across in a pronounced way. It comes together as a very grown-up cider.
Drinking Experience: This is most definitely a sipping cider. The Autumn's Gold contains some of the bitterness of beer. The level of carbonation is notably high, to the point that it gives the experience of drinking a dry apple champagne. This could be a cider for something formal. Make this a wedding toast cider.
In terms of food pairing, I could go in one of two directions. For nibbling, I'd pair it with an aged gouda, preferably the ones that are old enough to having a fairly hard and slightly crystalized texture, like a 5 year. Or if you do want to pair it will a meal or course, put it with a summery salad that has both fruit and avocado.
I find the cider to be very good, but don't pair it with a thirsty meal or try to drink it by itself. This is a cider to be considered and enjoyed slowly with other flavors and textures that can stand up to the tannins and acidity.
Eve's Cidery: Making Sparkling Cider
