Our summer got off to a beautiful slow start this year with plenty of breezes and green and flowers and rain. That was lovely. Many thanks to Mother Nature. But it didn't inspire me to get all of my hot-weather-summer-coping activities going until the start of August. Yes for seven miles of walking every day! Boo for not needing gorgeous floats, watermelon, and cold noodle salads. But, let me tell you, August has made up for that. Hot, check. Humid, check. Just humid but not actually raining, check. But now we've had that for going on three weeks now. I've really needed those coping strategies.
One of my experiments in this vein has been ciders sold as summer seasonals. I'm not straight up calling them summer seasonals, because that's in the taste buds of the drinker. These are ciders intended to compliment the season well.
Today it's Angry Orchard's Summer Honey, but here's some background.
The Angry Orchard website: http://angryorchard.com
Here are my previous reviews of Angry Orchard Ciders:
A Roundup including two of their Cider House Series: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/05/roundup-of-angry-orchard-reviews.html
The Elderflower: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-elderflower.html
The Hop'n Mad Apple: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/03/cider-review-angry-orchards-hopn-mad.html
Angry Orchard's official description reads, "Our Summer Honey cider is a light and refreshing cider with subtle notes of wildflower honey, perfect for those warmer months." 5%ABV sold in 12oz. bottles and 16oz. cans.
Appearance: medium aged gold
I didn't expect quite this deep a color. It looks brilliant and intense.
Aromas: sweet, honey, candy
It smells a bit dusty and stony but mostly like honey and various kinds of sweetness.
Sweetness: Sweet!
Yep. Fruit and honey all the way.
Flavors and drinking experience: orange blossom honey, honey comb, raw apple, nice acidity
The candy from the aroma is decidedly present in the taste, as is the honey. It tastes somewhat like a raw apple slice slathered in tangy orange blossom honey. I'm pleased that it offers reasonable acidity. The cider features medium light carbonation and a long aftertaste. The most interesting element of the flavors was that after a few sips it seemed to tranform from honey to honeycomb. Not sure there's a logical explanation for that part. It's too sweet for me, but I'm guessing it's a real crowd pleaser. I know my tastes are well dry of center at this point.
Foodwise, pair this with with a chilled peanut noodle salad: the kind with cucumbers and a little bit of spiciness. I'll also recommend it with the perfect perfect music of Father John Misty. But that may just be me
It is appropriately seasonal, but I think the honey doesn't have to go with summer. I could also see it with raw early spring when everything sweet sounds oh so good.