Welcome cider fans, hopefully Spring is arriving to your neck of the woods with bird song and sunshine. The weather went from snow to balmy perfection in two days, but I’m ready for it. And I’m excited to enjoy some seasonal cider variety. Two cider club shipments have arrived from the Northwest Cider Club (I’m happily a paying member), and I’m excited to share my thoughts on a cider that the club introduced me to! And if you’d like to learn more about the Northwest Cider Club, I’d recommend starting here: https://nwciderclub.com/.
Today, I’m sharing my thoughts on Salt Creek Cider House's Rebel. This is my first review of anything by Salt Creek Cider House, so I’m starting with the cider they chose to include in the club shipment. What makes me most curious about the Rebel is that it’s a blend of apples and pears. Part of me thought I should hold back these notes until May, but I think spring calls for pears!
Salt Creek Cider House comes to use from outside of Dallas, Oregon. It’s grown out of a second-generation family orchard, and all of the fruit used in Salt Creek Cider House’s fermentations come from the Willamette Valley area.
Visit Salt Creek Cider House online and learn about the cider lineup here: https://www.saltcreekciderhouse.com/
You can find out what Salt Creek Cider House is up to on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/saltcreekciderhouse
Here’s how this cider is described.
REBEL 7% ABV
Our flagship cider REBEL is a blend of Apples and Pears. Most ciders are just one or the other, but we like them together, so that's what we did. REBEL is inspired by our forefathers and pioneers of the west. It took great courage to create a new country and bravery to head west into the unknown. REBEL is the inspiration for the cidery. We felt a desire to connect with our roots and do our part to keep the American spirit alive.
Appearance: hazy, lemon curd, few visible bubbles
What an intriguing look this cider offers! I appreciate the gentle lemon curd color along with its intense haze. I can see a few bubbles, but the cider’s opacity is a more striking feature.
Aromas: Green apples, pears, peach, cinnamon and herbs
The Rebel smells like green apples, minerals, pear maybe peach. The fruity notes are concentrated, leaning a bit to the malic acid or Jolly Rancher end of tart apple scent. I’m also reminded of wet fleshy fruit like pears and peaches. The background notes are cinnamon, grapefruit, and herbs.
Sweetness/Dryness: Semi-dry
This cider caused some disagreement about whether it is semi-dry or semi-sweet. In the end, we landed on semi-dry, but I’ll suggest that it’s on the sweeter end of that range.
Flavors and drinking experience: medium high acid, no tannins, fruity
The Rebel brings medium high acidity to balance out its semi-dry level of sweetness. There’s not a lot going on in terms of tannins. This cider tastes fruity and luscious and juicy. Those are my main impressions. The intensity of apple, pear, peach, and white grape notes is high.
In terms of texture, this cider is relatively light and very crisp with medium sparkle. The Rebel closes out each sip with a medium finish. It’s a very drinkable cider. We paired it with a Mediterranean-inspired indoor picnic: hummus, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, feta, baba ghanoush, tzatziki, and pita. The cider’s clean flavors and light body were an excellent pairing for the snacky meal.
