Casual dinners on the patio feel like a balm to my soul right now. Has it always been so magical to cook and eat just outside my door? While I certainly cannot answer that question, I’m happy to share my take on a cider that accompanied one such dinner recently. I poured Snowdrift Cider Co.'s Red for a meal of grilled shrimp, new potatoes, and sweet peppers cooked at served at my house but outside. Perfection.
Snowdrift Cider Company produces orchard-based ciders in Washington state. I really like this description of the cidery and ciders that Snowdrift leads with, so I’ll quote it.
Our ciders are made from great cider apples that we grow on our orchard in sunny East Wenatchee, WA. Our incredible region gives our trees the ideal conditions to grow apples packed with the flavors necessary to produce fine ciders. Hot sunny summers and cold snowy winters result in apples that mature with incredible aromatics and delicious flavors. When ripened to perfection, we pick these apples and craft them with the utmost care into fine cider blends, resulting in rich ciders full of delicious complexity.
Here are my previous reviews:
Snowdrift Cider Cidermaker's Reserve 2014: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/02/cider-con-2018-pt-1-eden-specialty.html
Cornice: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/01/cider-review-snowdrift-cider-cos-cornice.html
And The Cornice made my top 10 of 2018: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-favourite-10-ciders-of-2018.html
Visit Snowdrift Cider Co. online to learn about the cidery, the cider club, new releases and more: https://www.snowdriftcider.com/
Here’s Snowdrift Cider Co.’s official description for the Red.
This stunning cider is a rare treat! We have been fortunate to get to work with some apple varieties only a couple generations removed from their native ancestors in the hills of Kazakhstan. Their brilliant red flesh yields a crimson red cider with bright acidity, packed with flavors of cranberries, watermelon, rhubarb & strawberries, finishing with soft toffee tones. 7.5% ABV.
Appearance: coral pink, brilliant, tiny bubbles
This delicate coral pink shade reminds me of everything spring: I see iris, tulips, daffodils, and sunrises with this color. It’s dreamy. The clarity of the cider is brilliant which is perfect for showing off the few tiny tiny bubbles I see.
Aromas: underripe strawberries, sweet orange, boozy
The Red smells like tiny Underripe strawberries, booze, and sweet orange. Something in the melange of aromas leads me to expect powerful acid from this cider, but we’ll see what happens.
Sweetness/dryness: Semi-sweet
This cider is calibrated to be semi-sweet. The sweetness I note is balanced with plenty of acid and comes across as playful, fruity, and forward.
Flavors and drinking experience: bubbly, rhubarb, strawberry, candied, high acid, low tannins
I love how the Red is so strongly sparkling! The cider leads with high bold acids and low but present tannins. These are wonderful qualities to add complexity to the sweetness and keep the whole experience in balance.
The flavors include notes like strawberries, rhubarb, and cotton candy. The combination of sweet and bubble become pleasingly prickly to the palate. There’s a peachy clinging sweetness in the finish. The cider is fun and food friendly. I enjoyed it with our marinated grilled peppers and shrimp so much!
