I wanted to make comfort food at home this weekend. We’ve had a lot of hard stuff going on lately, and the weekend finally gave me enough breathing room to cook about it. So I made vegetarian lasagna. Every lasagna I’ve ever made is vegetarian, but I looked for ways to pack more vegetables in without losing the dish’s richness and indulgence. It’s supposed to be a super savory pile of cheese and noodles smothered in rich tomato sauce! And as soon as the craving hit, I knew it would be a great chance to pick a big cider with intense flavors as an accompaniment. That’s why this week’s cider review is of Deep Roots Hard Cider's Double Barrel Reserve.
I came across the Double Barrel Reserve when I had the pleasure of judging cider for the PA Farm Show this past December. Deep Roots Hard Cider comes to us from Sugar Run, Pennsylvania. The cidery was founded by Tim Wells in 2015, and this is the first time I’ve managed to snag a bottle for myself. Getting Pennsylvania outside of state is still no easy feat, folks! That’s why this is my first Deep Roots review.
I recommend visiting the cidery online: https://www.deeprootshardcider.com/
Here’s Deep Roots’ official description for the Double Barrel Reserve.
Double up on what makes our Barrel Reserve great! This bourbon-barrel-aged hard cider starts with our original Northern Spy hard cider aged for a full year in a double-oaked-bourbon barrel. It has notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak with a silky smooth finish.
This small-batch cider sells out fast!
9.9% ABV
Appearance: Sunny yellow, few visible bubbles, brilliant
What a lovely cider. It doesn’t have the haze that lots of barrel-aged ciders display. Instead I can see a few bubbles in the cider quite clearly. The Double Barrel Reserve is a sunny pastel yellow. Maybe it’s just my wishful thinking, but the color reminds me of spring sunshine.
Aromas: vanilla, caramel, smoke, wood, barrel
The Double Barrel Reserve smells amazingly of vanilla and barrel. The aromas are just so vivid and intense. I also get plentiful aromas of caramel, salt, and smoke. The cider hints at woody and balsam notes.
Sweetness/dryness: Sweet
This is a sweet cider. It’s an unapologetic dessert with plenty of complexity to the sweetness.
Flavors and drinking experience: Petillant, full body, buttery, barrel, woody
Deep Roots bring us a cider that’s both petillant and sweet. I don’t necessarily associate these two qualities together, but the emphatic barrel focus melds the two. What I get is a rich buttery cider that has dessert levels of sweetness on the mid-palate and a twinge of a bitter hint on the finish. The cider has tons of barrel character and a full body.
The Double Barrel Reserve cider carries its hefty alcohol-by-volume level well and the strong flavors can stand up to a dish like lasagna. In a perfect world, I’d love to see all of that fun barrel character countered balanced with more fruit and acid, but it’s hard to get everything in one cider. My co-taster commented that the Double Barrel Reserve tasted intriguingly like a tree or a pine cone with just one sharp hint of apple.
It was a treat to make, pair, and enjoy my lasagna with this rich super-barrely cider. Cheers!
