Cider Cans Crush It: Rootstock Ciderworks Belgium and Shacksbury Cider Citrus Spritz

Summer is here (at least for those of us in the Northern hemisphere). We are surrounded by thunderstorms, farmers’ markets, and long summer evenings. Hopefully, we’re spending more time outside too. I know I’m spending more time walking dogs, taking hikes, and doing yard work; this changes the ciders that appeal to me. Perhaps I’m not the only one. That means this month I want to highlight all the many kinds of ciders we find now in cans! 

There’s just something especially satisfying about the sound of cracking open a can of cider outside. And it’s not just one type of cider that can give us this thrill. Ciders from sweet to dry, from tradition to wildly innovative all have started to appear in cans. Cider cans crush it, so that’s my theme for the month of June. I hope you enjoy reading about some of the many many many ciders in cans.

My first featured can is the Rootstock Ciderworks Belgian. I was lucky enough to get to try this at a Memorial Day birthday party. The whole theme of the party was cider and cheese tasting, so a few of this month’s reviews were sampled and considered that day. It was tremendous fun not just to taste and consider on my own or with one cider companion but to take notes alongside a group of ten or so intrepid tasters. Thanks so much to the Birthday Captain for that whole day.

A bit about Rootstock Ciderworks: this cidery grew out of a multi-generational orchard and fruit farm in upstate New York. It is located near Lake Ontario and near Rochester, New York. The cidery was founded in 2012, so it’s a year or so older than this blog. The company prides themselves on not only using local fruit but also striving to for sustainability by making multiple uses of materials wherever possible and using green solar energy.  

I have previously reviewed the Rootstock Ciderworks Hopped Cider: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/10/cider-review-rootstock-ciderworks.html

You can read more about the company and all of the ciders here: https://rootstockciderworks.com/

This is Rootstock Ciderworks’ official description of the Belgian Cider.

Rootstock Belgian is a limited release cider designed to suit all your spring time cider drinking needs. This Ben Davis heavy cider was fermented using a traditional Belgian beer yeast. Fresh peach, and apple blossom aromas accompany pleasant minerality and apple flavor that make this cider one that is not to be missed. 7.6%ABV.

Appearance: Transparent, straw, few bubbles

This cider looks almost still when poured. The color looks a familiar shade of straw, and it’s totally brilliant.

Aromas: grain, fresh apples, grass

Yep! That’s a Belgian-beer influenced style! I can smell grain predominantly, but also fresh wet apples and a hint of green grass. This shows lots of yeast character.

Sweetness/dryness: Semi-dry

This is a middle of the road semi-dry cider, but it might perceive as fully dy to some folks because of the pronounced yeast characteristics.

Flavors and drinking experience: citrus, white grape, yeast

This is so refreshing! I want to shout it out at full volume that this cider is perfect for hot days. The flavors make it super crisp, approachable, and thirst quenching! Virtually all of the characteristics of the style I noticed on the aromas were still present in the flavors of the cider. I could taste mild citrus, white grape, fresh apple, lots of yeast, but primarily lots of bread and grain characteristics. 

This is likely a cider best suited to folks who want the Belian style or for beer drinkers who want to try a cider. This is a great example of it’s style; there aren’t many ciders going for the witte-inspired profile right now, but this is a great one. I had mine at a cider birthday party, but I think my next one will be on the porch right after I’ve finished mowing my yard. 

Last time I’ll say it, but I feel I must. This is a very solid  and very tasty version of this style.

The next canned cider I’m covering is another adventurous one, this time by Shacksbury. I’ve wanted to explore the Shacksbury Spritzes as soon as I learned about them. This line of ciders has a lower ABV for sessionability, a very approachable set of flavors, and a super-cute can design.

I’ve written about Shacksbury a few times before, but the company has developed since then. Based out of Vergennes, Vermont, Shacksbury ferments a huge variety of apples in several different styles. They are often inspired the world’s different regional cider styles. The company creates limited editions and often creates collaboratively. 

I reviewed the Shacksbury Classic: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/cider-review-shacksbury-original.html

And I visited an orchard Shacksbury partners with as part of my Vermont cider tour: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-great-vermont-cider-tour-day-3.html

Read about the company and their ciders here: http://www.shacksbury.com/

Shacksbury now has a Vermont tasting room in Vergennes!

Today, I’m trying the Citrus Spritz; Here’s all the information from Shacksbury on the Citrus Spritz, including apple sources and fun pairing suggestions.

CITRUS SPRITZ CANS
Dry, light and refreshing with a vibrant citrus nose
Apples grown at Sunrise Orchards in Cornwall, Vermont
Tincture (citrus and rose) produced by Alice & the Magician in Burlington, Vermont
2016 harvest
Slow cool fermentation
Pairs with tapas, oysters, brunch, lawn games
Serving temperature: cold
12oz cans, 3.8% ABV
Residual sugars - 3 g/can
Produced and canned by Shacksbury Cider in Vergennes, Vermont

Appearance: hazy, bubbly peach

The color is a lovely shade of peach and the cider decidedly hazy. I can see lots of exciting bubbles, but there’s no way I could read through this cider. 

Aromas: rose, ginger, orange, apple

This cider has a really appealing set of aromas. I can smell rose first but that is is followed quickly by ginger, orange and apple notes. It all plays well together and seems light a delicate punch.

Sweetness/dryness: semi-sweet

It was tough for me to describe the level of sweetness because of the complex interplay of flavors. It doesn’t tastes particularly sweet or dry, but it tastes like so much more. The sweetness it has is very natural and not too sticky. Very pleasing!

Flavors and drinking experience: fruity, approachable, 

All of the Rose and orange and ginger from the nose of the cider remain present in its flavors. The spritz has a light body, as I expected from the name and from the ABV. This cider is so so pleasing! I like it’s semi-dry/semi-sweet herby, fruity, delicacy. Though the acidity is present, it feels very mild and balanced. 

I had this cider with some salmon, and a fun salad with candied pecans, strawberries, shredded carrot and Stilton cheese over a mix of my dad’s homegrown lettuces. 

CiderCon Part 2 including Heritage Cider Tasting with Foggy Ridge, Eve's Cidery, Castle Hill, and Dragon's Head Cider

Before I get into the rest of my CiderCon highlights, I do want to share a few facts I've learned about this year's event. Baltimore's convention hosted 1100 people from 12 countries and 41 states. Wow! That's fantastic attendance, and the number one thing that shocks people when they ask me about CiderCon. No one expects it to be this populated. I think folks must under-estimate the devotion cider inspires!

Also, if you haven't read Part 1: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/02/cider-con-2018-pt-1-eden-specialty.html

My Friday started with an amazing panel, “Heritage Cider: Keys to Success in this Next Growth Category.” Diane Flint of Foggy Ridge Cider (https://foggyridgecider.com/) led this talk with verve, humor, and a compelling argument. Flint used pictures of her home state of Virginia to start in on the connection of land to cider, but soon used what at first seemed like a little local color with pictures of church signs to make her largest point. One sign said “Repent,” and Flint took us on a little etymological journey about the word. The takeaway was that to repent means to think again.

Flint used this theme to discuss several facets of heritage cider: orchards, format, style, and sales. What I appreciate is that she didn't just bring her own perspective as a talented cidermaker and business owner, but also brought on folks affiliated with on and off premise sales as well as Autumn Stoscheck of Eve's Cidery. Stoscheck has been growing her We also tasted a few heritage ciders

Eve's Cidery: Autumn's Gold

https://www.evescidery.com/

Three significant cider apples adding to this blend include Ellis, Dabinette, and Yarlington Mill. This cider was generous with smoky and overripe apple aromatics. Autumn's gold is a champagne style cider that has undergone two fermentations, spent nine months on the lees, and was finished with hand disgorgement. Like many Finger Lakes Ciders, much of the mouth feel comes from the double impression of high acids and medium to high tannins. The lingering finish on this cider totally wows me.

Castle Hill's Levity

https://www.castlehillcider.com/

The heritage fruit in the Levity includes Yarlington Mill, Golden Hornet, Dabinette and Albemarle Pippin. This cider spents time underground fermenting in amphora. Whatever they did, the resulting cider had more sparkling champagne-esque bubbles than anything in the champagne-style cider tasting the day before. Mesmerizing! I found it floral balanced with grassy. My primary experience was the duelling excitement of really strong bubbles with lippy, grippy tannins. There are almost no ciders in the world that do this tense and exciting combination like the Levity does.

Dragon's Head Cider Traditional Cider

http://www.dragonsheadcider.com/

This is an estate bittersweet cider. I enjoyed how it is a little yeasty and wild in its aromas. The most like an English cider in style, I found the Traditional astringent, bitter, and leathery. It is full of big big flavors and substantial body. It did have some excellent bubble in the mouthfeel. It's earthy, funky, with medium high acidity and wowza levels of tannins. This cider was a lot less fruity than the others in the tasting.

Hearing from not only cider producers but also from folks selling heritage cider both on and off premise made this panel well-rounded and persuasive. It had to be a highlight of the conference for certain!

Friday afternoon centered around the events planning and management panel: “Let's Get this Cider Party Started” with Jenn Smith, Eric Foster and Mattie Beason. In addition to having that adorable name and greeting us with cans of wonderful cider, this panel covered a hot topic of the conference.

This was a fantastic panel that packed the room with folks passionately eager to learn how to run events with their cideries. It said to me that if there's one area I think next year's Cider Con could meaningfully expand upon its this! One panel gave the audience a lot of help, but we were hungry for even more. Our speakers brough a pleasing variety of event experience to the stage including events large and small, for individual cideries, groups, and focuses that range, including, education, food and drink pairings, music, fund raising, and just enlivening slow week nights at a taproom.

Panelists gave answers to moderator questions that started out with the basics but included lots of real life stories and even got into some of the tricky stuff. How does one estimate how many people will show up for an even the first, second, or third time it happens. Audience members shared questions and got thoughtful answers that really showed the usefully different perspectives represented. It really makes me want to run some fun cider events up in the Finger Lakes!

Cider Con ended with a “New Zealand Cidermakers Panel” that led directly into the “Grand Tasting and Commencement Toast”. Here our guest cider makers from New Zealand answered questions from Ciderologist Gabe Cook (http://www.theciderologist.com) and from the audience.

 

My favorite of these was Wild all the Way by Peckhams Cider(https://peckhams.co.nz/). This cider is a bit non-traditional in that a third of the juice is from Comice pears. All of the New Zealand ciders showed some real stylistic differences from other cider regions; this was great for me to learn as I went into Cider Con 2018 with virtuall no knowledge of a New Zealand cider culture. I didn't even know what I was missing.

The evening continued with generous sharing and good times. I spent it at a Hawaiian fusion restaurant with cider friends old and new eating coconut milk lobster bisque and vegetable tempura. Delightful!

What's next you might, ask. The Gathering of the Farm Cideries in Albany!

https://www.facebook.com/events/327649811084399

At this sold out event, 17 New York State Cideries will be sampling there wares under one roof! I'll be on the scene with some beverage industry friends to scope and sip and tell you all about it!

Cider Review Descendant Cider Company's Succession and CiderCon!

I've been meaning to review Descendant Cider Company for as long as long as I've known about them. Founded in 2013 under New York's Farm Cidery License, Descendant is New York's first Urban Cidery. I encountered them at my first Gathering of the Farm Cideries in Albany (the next one is February 17: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nine-pin-cider-presents-the-4th-annual-gathering-of-the-farm-cideries-tickets-41710246470).

New York is the perfect place for an urban cidery in that they good access to a wide variety of orchards not far from the city, a wonderful network for fermentation education, hospitality industry knowledge, and a significant cider audience. Descendant has been slowly increasing their offerings and experimenting with different styles. The Succession is their first and flagship cider.

Find out all about the company on the website: http://www.descendantcider.com

Or connect with them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/descendantcider/

Here's the official Description: "Succession Sparkling Semi-Dry 5.5% ABV. Our first commercial cider is "Succession". It's a crisp, off dry cider designed with session-ability in mind. It's a blend of 6 apple varieties fermented to dryness and then sweetened with a blend of fresh pressed apple juice to balance the acidity. This cider is a GLINTCAP silver medalist."

This isn't a very high ABV, and I don't see much about which apple varieties make up that blend of 6.

Appearance: brilliant, bright popcorn kernel, few bubbles

Though the cider is sparkling, I don't see many bubbles in the Succession. What I do see is a beautifully brilliant cider. It simply shines. 

Aromas: ripe apples, orange peel, spices

Strong lovely smell. It reminds me of good farmhouse bread but also crisp white wine. I get notes of ripe luscious juicy apples, green grapes, orange peel very distinctly, but there's more to it than just fruit. This cider smells intense somehow; its nearly ecclesiastical with it spice, smoke, wood and wax notes. I'm also getting a salivary response, so I'm anticipating some acid.

Sweetness/dryness: Semi-sweet

Though the acid is medium high, this cider definitely registers as semi-sweet to me. Its a very fruity sort of sweetness.

Flavors and drinking experience: tropical fruits, white chocolate, vanilla

The Successtion tastes like white chocolate, tropical fruit, and vanilla. I can tell that Descendant used dessert fruit for their apples. There's a hint of something malty. As I said, the cider offers up medium high acid, semi-sweetness, and low tannins. The acid lingers in a nice mouth-affecting way—it's got such a loooong finish. The mouthfeel is just a little sticky. In a small sip is pleasant and sweetly tame. Taking bigger sips doesn't add much, just a touch of warming booziness. After a few sips, one of my recurring thoughts: is it really only 5.5% ABV?

This is a perfect choice for their flagship cider. Its approachable, well-balanced, and fun. It strikes me as versatile for pairing. I had mine with a brown rice bowl covered in broccoli, bell peppers, with a hefty sprinkling of chopped peanuts. I could also imagine enjoying this cider with a wintery stew.

And I'd just like to end with a shout out that I am getting ridiculously excited for CiderCon in Baltimore! We'll be learning, teaching, tasting, and trading from January 30^th through February 2^nd.

Find out more about Cider Con 2018 here:

https://ciderassociation.org/cidercon2018/

And one of the coolest parts is that when cider makers come to town, we bring the party. Concurrent with Cider Con, we're running Cider Week Baltimore! This means tastings, pairing dinners, tap takeovers and more!

Find out all about it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2044481322459905/

#PickCider for Thanksgiving, Vermont Cider Co.'s Ingrained Review

My last review before time to #PickCider for Thanksgiving! I wanted to choose a cider both seasonal and food friendly, so I'm taking a chance on the new Vermont Cider Company offering, Ingrained. This is a barrel aged cider, and those tend to have enough mouthfeel to be great food pairing ciders. We'll see if my suspicions are correct.

In the past, I've reviewed two ciders by the Vermont Cider Company.

I started with their flagship cider, Addison: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/cider-review-vermont-cider-cos-addison.html

And during Winter Storm Stella, I tried Wassail: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/03/cider-review-winter-storm-stella.html

Find out more about Vermont Cider Co. on the web: http://www.vermontciderco.com

The official description  tells us something about how Ingrained was crafted.

Ingrained uses 100% local apples from Sunrise Orchards in Cornwall, VT.  After fermentation, this cider was aged for nine months in WhistlePig Rye Whiskey barrels from Shoreham, VT for an incomparable taste experience. Ingrained has balanced botes of American oak & rye whiskey over a crisp New England apple backdrop.

Appearance: shining, bright gold, few visible bubbles

This color is intense! The shining gold is just riveting to look at. Of course its brilliant. There aren't many bubbles to see either, just shining color.  

Aromas: vanilla, barrel, booze, and ripe apple

This smells mouthwateringly of vanilla, barrel, and rich booziness. I get secondary notes of caramel, apple, and spice.

Sweetness/dryness: Sweet

This is a sweet and rich cider, redolent with dessert qualities.

Flavors and drinking experience: sweet, complex, thick mouthfeel

This cider has a nice balance of body, sweetness, and acidity, but in an equilateral way. This is a pyramid with a strong base of sweetness, lightened by medium acidity, topped of with some barrelly tannins. The flavors are complex and roll through a bright sweetness through a mellow mid-palate and long luxuriant finish.

Ingrained has a thick mouthfeel and a sweetness that remind me of an ice cider, but it has an ABV that allows it to be consumed very differently. The Ingrained is easy pleasant drinking, perfect for an evening by the fire with a good book or a riveting movie, something scary or with lots of action. I really enjoyed Atomic Blonde, especially with that soundtrack. Let the holiday movies wait another week. 

My food pairing recommendations would be glazed carrots, vegetarian roast, and mashed potatoes. This is a great choice to #pickcider for Thanksgiving.

#PickCider Review Wild Hare Hard Cider's Hopscotch, & I'm off to judge cider again!

Its time to start thinking about how to #pickcider for Thanksgiving, and I wanted to challenge myself to think about taking this really delicious easy pairing and give it a fun challenge. I want to find out if a hopped cider can work for the Thanksgiving meal, so I'm trying Hopscotch by Wild Hare Ciders out of Virginia.

Based on the way that Wild Hare introduces themselves, I can see that they also care about variety and challenge in their ciders. This is what Wild Hare says by way of introduction, “From classic dry ciders to more modern ciders infused with hops and herbs, we craft cider with a variety of personalities. Throughout the year we will have our standard offerings, and also seasonal batches and experimental flavors. Come in to find the cider that is the perfect match for you”.

I also found out online that this micro Virginia cidery sources apples from the Shenandoah Valley. They pride themselves on producing ciders different from folks will find on grocery store shelves. This boutique micro-cidery talk about both modern fermentation techniques and the long history of cider. The founder is Jay Clement, and the cidermaker is Nathan Briggs. They do have a tasting room where visitors can try their current selections.

Find out more on the web at: http://wildharecider.com

Today's cider is their Hopscotch; it's label describes it as “a lightly dry-hopped cider.” This grammar nerd found that an interesting order of modifiers. In the end it looks like the level of hopping will be light and the method of hopping is dry hopping, but we'll see whether or not tasting the cider bears this out. As for a Thanksgiving pairing, I tend to think the fresh lightness of a hopped cider, provided it is a balanced beverage, would complement many traditional Thanksgiving side dishes, including sweet potatoes, carrots, and brussels sprouts.

The full official description reads,

This small batch cider gives a nod to beer making and does so by dry hopping a special blend of finished cider. With a variety of aroma hops, the process imparts a floral & citrus aroma, creating a truly unique product that is not bitter, but has the spirit to stand up to beer and wine.

This cider is a 2017 GLINTCAP Bronze medalist. Its ABV is 6.9%

What I don't know about Wildhare Cider's Hopscotch is much about the apple varieties used to make it. But the best way to find out more about this cider will be to taste it.

Appearance: hazy, vibrant straw, no visible bubbles

This definitely looks like a hopped cider. They are more likely to be hazy and appear less bubbly. 

Aromas: mildly hoppy, sweet, fruity, lychee

I'm digging the mildly hoppy cider aroma; its pleasing and mellow. The notes are sweet fruity with lots of lychee smell. I'm anticipating a bright cider based on these smells.

Sweetness/dryness: off dry

You could call this cider medium dry or more precisely off dry. The sweetness is balanced by acidity and fruitiness. Yes, I'd definitely call this balanced. The Hopscotch tastes less sweet than it smells.

Flavors and drinking experience: high acid, green fruit, spicy,

This cider tastes like green or light fruits: pears, lychee, and golden apples. I'd say its surprisingly less sweet than I expected based on the aromas. The Hopscotch offers up plentiful acid and a very nice amount of hop flavor. There are no tannins to speak of.

I found its light body and medium sparkle very appealing. One of the more exciting flavor notes for me in this cider is the subtle spiciness. The hops are indeed aromatic hops but there's just enough bitterness to remind me of a fresh tonic with apple and Quinine. Its pleasing and not as cooling and summery as some hopped ciders. I do think it would pair well with some vegetable sides for Thanksgiving.

Also, I will be judging at the Pennsylvania State Farm Products Show (or just the PA Farm Show) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania later this month. And its not too late to enter!

Their cider entries must arrive by November 17th, so the deadline is coming up very soon. Read more here: http://www.farmshow.pa.gov/exhibit/rules-regulations/Pages/default.aspx

This is a first year for this competition, so I’m super excited to be judging. 

#PickCider Review: Nine Pin Ciderworks Peach Tea

Last post before the 4th of July! I hope you have you plans made for how to celebrate the most picnic, cookout, fun, food, and firework's holiday in America's calendar year. I hope you've thought about how you'll #pickcider as part of this awesome occasion. Here's one last review of a new release seasonal cider that's just tailor made for summer parties. 

One of the coolest things about Nine Pin is their amazing range of specialty and seasonal ciders. Looking at the website just now, I counted 17 available ciders. That's impressive, and even more so once I tasted several of these and found out how good they are. 

You can read the whole list and find out much more here at their site:

http://www.ninepincider.com

I couldn't finish up my series of #PickCider reviews without Nine Pin Ciderworks' summer seaonsal release: Peach Tea. They were kind enough to share some samples with me just in time!

Here are my previous reviews of Nine Pin Ciders:

I first reviewed their Signature Blend: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/04/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-works-nine.html

Ginger: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/10/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-works-ginger.html

Blueberry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/08/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-blueberry.html

Though not a review, Nine Pine Ciderworks is part of my cider event calendar every winter, and this is the writeup when they launched the annual Gathering of the Farm Cideries, which is an amazing event every year in Albany: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/02/my-cider-event-calendar-cider-and-beer.html

Official description: 

Peach Tea is Nine Pin’s take on a classic summer drink. This cider, crafted from a farmhouse blend of New York apples from Kinderhook, N.Y.-based Samascott Orchards, is cold-infused with a custom peach tea blend from Short and Stout. The infusion of these ingredients creates a bright, refreshingly tart, and delicious peach cider. Peach Tea pairs well with sunsets and warm summer nights.

I got some amazing pairing recommendations from Alejandro for this cider including tire swings and puppies. It was charming, and I'm curious to see if I'll agree. The ABV is a middle of the road 6.2%.

Appearance: transparent, very few visible bubbles, warm apricot color

One of my co-tasters said that the cider's appearance reminded her of the warm orange tones of peaches, and I think that's completely fair. I found it reminiscent of dried apricots.

Aromas: Peach! More peach!

This smells completely like peaches and unfermented peach juice. I can envision the drips of peach juice running down my chin when I smell this. Its almost mind boggling.

Sweetness/dryness: Sweet

This is a sweet and juicy cider.

Flavors and drinking experience: peach, hints of tea, bit of creaminess

Rather like the aromas, I was surprised by how very juicy the Peach Tea is! The cider tastes a tiny bit creamy as well. To be more specific, its a sweet sort of juicy- not very tea like, to me One out of three tasters, one could pick it up clearly, and guided the rest of us to noticing a bit of tea. Maybe the tannins mid palate were from the tea, but I found my impresions of tea growing as the taste matured. It comes out mostly on the finish - as a sustained note.

Something else, we all noticed about the Peach Tea cider is that the drinking exeperience is light and not very boozy to the tastebuds. Somehow the balance sweet and fruity with high acid stayed very friendly. The cider is easy drinking and not punishing or sharp at any moment of the taste journey. Maybe it is as cider for warm nights and cuddling puppies.

For us it was an evening on the porch with chevre and strawberry short cake and good conversation. There are endless ways to #pickcider but it is always best with good company.

#PickCider Review Stem Cider's Pear Apple Cider

This is my first review of a anything by Stem Ciders. They are based out of Denver, Colorado and have operated since the start of 2014. I first ran across their beverages at Cider Summit Chicago 2017. I was pleased to stay in touch and get a few review samples this month.

You can learn all about Stem Ciders on their website here: http://stemciders.com/

This is Stem Cider's Pear Apple Cider and it could have fit into my Very Perry May, but I'm glad to have a canned pear-apple blend for this #pickcider for the 4^th of July series.

Made with Bartlett pears from Colorado's Western Slope. Rich golden hue, caramel and fresh fruit on the nose with a surprisingly tart finish 5.3% ABV Released April 2017. Suggested pairings include, “pork chops and apple sauce, spicy thai, lobster rolls” But we'll see if my sense of vegetable oriented pairings matches up.

Appearance: brilliant, few visible bubbles, deep roasty gold

This cider has a deep roasted quality to its goldenness. It reminds me of English or French ciders in color. I don't see many bubbles, but it is brilliant.

Aromas: cooked apple and pear, yeast, custard

The scents are rich, oxidized, and dusty. The cider smells sweet, warm, and rich. These aren't characteristics I associate very much with pear ciders, so I'm curious. The creamy custard smell is most intriguing.

sweetness/dryness: sweet

This cider drinks sweetly but remains complex and dessert like. The fruitness and sweetness taste all natural to me.

Flavors and drinking experience: rich, fruity, high acid, bubbly

Richness and mouthfeel are a pair of interconnected qualities that can make or break a cider, and the Pear Apple by Stem Ciders offers up a delightful experience in those crucial characteristics. Mind you, part of what makes the richness so enjoyable is that it's balanced by high acid. The contrast is not artificially extreme, just dynamic and buoyed up with medium to high fine bubbles.

I found this cider deeply enjoyable.

Its fruity but not in a raw fruit salad way. Instead it reminds me of a fruit tart drizzled with caramel. This apple pear blend, just oozes dessert, while still being sharp in a spectacularly nice way.

My recommended pairings for this cider include summer thunderstorms, chilled grain salad with cheddar, corn, tomato, and avocado, Twin Peaks, or caramel shorbread cookies. I've not gotten to try it with lobster roll, but give me a chance and I will! What this list is attempting to demonstrate is a certain flexibility that I suspect this cider is capable of providing. 

#PickCider Review: Austin Eastciders' Blood Orange

Bonus review this week just to help us count down to July 4th! I want to highlight as many summer ciders as possible, so we can all #pickcider for the upcoming holiday.

Here are my previous special Summer #PickCider reviews.

Citizen Cider's Companion: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/06/pickcider-review-citizen-ciders.html

Mainiac Blueberry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/06/pickcider-review-of-rickers-hard-cider.html

Gumption's Citrus Freak: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/06/pickcider-review-of-gumption-hard.htmlToday's review is Austin Eastciders' Blood Orange. 

This review marks my first taste of Austin Eastciders, and my first experience of cider with orange included, so I'm pretty excited to taste something doubly new. Again, an aside, This was shared with me as a review sample. This doesn't ever change how I interpret a cider.

https://austineastciders.com/

The official description reads, "We blended blood oranges from Italy with bittersweet heirloom apples to create a cider with a zesty twist. With just the right amount of sweet and citrus flavors, our Blood Orange Cider is sure to brighten your day." 5% ABV

The other fascinating feature on the page about this cider is a simple mixed drink recipe designed to use this exact cider. It's called The Bigger Better Cider and its worth a trip to the website just to check this out. 

https://austineastciders.com/products/blood-orange-cider

I took a can of this cider to a casual wedding reception, just so I could get in a review with some awesome summer party food pairings. Congrats again Sarah and Mara! The beautiful table decorations were a bonus.

Appearance: Cloudy, sunny orange, ring of small bubbles

This is one of the more cloudy ciders I've seen from the United States. As the photo shows, the color is a fun sunny orange and the only visible bubbles ring the glass at the cider's surface.

Aromas: champagne, mimosa, orange, wood

The Blood Orange smells like apple, orange, wood. Not like orange juice, but instead with a slightly champagne-esque note. Pleasant.

Sweetness/dryness: sweet but after an initial zing of bitter

I love the action in this sweetness curve. The Blood Orange pops with a gentle hit of citrusy bitter that soon mellows into easy honeyed sweetness.

Flavors and drinking experience: sweet, peppery, lots of orange, fruity

The first note is bitter and black peppery, and that quickly gives way to sweetness that lingers pleasantly. High acid but the acid is citric, not malic. My tongue puckers a bit. A long aftertastes that reminds me of Orangina.No tannins, despite the bitterness. Manages to be both crisp and warm in its taste. 

This cider is only mildly bubbly. I'm starting to think this is a feature of ciders in cans. Can other canned cider drinkers weigh in on this? 

Overall,  my impressions centered around this cider as sweet, very blood orange and pleasantly complicated by the hint of  bitter and peppery spice.

For pairings, I had this with so many good foods! I had pesto pasta, fresh green salad with pomegranate seeds, Thai-style summer rolls, brie and watermelon. And then cinnamon sugar popcorn and wedding cake. There were so many amazing summer party foods at this wedding potluck! Of those, I really liked the Blood Orange with the summer roll and peanut dipping sauce. Something about sweet citrus plus rice paper, tofu and veggies was out of this world!

As an aside, I feel like I have to share a funny video inspired by my friend Jonathan Honefinger. He makes sommeliers try Malort and captures their reactions. At this reception, I spied a bottle of Malort. Curiousity won the day. Or perhaps the Malort did.

Watch and see...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYFz4pKclyA

#PickCider Review of Gumption Hard Cider's Citrus Freak

We are now only two weeks away from the 4th of July! I hope you're starting to think of your plans: friends, swimming holes, grilling pizza, fireworks. For me, it all goes with cider, so I've been spending a few entries focusing on the kinds of ciders I think work especially well for warm weather and celebration. I am all about the ways we can #PickCider for the 4th of July!

If you want to look at some fabulous recipes involving cider, think about cider party pairings, and just enjoy some seriously glamour cider shots, please visit: http://www.pickcider.com/.

For today, I want to share thoughts on a cider that was recently shared with my by the fine folks at Gumption: The Citrus Freak. This cider was a review sample, so I didn't buy it, but as always that doesn't ever change how a cider tastes. My opinions stay mine.

You can visit the website here: http://gumptioncider.com/

I have tried Gumption's flagship cider before, back in July of 2015. Then they were a line under the Woodchuck umbrella instead their own product. Here's that review that focuses on the drink's aim for a higher tannin mainstream cider:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/07/cider-revew-woodchucks-gumption.html

Here's the official description, “Part prankster, part gangster, Gumption’s right-hand man is the Citrus Freak. A perfect pairing of eating apples, grapefruit, and Cascade hops, this semi-dry cider delivers an all-day enjoyable citrus experience.” 5.5% ABV

Appearance: medium straw, brilliant, not a lot of visible bubble

This cider looks like a traditional American cider but without the haze that hops can often add to hopped ciders. Instead, this is a brilliant, a medium straw color, and not super bubbly looking.

Aromas: strong grapefruit, hops, candied citrus peel, dust

The Citrus Freak smells sweet and citrusy. The presence of grapefruit on the nose is strong.
I can also smell that hint of stony dust that accompanies a lot of ciders. The sweetness and citrus combine to remind me specifically of the smell of candied citrus peel. Yum!

Sweetness/dryness: semi-sweet to sweet

The sweetness of the cider still reminds me pleasantly of candied citrus peel or those citric acid powered candies that recall my 80s childhood and long long days spent by the community pool.

Flavors and drinking experience: cool, lemon, grapefruit

Interesting! This cider does really bring out the fusion of grapefruit and hop flavors in a way that shows how herbal grapefruit can be and how citrusy aromatic hops often are! Its almost spooky how one flavor transitions so smoothly to the other. This cider has a medium body and relatively low level of carbonation. I crave more, but then again, I usually do.

There are some notes of more specifically hop and apple flavors, but these all play so nicely together that its harder than usual to pick them apart. There are no real tannins, medium acidity, and a clean fermentation. I find that the cider dries out a touch on the finish, also feels drier altogether when drunk from the bottle instead of poured into a more open glass. Take that as you will.

For pairing, I'd put this cider with simple veggie burgers, really sharp salt and vinegar chips, and raw veggies dipped in a creamy pesto sauce. Its all easy and delicous which works for a really easy going session-able cider like this. What a way to relax! 

See you Thursday for a bonus review this month to help us #pickcider before the 4th of July.