Cider Review: Albemarle Ciderworks Brut d'Albermarle Harrison

Spring comes in fits and starts, but I’ve felt its approach even in the wet days of mud and breezes this past week. Today the sun shone as the wind blew the cobwebs from my mind. It was a perfect day to trek about in the woods, and I’m so grateful that I was able to make the most of it. Sometimes you just have to cancel all of your indoor plans and be outside. Though cider tastes divine in all sorts of weather, there’s nothing better than enjoying bliss and adding cider to the experience. 

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on Albemarle Ciderworks Brut d'Albermarle Harrison.

I don’t have as many earlier reviews of Albemarle Ciders as I’d like, but here’s the list. 

Goldrush: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2019/02/cider-review-albemarle-ciderworks.html

Ragged Mountain: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/10/cider-review-albemarle-ragged-mountain.html

Royal Pippin: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/08/cider-review-albemarle-ciderworks-royal.html

Pomme Mary: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/09/cider-review-albemarle-iderworks-pomme.html

Visit Albemarle online here to learn about the current line up: http://www.albemarleciderworks.com.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much additional information online about the Brut D'Albemarle Harrison. I was able to get some info from the bottle. 

Fermented in the Methode Traditionelle, this bottle conditioned Cidre Bouche is sparkling, spritely, and delightfully effervescent on the palate. It makes a celebratory toast entirely special. Dry and complex, it is an elegant accompaniment to most foods. Serve Chilled. Abv: 9.7%

 Appearance: shining, brilliant, bubbly, evening sun

The color reminds me of the warm evening sunlight, and the Brut D’Albemarle shines as well. The cider is alive with bubbles. It does look like champagne when poured. Lovely.

Aromas: intense, white grape, french bread and melon

What I noticed first and perhaps loved the most about the Brut D’Albemarle’s scents are how the 

aromas leapt from the bottle immediately when I opened it. The cider Looks and smells like a champagne—effervescent with white-grape and French bread smells. I loved the notes of green melon.

Dryness/sweetness: Dry

As promised, the cider is dry! It’s not austere or astringent, but the dryness keeps things taut and crisp.

Flavors and drinking experience: high acid, buttery, tannins, nutty, white grapes, ripe apples

Heavenly. I cannot overstate how good the Brut D’Albemarle tastes. The cider is high-acid in the nicest ways. Of course, I love that the bubbles remind me of champagne with their number and size; they are the star of the show: perfectly plentiful, tiny, and excited. It offers up a complex, long and lovely finish, like a patisserie cream. The mouthfeel is creamy, full and rich. From the buttery first sip, this cider is a winner. 

The Brut D’Albemarle also shares some tannins—but nothing astringent. I found the flavors both nutty, and grapey, somehow like eating from deep in the fruit with gentle ripe apple notes. It’s all natural, exciting, surprising, and sophisticated but not austere.

My household enjoyed this cider with a lovely cheese plate, various dips, and lots of veggie crudité. What a way to celebrate the season! 

Cider Review: AmDam Cider Brut and Ploughman Farm Cidery: Lummox Cider with Citra Hops

I’ve watched with admiration and a few pangs of envy as other cider folks I know have traveled to warmer climes this winter, especially for CiderCon. But now I’m preparing for my turn! Very soon, I’ll take my own little jaunt to the sunshine state. As I’m planning and packing, I did fit in two cider reviews that are helping me mentally prepare for warm beaches. 

Let’s start with AmDam Cider Brut! Alex brought this back from his writing trip to the Netherlands back in the fall. The company has a really cute intro that also makes the sourcing of the apples transparent, “Ever seen an apple tree in Amsterdam? Neither have we.”

From what the company makes clear online, they get cider made by Celliers de l’Odet from french cider apples. The company grew out of an import store for cider called Appels & Peren in 2015.

You can learn more about this young cidery here: https://cider.amsterdam/ 

Here’s the English language description of this cider, “Brut,the yellow one. It's softly sparkling and a bit more sophisticated. It has that unique cider ‘funk’ flavor.Try it and you are sold.” I saw more info in dutch on the website, but not on the translated page, so I don’t know if it has additional facts.

Appearance: brilliant, bubbly, harvest orange- yellow 

The Brut pours with a foamy head that had most vanished by the time I was able to take a picture. It’s there and then gone! The color is a warm harvest orange yellow with brilliant clarity.

Aromas: overripe apples, leathery, oranges

The Brut smells leathery, like overripe apples with hints of orange. These aromas remind me of English or French ciders right away.

Sweetness/dryness: Sweet

This cider is sweet, which is a bit of a surprise since it’s labelled Brut. Often though french ciders use that term differently than other regions or beverages. A cidre brut is not as dry as a brut champagne for example. The sweetness is very natural and fruity.

Flavors and drinking experience: Tannic, medium acidity, citrus, apples, caramel

I love that this cider is decidedly tannic with medium acidity! I don’t usually get ciders that have these two characteristics, particularly not when appearing with some sweetness. The Brut’s flavor notes were very similar to what I got from it’s aromas: overripe apple, oranges, but I also tasted some wheaty and caramelly elements. 

The Brut stretches the tasting experience out with a lovely long finish with lots of apple character. I’d describe it as mostly a french-style cider that shows some english influence. I appreciate the Brut’s full body and intense bubbles! This is such a fun and friendly cider. 

I totally didn’t expect something so approachable, balanced, and appealing! Were this available more widely, I’d definitely drink it again and recommend it! 

Next up Ploughman Farm Cidery’s Lummox Cider with Citra Hops!

When travelling for the PA farm show in December, I picked up some cider treats for the future and I was so excited to get this particular one from Ploughman Farm Cider because I’d failed to get one of these home safely from GLINTCAP earlier in 2019.

Ploughman Cider is based out of Adams County in Pennsylvania; that’s definitely an unofficial cider capital of the state. Fruit for Ploughman Cidery beverages comes from Three Springs Fruit Farm.

Here’s a link to the Ploughman Cider website where you can read about all the ciders: 
https://www.ploughmancider.com/

Here are my previous Ploughman Cidery reviews.

Dornick: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/01/cider-review-tilted-shed-ciderworks.html


Pinot N’arlet: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/04/cider-review-blakes-hard-cider-black.html

Appearance: transparent, warm straw, no visible bubbles

This cider looks more transparent than most hopped ciders. It doesn’t have a haze to it, but instead I can see the warm straw color clearly. I don’t see much in the way of visible bubbles.  

Aromas:  herbal, aquatic, vegetal, citrus

The Lummox smells herbal and darkly aquatic. I also detect some mouthwatering citrus notes, but there’s still more going on. I can smell ripe apples, but they aren’t as strong as the other notes that associate with hops for me. There’s also something just a bit creamy and almondy. Dancing in the far background I also get a sense of green tea.

Sweetness/dryness: Semi-dry

This semi-dry cider has lots of flavor going on that dominate far more than the sweetness. I think many drinkers who often tend towards semi-dry ciders might call this dry because of the bitterness and acidity, but more on that soon.

Flavors and drinking experience: high acid, grapefruit pith, bitterness, medium tannins

My first impression on tasting the Lummon is that this is a hopped cider than most beer lovers will enjoy! It brings zesty high acid, but the first note is grapefruit pith. I get strong fruity bitterness in this semi-dry cider. The flavors also make me wonder if it was fermented with beer yeast. The Lummox also packs some tannins. This is a complex cider! After having it from the can and in a glass, I think it reveals its strengths best cold and straight from the can.  

I think it could taste cooling and refreshing (in a bracing way!) in the summer. It’s more of a beer drinker's cider than a wine lover’s cider. 

Cider Review: Alpenfire Cider's Flame

This week's review is something a little different and a little special. Every year at CiderCon, I meet all sorts of folks who are just as obsessed with cider as I am. Its amazing. During CiderCon 2016, I was chatting with a new friend about super dry ciders when he pulls a bottle out of his backpack to send home with me. It was one of the last of a batch made a while earlier. 

I stored the cider in my cellar (dry basement) until this past winter. Now, with long days and warm temperatures, I feel the need to return to that winter night and Alpenfire Cider's Flame.

But before we get into the cider itself, I'd love to share a bit about Alpenfire. This is a small organic cidery out of Washington state and one with more history than many. Founders Nancy and Steve Bishop planted their orchard in 2003 and started harvesting organic apples in 2008, though the owners had dreamt of cider making for much longer. 

Find out more at the website: http://alpenfirecider.com

Today's review is of Flame. This is how it is described,"A true 'Methode Champenoise' cider. Made Primarily with Fox-whelp and Muscadet de Dieppe apples. We use Champagne traditions to develop a crackling carbonation with bright acidity and dryness."

Right now, this cider isn't available as it hasn't been made in a few years, but take heart. It's coming back in September. The bottles are currently awaiting riddling and disgorging. As any fan of champagne or champagne style ciders knows; there are a tremendous number of touches and steps necessary to make this style of beverage. 

I wrote back and forth with Nancy; she encouraged me to consider the age of the cider, and I think she's completely correct. Most ciders, even method champenoise, aren't meant to be aged. We don't have a ton of data about cider aging, so please keep that in mind and try the new one when it comes out!

Appearance: warm straw, brilliant, bubbly

The Flame looks bubbly like a champagne when poured

Aromas: ripe apples, boozy, wood

The aromas of this cider remind me of warmed or even cooked apples, lots of yeasty fermented notes, and some wood. The smells are also a bit caramelized and softened, like apple pie but both fresh and boozy rather than sweet

Sweetness/dryness: Brut indeed

The flame is so very very dry, it says extra brut and they're not lying. This is the sort of dryness that I get excited about!

Flavors and drinking experience: complex woody flavors, high tannins, high acid

The Flame wows the drinker right away with lots of lingering complex woody flavors, both green and smoky, hence the flame name perhaps. This cider offers up medium high acidity and very high tannins. I can certainly taste those special cider apples! At this age, the cider remains bubbly but not so much as it probably was a year or two ago.

Flame exhibits a nice wet mouthfeel that plays well with the cider's dryness. I found it a little acetic but that was more than balanced out with lots of minerals. I can certainly taste that 8% ABV. It is a boozy cider.

Eating dark chocolate mint cake with this dry tannic pleaser goes shockingly well. I'd not necessarily have predicted that particular pairing but it was lovely.