Cider Review: Angry Orchard's Walden Hollow and approaching Cider Week!

Apple harvest has finally come! Perhaps the busy orchardists weren't waiting so impatiently, but I feel like I've been counting the weeks until I can start eating my favorite fresh apples. And at the same time, cider makers near me are getting ready for Cider Week in a number of locations. 

Cider Week FLX will be October 1-9: http://www.ciderweekflx.com/

Actually, I did a guest blog post rounding up some tastings happening during cider week, all of which feature more than one local Finger Lakes Region Cidermaker: http://www.ciderweekflx.com/a-round-up-of-finger-lakes-cider-week-round-ups/

I'll be guest pouring at Embark Ciderworks' Cider Fest on September 30th in Williamson, New York: https://www.facebook.com/events/1076952362353422/

Cider Week NYC will be October 21st-30th: http://ciderweeknyc.com/

But I know that Cider Guide keeps much closer tabs on cider festivals than I do, so please check out his listings here to find out the nearest cider celebrations to your neck of the woods: https://ciderguide.com/cider-festivals/

Angry Orchard

http://www.angryorchard.com/

I have more previous reviews than I'm going to share

Stone Dry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/10/cider-review-angry-orchard-stone-dry.html

Knotty Pear: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-knotty-pear.html

Elderflower: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-elderflower.html

Today, I'm sharing my review of Angry Orchard's Walden Hollow.

"A mildly tannic, off dry cider that showcases the diversity, complexity, and depth of character of New York State apples." 8% ABV

And Angry Orchard kindly lists the apples used for this cider, "New York Apple Varieties: Rome, Jonathan, Macintosh, Newton Pippin, Golden Russet, Rhode Island Greening."

Going into a little more detail I found this.

 Walden Hollow is an annual vintage cider made with our cider maker’s choice of heirloom New York state apples varieties, including apples from the Angry Orchard in Walden, NY. The 2016 edition is a mildly tannic, off dry cider with intense apple aroma and notes of butterscotch and almond. The cider makers wanted to capture the essence of wild fermentation, but without the funkiness or sour qualities sometimes associated with the process. 

Appearance: hazy, grassy yellow, some visible bubbles

Color is grass—pale yellow with a distinctly green note. Interestingly, this isn't a purely shining brilliant cider; its just a touch hazy.

Aromas: Bread dough, apples, yeast

I like how bready, yeasty,  and appley this cider smells. What makes it striking isn't the individual notes but how each of those things distinctly. I don't know if I have ever smelled  cider that reminds me of fresh bread dough. There's just a little sourness in the array of smells. Overall these aromas are excellent.

Sweetness/dryness: semi dry

This can be accurately described as a semi-dry cider, and I appreciate the accuracy of the official descriptions thus far.

Flavors and drinking experience: high acid, medium tannins, clean fermentation, short finish

Like lots of ciders with New York state fruit, this cider tastes very tart because of its high acid. First, I get an initial malic sweetness, then a quick wave of tannins, with a gentle slightly caramelly finish. It stimulates lots of salivary action. Quite good, but a little curiously light bodied. There's not a lot of heft for so bready a cider. 

Interestingly, I can taste something that reads as cooling in the taste (it reminds me of some  Vandermill ciders in this feature). The Walden Hollow hits notes that feel "low" in the mouth. The cider is very clean. I had expected a warmer, funkier, longer-lasting effect based on the aromas, but this is a sleek and clean beverage. What lingers longest is actually the bright acid. 

I find this cider enjoyable; I'm grateful that it brings some complexities,The label points out its 8% ABV but the cider doesn't come across as boozy. I'd have guessed a lower ABV myself. It offers some bubble action with low to medium intensity of small bubbles. They meld in sensation with the high acidity. Big sips have nice plum and plumskin notes.

This was lovely on my porch with my last tomato galette of the season and corn on the cob, but I could also see pairing it with richer foods to give the acid something weighty to counterbalance. All in all, a very nice beverage. I look forward to the next Cider House Series offering.

Cider Review: Cidergeist Semi Dry Hard Cider

Last weekend, I travelled down to Ohio for the College of Wooster's alumni weekend. So, I wanted to keep my that little memory glowing by sharing my review of an Ohio cider. Cidergeist is from Rheinegeist out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Rheinegeist is primarily a brewery, and they've just now started releasing a couple of ciders.

One surprise I found when reading on the website is that they use Washington state apples. That's pretty far to go for mostly dessert apple varieties, but there are a lot of apples up there.

For a little background about Rhinegeist, I went to the website, "Our name, Rhinegeist, translates to "Ghost of the Rhine" and refers to our place in the historic Over-the-Rhine Brewery District in Cincinnati. Built within the skeleton of the old Moerlein bottling plant (1895), we brew batches of beer that sing with flavor." Let's hope their ciders sing as well!

If you want to read more about Cidergeist ciders and see some pictures, find them here:

http://www.rhinegeist.com/ciders/

Today, I'm sharing my review of Cidergeist's Semi-Dry Hard Cider.

This is what Cidergeist has to say about their Semi-dry, "Cider fermented to amplify the fragrance and essence of the apples whilst achieving a delightful, lip-smacking dryness." zI can add that the cider has 6.2% ABV  and is available year round. The kind folks at Cidergeist sent me a mixed six pack of cans of this and their hopped cider, so I'll be reviewing that one soon. 

Appearance: hazy, deep harvest moon color, poured with a head

This looks almost like bubbled bronze in the glass. Lots of sparkling action; the cider even poured with a head. That vanished quickly, but I caught it in the picture.

Aromas: fresh apples, stone, candy

This smells like fresh apples crushed between stones. Thesre's a secondary note that smells more candied, perhaps like candied pineapple and dried pear

Sweetness/dryness: Semi-sweet

This is pleasantly semi-sweet with a real fruit character. I would not call it semi-dry.

Flavors and drinking experience: fruit, fizz, balance

Fascinatingly, the Cidergeist Semi-dry tastes slightly of watermelon and cucumber. I was surprised that the level of fizz is medium; the appearance of so many bubbles made me expect something more intensely fizzy. Medium acidity and nice balance. As expected, there aren't many tannins to speak of. The finish of this cider transforms interestingly; it shrinks somehow and yet the acid remains for one little moment of farewell.

I had this first in a can and a few days later had one poured into a goblet. The glassware made a huge difference. The goblet caught the aroma much more. As much as I love the convenience of cans, I got a lot more flavor out of the goblet. And I'll choose flavor over convenience almost every time.

My recommendation is to free this cider from its can and drink it in such a way that you can really enjoy its aromas and flavors. The fruit be free!

Cider Review: Angry Orchard Stone Dry

The most common complaint I hear from casual cider drinkers is that there is not a good option for picking up a six pack of dry cider in most grocery stores. I cannot count the number of times I've heard a variation of this comment. I've been suggesting cidermakers fill in this market gap for almost as long as I've had this blog. Several brands have released ciders that approach this idea, but none have yet met the mark. Angry Orchard is the latest attempt, and I'm curious to see what they are offering as a dry six-pack cider.

We're all familiar with the Angry Orchard brand; they sell more cider in the United States than any other. Angry Orchard appears everywhere, so if they could make a dry six pack cider, it would be big news. And with a name like Stone Dry, it sounds like they are trying.

I'll share a link to Angry Orchard's website, so readers can find out about Angry Orchard ciders and their process as well as swag and recipes.

http://angryorchard.com/

Here's a chronological list of my previous Angry Orchard reviews:

My first Angry Orchard review tasted the Elderflower Cider: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-elderflower.html

Roundup review of multiple Angry Orchard styles, including Strawman, Traditional Dry, and The Muse: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/05/roundup-of-angry-orchard-reviews.html  

Then I tried the Hop'N'Mad Apple: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/03/cider-review-angry-orchards-hopn-mad.html

Most recently, I reviewed their Summer Honey: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/08/cider-reivew-angry-orchard-summer-honey.html

That makes this review the seventh Angry Orchard cider I'm sharing here. Today's variety won't surprise anyone who has been watching the newest cider releases; Angry Orchard's Stone Dry debuted most recently as an addition to Angry Orchard's cider lineup. 

I got my two bottles of Angry Orchard Stone Dry as a review sample from Angry Orchard. So, thanks guys! They also sent a helpful fact sheet and a note from the new head of Research and Development, Ryan Burk. I'll include as much information as I can to best frame my review.

Here's the official promotional copy describing this cider: "Angry Orchard Stone Dry – the driest cider in Angry Orchard’s core collection – is our twist on traditional English dry ciders. This cider balances the acidity of culinary apples with the tannins of traditional cider making apples, for a cider that is clean, refreshing, and slightly puckering on the finish."

That reads similarly to the fuller description included in my fact sheet, but they aren't identical. 

Angry Orchard Stone Dry-- the driest cider in Angry Orchard's core collection -- is an American interpretation of the traditional English dry cider style. It offers bright apple aroma, juicy flavor, and a clean dry finish, showcasing an intricate balance between the sweetness and acidity of culinary apples and the tannins of traditional cider making apples. The traditional apples chosen by the cider makers are European bittersweet varieties like Dabinett, Binet Rouge and Harry Masters Jersey, which contribute to the cider's high tannic character and dry finish. The result is a refreshing, slightly puckering cider with drying finish, most often felt on the middle of your tongue and the front part of your mouth.

While most of the juice from apples in the cider is fermented, Angry Orchard's cider maker add a bit of non-fermented bittersweet apple juice into the cider during the post fermentation stage to help achieve this cider's balanced, dry taste. This results in Stone Dry's fuller tannic mouthfeel as well as percieved dryness and robust bittersweet aromatic notes -- much like a very ripe apple.

the last few facts I need to include are that the cider has 5.5% ABV, and this will be offered year round, both in six packs and on draft.

Appearance: maple syrup color, ring of bubbles around the top of the glass, clear and uncloudy

Though this color would not strike one as particularly dark for maple syrup, it looks impressively dark for a cider, especially an American cider. I also noticed a persistant bubble ring around the top of my glass. Again, not a usual cider characteristic.

Aromas: yeast, beer-like, fruity with notes of grapes and apples

The first thing I noticed about how this cider smells, is how very beer-like the aromas are. I smell more yeast than fruit. It smells pleasantly cleanly bready. This isn't to say that there aren't fruit notes too. I smell plum, apple and grape in this cider too.

Sweetness/dryness: Off dry

While this isn't strictly dry, it is certainly off dry. That's my second to driest category as I perceive levels of dryness and sweetness. This also has characteristics that will most likely influence folks to think that this cider is completely dry. I'll get into those later.

Flavors and drinking experience: medium tannins, nice acidity, bold first note and mild finish

This cider at first tastes bitter yet then gets distinctly fruity. It tastes dusty, stony, crisp and acidic. This has to be the best Angry Orchard cider I've ever had, hands down. I'm that impressed! I liked some elements of their Elderflower and the Strawman previously, but this is more balanced and enjoyable. Stone Dry offers up a pleasantly fiesty level of fizz. As promised there is some presence of tannins, but they aren't dominant in the experience. And some acidity. And these are the reasons, I think many drinkers will find this cider dry. It offers tannins, bubbles, and acidity without scads of sugar. This will be familiar to most fans of American craft cider, but not necessary to those who haven't found much in the way of tannins or dryness before.

For a distinctly not-beer person, I love the ways in which this cider reminds me of the best parts of beer. I like the yeasty aromas and first bitter edge. But I know a beer aficionado would differ from my opinion, but perhaps like this cider more than other grocery store ciders.

Suggested pairings from the fact sheet include root vegetables, seafood, and charcuterie, but my recommendations will be a bit more everyday. This is a sandwich cider because it is so well balanced. Have it with your hummus and red pepper and sprout wrap if you like, egg and tomato on a croissant, or a veggie burger or even a pile of marinated mushroom with melted provolone on a baguette. 

I mean to show flexibility when I say have this with a sandwich. Beautiful sandwiches come in many forms and flavors, and this cider could accompany many of them! I would also pair this cider with game nights, all the better to share with your friend who haven't had a cider like this before.

Cider Review: Angry Orchard Summer Honey

Our summer got off to a beautiful slow start this year with plenty of breezes and green and flowers and rain. That was lovely. Many thanks to Mother Nature. But it didn't inspire me to get all of my hot-weather-summer-coping activities going until the start of August. Yes for seven miles of walking every day! Boo for not needing gorgeous floats, watermelon, and cold noodle salads. But, let me tell you, August has made up for that. Hot, check. Humid, check. Just humid but not actually raining, check. But now we've had that for going on three weeks now. I've really needed those coping strategies.

One of my experiments in this vein has been ciders sold as summer seasonals. I'm not straight up calling them summer seasonals, because that's in the taste buds of the drinker. These are ciders intended to compliment the season well.

Today it's Angry Orchard's Summer Honey, but here's some background.

The Angry Orchard website: http://angryorchard.com

Here are my previous reviews of Angry Orchard Ciders:

A Roundup including two of their Cider House Series: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/05/roundup-of-angry-orchard-reviews.html

The Elderflower: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-elderflower.html

The Hop'n Mad Apple: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/03/cider-review-angry-orchards-hopn-mad.html

Angry Orchard's official description reads, "Our Summer Honey cider is a light and refreshing cider with subtle notes of wildflower honey, perfect for those warmer months." 5%ABV sold in 12oz. bottles and 16oz. cans.

Appearance: medium aged gold

I didn't expect quite this deep a color. It looks brilliant and intense.

Aromas: sweet, honey, candy

It smells a bit dusty and stony but mostly like honey and various kinds of sweetness.

Sweetness: Sweet!

Yep. Fruit and honey all the way.

Flavors and drinking experience: orange blossom honey, honey comb, raw apple, nice acidity

The candy from the aroma is decidedly present in the taste, as is the honey. It tastes somewhat like a raw apple slice slathered in tangy orange blossom honey. I'm pleased that it offers reasonable acidity. The cider features medium light carbonation and a long aftertaste. The most interesting element of the flavors was that after a few sips it seemed to tranform from honey to honeycomb. Not sure there's a logical explanation for that part. It's too sweet for me, but I'm guessing it's a real crowd pleaser. I know my tastes are well dry of center at this point.

Foodwise, pair this with with a chilled peanut noodle salad: the kind with cucumbers and a little bit of spiciness. I'll also recommend it with the perfect perfect music of Father John Misty. But that may just be me

It is appropriately seasonal, but I think the honey doesn't have to go with summer. I could also see it with raw early spring when everything sweet sounds oh so good.

Cider Review: Angry Orchard's Hop'n Mad Apple

The past several cider reviews on my blog have all been from relatively small independent cideries, most of which have a real local focus on both their fruit sourcing and their sales. That's fine, but that doesn't cover the entirety of the cider scene. So, today I'm returning to one of the biggies. In fact, I'm reviewing the newest cider by the best-selling cider company in America, Angry Orchard.

I don't cover Angry Orchard very often. When I saw that Angry Orchard did two really interesting things in February, I wanted to cover both.

And just for those who haven't seen my previous reviews of Angry Orchard ciders, here they are:

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/05/roundup-of-angry-orchard-reviews.html

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-elderflower.html
First, they are perhaps the second cider to be offered for sale by an airline**. (I think. If I'm wrong, please let me know.) That's fabulous news as far as I am concerned. Being able to choose a cider at any place one can buy alcohol is really important for cider fans like me who really don't want a beer, cocktail, or wine. (That's not to say that I dislike all beer, all cocktails, and all wines. I don't. Some of each are a great, but mostly I'll drink cider or simply not drink.) You can read about this new development here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/angry-orchard-takes-flight-jetblue-brings-americas-number-one-hard-cider-on-board-300039261.html

The second is this; they made a hopped cider. I love hopped ciders. LOVE them. Angry Orchard calls theirs Hop'n Mad Apple. Here's what the bottle and label look like.

This is a link the Angry Orchard website has descriptions of all of their ciders, cider cocktails, food recipes involving their ciders, all sorts of goodies. http://angryorchard.com

If you want to check out what Angry Orchard says about their own Hop'n Mad Apple, "Our new hopped cider's bright apple sweetness is complemented by floral notes from the Strisselspalt hops and tropical notes from the Galaxy hops. All the hop goodness and none of the hop bitterness. Hop’N Mad Apple is available on draft in select cities and in 6-packs nationwide."

Because I don't know very much about hops, I looked up both of these varieties. Strisselspalt hops are from France and primarily used for aromas. Galaxy hops, on the other hand, come from Australia and can serve either for adding bitterness too a beverage or aroma. They are associated with notes of passionfruit, which sounds like the connection Angry Orchard is making in their mention of tropical notes. Real hop heads who wish to add to this information are encouraged to tell me more in the comments section. Seriously, share your knowledge.

Appearance:bubbly, brilliant, marigold

This color just looks like summery marigolds to me, but at this point I could be having winter hallucinations. Brilliant. The level of visible bubbles strikes me as decidedly above average.

Aromas: candy, cherries, apples

I don't smell a lot of the citrus and pine that I associate with hopped ciders. But this also doesn't smell like a typical Angry Orchard cider either, it doesn't have a bit of something bitter in the smell along with the fruitiness. We'll see how it tastes.

Sweetness/dryness: Sweet!

Whoa! I guess I should not be surprised. Every Angry Orchard cider I've tasted has been sweet. This is no exception.

Flavors and drinking experience: candy, caramel, fruit, interesting mouthfeel

This tastes first like apple and grape Skittles, or if we're being honest, green and purple Skittles. I can taste a cornucopia of drugstore candy. Additionally, I get the tiniest whiff of bitterness, but not discretely hops; it's a bit chemically. The first wave of flavor hits and recedes speedily. The Hop'n Mad is highly acidic, enough to activate the salivary glands with pleasant twinges. The finish is flat, sweet, and long. My favorite part is the hint of textured astringence, with a nice velvet mouthfeel.  This cider offers a medium high level of carbonation. As I taste it again, it has a caramel note reminiscent of Dr. Pepper.  In a fast wave, one gets lots and lots of kinds of sweetness; to be fair, this is not a simple flavor—there's a lot going on—but it's all variations on sweet—plenty of cherry in particular.  The smell is 100% like the taste.  If you like Sprees or sour candy, you'll love this cider.

I had my Hop'n Mad Apple with a piece of raspberry pie and an episode of Call the Midwife. All while covered in quilts and cats. Pure winter indulgence, I admit it. But Ithaca just had its coldest February on record and one evening of that month was improved by good British TV, reasonably good pie, great cats, and trying a very different take on a hopped cider. This is an easy start with low low levels of bitterness if you've never tried a hopped cider before and want to steer clear of anything bitter.

**I originally thought they were the first until Darlene Hayes of Turn Them All Into Cider (http://allintocider.com/) shared with me the fact that Ace Ciders started being served on some Alaska Air flights in 2014. Thanks for the new info!

Cider Review: Angry Orchard's Elderflower and an NYC cider event!

Angry Orchard Hard Cider is a company based out of Cincinnati, Ohio (not too far from where I grew up). They are owned by Boston Beer Company; that's the company behind Samuel Adams beers. Their core ciders and seasonals sell in six packs of 12oz. bottles with twist-off caps. Their website www.AngryOrchard.com is very visually attractive, but a bit light on information about the company. Here's what they do say about their general apple selection, "bittersweet apples from France and culinary apples from Italy." That at least lets us know that they blend dessert apples and cider apples.

Rather than starting with any of their core flavors, the crisp, the traditional, or the ginger, I wanted to review their seasonal, the Elderflower. This cider has a relatively low ABV of 5% which isn't unusual for cider sold in six packs, but it noticably lower than a lot of the regional and independent ciders I've been tasting lately. The Angry Orchard website does offer a few tasting notes, "This cider has tropical notes from the elderflower balanced by a fresh, bright, fruity flavor reminiscent of  lychee,  pears, and citrus. This flower complements the crisp apple flavor resulting in a balanced sweetness that brings the fruit and flower together." Unusual words for a cider. I'm especially curious to taste for any tropical notes. I am definitely expecting a sweet cider based on the description.

The most interesting and surprising element of the website for me was their list of what apples Angry Orchard uses to make the Elderflower. Here's their list as they present it, "Amere de Berthecourt, Beden, Medaille d’or, Michelin, Binet Rouge, Brairtot Fuji, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Joana Gold, Elstar, Granny Smith, Gala, Braeburn."

Appearance: warm amber, just a bit hazy

The transparency is just off clear. It's color a warm amber. Angry Orchard Elderflower shows very few visible bubbles. Those that appeared all kept moving up toward the top of the cider.

Aromas: cheese then fruit

The cheese aroma came out at first when the cider was at its coldest. When slightly warmer, the elderflower scent and apple come through more together. My husband smelled wheat, yeast strawberries and grapes.

Sweet to dry: sweet

The type of sweetness is decidedly floral. It feels like a cool, refreshing type of sweet to me. I'm sure many cider afficianados would find it far too sweet. Then again, I've heard just as many casual cider drinkers recommend this cider to me. For many of them the sweetness is a positive feature rather than a weakness.

Flavors: Fruit forward, floral, fresh

In the Elderflower the apple taste appears upfront. It is fresh and bright. After the fruit, the elderflower comes through easily. Both flowers and fruit shine through either a sip or swig. The mild fruitiness is watermelon fresh. It is a very easy drinking cider. The level of carbonation isn't distracting.

Drinking experience: Notably pleasant carbonation level. Very picnic appropriate.

Again, this cider comes across most as refreshing and just right for summer. It coats the tongue for a medium mouthfeel. The finish offers a second bit of fruitiness, this time a meld of tart juicy blackberries and darker sweeter figs.

Drink this outside.

Also, in local cider news. Murray's Cheese and Virtue Cider are joining forces for a class on cheese and cider pairings. The class takes place in their Bleeker Street store Thursday June 13th, 2013 from 6:30-8pm. I really hope I see some fellow cider lovers there.

http://www.murrayscheese.com/classes/ciders-of-the-world-cider-and-cheese-with-victory-cider-thu-jun-13-6-30-8-00-pm.html

I am very excited about getting to go to this!