Cider Review: Portland Cider Co.'s Bloody Hell

I breathed a quiet breath of relief on the morning ofJuly 5th. My cat Braeburn and I got to enjoy a cool sunny morning in my sunroom. He watched squirrels, and I watched him. Summer always seems to enter a new phase after July 4th, and I’m glad to see it arrive. I’m not a fan of that particular holiday, curmudgeon that I am. The pets in the house resoundingly agree. This morning we basked in a day before the heat's rising and after last night’s smoky booming cacophony.

Last night I tried Portland Cider Co.’s Bloody Hell. The cidery is a fun one that creates adventurous and innovative ciders all the time. Check on my previous reviews to find out more about the company and see what I have to say about several Portland Cider Co. offerings! I will note that this cider was shared with me for review.

Lemon-Lime Ciderade: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2021/06/cider-review-portland-cider-companys.html

Crangerine: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/12/cider-review-portland-cider-companys.html

Razzberry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/06/cider-review-once-upon-tree-wild-flight.html

Peach Berry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/04/cider-review-portland-cider-companys.html

Kinda Dry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/05/cider-review-portland-cider-company.html

Pineapple: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/02/cider-review-portland-cider-company.html

Cranberry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2019/03/cider-review-seed-stone-cidery-heritage.html

Pumpkin Spice: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/10/cider-review-portland-cider-co-pumpkin.html

Pineapple Rose: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2019/07/cider-reviews-portland-cider-cos.html

I recommend visiting Portland Cider Company online. The website has plenty of content to help the curious learn more about the ciders and tasting room events: https://www.portlandcider.com/home

Appearance: intense deep orange, hazy, few visible bubbles

The Bloody Hell’s color is as truly orange as I've seen in a cider. The color is a deep carmine red orange. It pours with no head and only a very few visible bubbles. I’d call the clarity hazy, as it looks just like a gentle fog has moved through the color.

Aromas: Citrus, apple, pear, spice

The Bloody Hell smells like ripe apple, citrus, and pear with a crawling curling spice that arrives later. The spice lingers and tickles deep in the nose. I also get some mineral notes with just a hint of carbonic gases below the surface.

Sweetness/dryness: Semi-dry to semi-sweet

This cider falls exactly in the middle spot. It’s not quite semi-dry; it’s sweeter than that. It’s also not quite semi-sweet; it's drier than that. This is exactly what the packaging told me to expect, so I’m impressed with the accuracy.

Flavors and drinking experience: peach, orange, ripe apple, high acid, mild spice

Yum! The Bloody Hell really melds its flavors nicely. I can taste ripe apple and blood orange from the first and the spice just creates a pleasant little kick! The peppers have a sweet corn note to them.  The cider’s sweet melds with its spicy, and the fruit notes are almost more peachy than orange.  The cider tastes more integrated than it smells—though the aromas are fine.

The Bloody Hell has medium low bubble intensity, a full body, and plenty of acid. There are no tannins to speak of. The flavors linger on the tongue, probably from the pepper. It's not excessively spicy.  I appreciate that there's solidly apple in the drinking experience for this cider. It’s not dominant—no surprise there, given the number of flavors interacting, but it's crucial. The cider reminds me in some ways of the peppery El Chavo cider by Blake’s.

I had this cider with Buffalo Cauliflower and charred sweet corn. It was a lovely combo. I really enjoy this cider. It’s approachable, well-balanced, and totally drinkable. Try it!

Cider Review: Urban Tree Cidery's Sweet Heat Haze

From spring flowers back to spring showers; that’s the refrain in my head. Some years it feels like we nearly skip over spring straight into early Summer, but this year our cool rainy days are interspersed with amazing blue-sky loveliness. Things are green and mild and springy, so I’m grateful. I may not be grilling veggies every week, but that season will come soon.

Today I’m reviewing Urban Tree Cidery’s Sweet Heat Haze. I chose this one to look ahead to summery days for canned ciders to be consumed outside. Urban Tree Cidery is a cider producer working in Atlanta, Georgia. The apples are grown in the mountainous region of the state. In the city, the cidery has a taproom and event space!

Urban Tree Cidery’s Harvest Apple appeared on the blog back in March: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2021/03/cider-review-urban-tree-hard-cider.html

Visit Urban Tree Hard Cider here to learn about all of the ciders: https://www.urbantreecidery.com/

Today’s review is the Sweet Heat Haze. This is a cider with ginger and habanero!

Here’s The Sweet Heat Haze's official description. 

Medium bodied and perfectly balanced between a refreshing sweet zest and a subtle robust zing.

- Double Gold 2019 Seattle Cider Awards

- Gold 2019 Great Lakes Cider & Perry Competition (GLINTCAP)

I love that the company includes the awards this cider has won! From the can, I can also see that the ABV is 6.5%.

Appearance: hazy, intense butterscotch color, few visible bubbles

The Sweet Heat Haze does  bring just a bit of haze with its nod towards opacity. The cider’s color is warm and intense; it reminds me of butterscotch. I see some bubbles in the glass but not many.

Aromas: spicy peppers, melon, mango, ginger, roasted apple, and honey

This cider not only smells spicy but sniffing it get one a distinct curling prickling sensation in the nose from the spice. There are also notes of melon, honey, ginger and roasted apple. I love the vibrancy of these smells.

Sweetness/Dryness: Sweet

This is a sweet cider, and with its other characteristics that’s necessary. Keep reading to find out more.

Flavors and drinking experience: ginger, zest, high acid, spicy finish

Readers, this cider is spicy, but it’s more than just spicy. The Sweet heat Haze brings high acidity, sweetness, spice and lots of fruity notes to create a powerful and balanced whole. I love how fruity the ginger notes are and how zesty ginger melds with the habanero. The Sweet Heat Haze develops its flavor over time, finishing with a very spicy kick at the finish. Something in the herby and fruity combination reminds me of sweet red peppers as well as ginger. Apple isn’t the point of this cider, but the interplay of flavors is fun and oh-so-drinkable.

I enjoyed this with a simple picnic style dinner of cut raw veggies, a few hummuses and some cheese. Nothing could be simpler, but it was a delicious series of pairings. Each veggie, cheese, and hummus had something to say with this balanced yet complex cider. Yum!

Cider Review: Blake's Hard Cider Company's El Chavo

Wow! Mother Nature gave us a great post Halloween gift of nearly a week of unseasonably nice weather. This is November disguised as September, and I'll take it! What this means for Along Came A Cider, is one more chance for a warm weather friendly cider before things turn a bit more autumnal or even wintry around here.

And I have just the cider for it! Tonight I'm reviewing Blake's Hard Cider Company's El Chavo. I cannot forget to say that they sent me a six pack of this intriguing cider and a bottle of something that I look forward to tasting once the snow is on the ground.

Before I introduce El Chavo, we should learn a little bit more about Blake's Hard Cider Company. This is an orchard based cider company and everything happens on the farm in
Armada, Michigan. You can visit their ciderhouse which has food and wine in addition to hard cider.
 
You can find lots of interesting fact tidbits on their website: 45,600 apple trees in their orchard, 19 kinds of hard cider! Cute videos with history, verve, and vintage flair. Even a jokingly patriotic bit. I enjoy their fresh and immediate aesthetics that verge on hipster irony without ever losing a sense good taste. I love the beards, guys. Don't lose them. We'll need you when we make the Awesome Beards of Hard Cider Calendar someday! (Although the amount of destruction in the 2015 State of Cider Address gave my cider loving heart palpitations!)

Find the videos and learn about many of their ciders here:
http://www.blakeshardcider.com

You can also find out more up to the moment news and info on the the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/blakeshardciderco

To start with, in Spanish, El Chavo means the kid. I wonder what that means for this cider?

Here's how Blake's introduces it, "We like spicing things up. That’s why we put dimmers on the lights in our Cider House. And it’s why we created this sweet, heated blend of habanero pepper, mango and out famous Blake’s apples, Experience a hard cider that’s really, honestly, truly like no other. Experience El Chavo." 6.5% ABV.

Appearance: brilliant, lots of bubble activity, lemon color

When I poured from the can into a jar, this cider formed a quick mousse that did not stay. The El Chavo's color looks like the flesh of a perfect Meyer lemon. I could read thought it easily.

Aromas: stone, peach, mango

The stone and fruit notes approach subtly. Once I took a big sniff it made my nose all tingly; I think this hints at spice to come. Lot of interesting details here, but the smells don't leap out. Drinking straight the can, I think they'd be harder to find.

Dryness/sweetness: semi-sweet

The El Chavo strikes me as far too complex and multifaceted to easily reduce to this measure. Nonetheless when pressed, i'd describe it as semi-sweet. The sweetness is tropical and fruity but never appears without spice.

Flavors and drinking experience: peach, pineapple, spicy, warm, complex

The first edge is bittersweet. There's a lot of fruit in here while the cider is on the tongue: peach, pineapple, and mango. I actually taste fruity veggie pepper flavor as well as the spice of the Habanero. It really tastes in stages. The funny thing is most of the complexity arrives in the finish. After I swallow, three distinct tastes parade across my perceptions. First a spicy kick that swifly changes into a round fruity note and on the exhale warmth. A bit smoky as well. This means taht a big gulp and small sip are wildly different experiences.It actually reminded both my husband and myself of mango salsa. Yum!

The description reinforces the identity of this cider as unique and I'd totally agree. But what's more important to me, and I think to many cider drinkers, is that it is good and enjoyable as well as interesting and unique. There are a million ways to make previously unheard of ciders, the key has to remain in making them delicious.
 
Back to thinking about the El Chavo; the spiciness is very round and full rather than burning and spiky. That's key to enjoyability for me.

I enjoyed one of these with pineapple pizza and my new TV indulgence: Jane the Virgin. A week ago, I had one with homemade burritos on my screen porch. It worked tremendously both times. If you have even one day of nice weather left, give this a try with something hearty and cheesy to eat.