There's more to Fall than Thanksgiving! : )

Hey cider lovers. My nose is alternately running and completely stuffy, so I cannot bring a new cider review to the blog this week. It’s such a key time for cider, so I hate to skip out entirely. Everyone is talking about Thanksgiving. It’s a big food holiday. The menu is tremendously cider compatible. That’s wonderful. I feel like I’ve helped contribute to the thinking about cider and Thanksgiving already. I don’t have much that’s new to say about it. 

Here are a few Thanksgiving and Cider resources for those who want them!

My traditional Thanksgiving food and cider pairing guide: https://www.ciderculture.com/thanksgiving-cider-pairing/

Vegetarian dressing with cider and my 2018 Thanksgiving cider choice: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/11/thanksgiving-ciders-eves-ciderys.html

Pairing at my house for Thanksgiving and my birthday back in 2016.

The plan: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/pick-cider-for-thanksgiving-and-my.html

The results: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/happy-to-pickcider-for-thanksgiving.html

Cider Culture’s Plant Based Thanksgiving Cider Guide (by the awesome Emily Kovach): https://www.ciderculture.com/plant-based-thanksgiving-recipes/

Thanksgiving isn’t the only big event of Fall in my house. I’m pretty fond of my birthday. 

It’s not the easiest birthday to love, since it falls in the shadow of a holiday that’s both major and controversial. The weather isn’t often inviting; the time isn’t easy to schedule; people are often recovering from a very heavy and traditional meal. But the beauty of a birthday is that we get to make its style of celebration and its meaning. 

I don’t need a giant feast the day after Thanksgiving, but I do want to enjoy something other than leftovers for my birthday. Here’s the plan and the cider.

Dinner will be a Delicata squash salad with arugula, baby spinach, fresh apples, dried cranberries, pecans, a crumbly blue cheese, shredded carrots, radish, roasted quarter rings of Delicata squash. I figure we’ll make a big salad and then an array of different protein options to go on top: marinated tofu, dijon salmon, and chicken breast for the meat eaters. The dressing will be a homemade maple dijon vinaigrette. 

To pair with this, I want a bone dry super sparkly cider with only apples. I prefer something twice twice fermented so either a method ancestral or a methode champenoise. I’m planning on looking through my cellars for options by cideries really committed to aromatic bubbly ciders. I haven’t chosen yet, but don’t be surprised if it’s from Eve’s Cidery, Snowdrift Cider,  Eden Specialty Ciders, Albemarle, Haykin Family Cider, or Seminary Hill. Then again, my cider sometimes surprises me. There’s at least one bottle I’ve been saving since a friend sourced it for me a few months ago. Only time will tell.   

Dessert has to be cheesecake. I love most kinds of cake. It’s seriously one of the best parts of being a human. I truly want a maple cheesecake with mini chocolate chips. We’re going to try a Cabot Creamery recipe: https://cabotcreamery.com/blogs/recipes/maple-cheesecake

It’s my birthday, so I get a dessert pairing as well. If you know me, you know it’s going to be pommeau. But which sweet, rich, layered, fiery pommeau will it be? I’ll probably decide next week. 

I hope everyone gets to celebrate their special days with delicious food, cider, and loved ones!

Cider Week New York: Moosewood Restaurant's Black Diamond Cider Pairing Dinner

We’re now a few days into Cider Week New York! Cider activities are highlighting what’s awesome about my favorite beverage in every region of the state. Check them out and hopefully you can find one near you!

https://ciderweeknewyork.com/events-2/

And in particular, I’d like to highlight a free event I’m supporting on Tuesday October 4th: Tasting and Tomes at Mann Library! Visit us on Cornell’s campus to taste apples and fresh cider, explore our collection of cider related books new and old and learn about all things cider happening at Cornell! We’ll be around 11am-2pm.

Here’s how I started my cider week. I want to share my experience at Moosewood’s pairing dinner with Black Diamond Cider. Our guides for the evening were Ian Merwin, founder of Black Diamond Cider and Pomologist Emeritus at Cornell University, and Aron Kelly, Moosewood’s General Manager. The format was a 4-course vegetarian dinner prepared by Moosewood Chef Tim Mooney: each course paired with something special from Black Diamond Cider.I was particularly excited to find something vegetarian not as a substitution but by design and I’m a big fan of Black Diamond Ciders.

And if you're not familiar with Moosewood Restaurant, I recommend learning more: https://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/

My previous reviews of Black Diamond Ciders are plentiful, and they include:

My #1 cider of 2021 Black is Gold (a collaboration with Redbyrd Orchard Cider): http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2021/11/cider-review-black-diamond-farm-and.html

Black Diamond Cider's 2018 Rosé: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/09/cider-review-eden-ciders-peak-bloom-and.html

Shin Hollow: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/08/cider-review-mountain-west-ciders-sweet.html

Jaywalker: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2020/03/cider-review-alpenfires-dungeness-and.html

Geneva Tremlett’s: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2019/03/cider-review-black-diamonds-geneva.html

Somerset Jersey: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2019/05/very-perry-may-with-vandermills-ice-ice.html

Slatestone: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/11/cider-reviews-big-hill-ciderworks.html

Hickster: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/12/cider-review-black-diamond-ciders.html

Porter’s Pommeau: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/09/finger-lakes-cider-week-and-birthday.html

Solstice: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/08/cider-review-black-diamonds-solstice.html

Rabblerouser: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/09/cider-review-black-diamonds.html

I recommend visiting Black Diamond Cidery online here to learn more about all of the ciders: https://www.blackdiamondcider.com/

We started with a Curried Pumpkin Soup with toasted pepitas and pickled mustard seeds. This was paired with Black Diamond’s 2008 Perry. Though it’s called a Perry, it is a pear-apple blend, making it a pear cider. Though I loved all of the ciders of the evening, the first one was my favorite! A good perry is something to write home about, and this pear cider captures so much of what can be great about the beverage. I loved the lively bubbles, grapefruit citrus notes, softness and high acid.  

 I had some trepidation because of the pickled mustard seeds. Yes, they sound intriguing, but here’s a confession, I am usually passionately unfond of pickled things. It’s the rare exception that works for me. Miraculously, these were perfect. The soup was heavy, creamy, and only gently spiced. It needed the pepitas and the salty acid bite of the pickled mustard seeds. Yum!

I knew we’d have a salad as part of our meal just because Moosewood makes such wonderfully deluxe salads. This was a particularly seasonal offering: a Dinosaur Kale salad with slow roasted plums, toasted walnuts, roasted Delicata squash, crumbled blue cheese, and a buttermilk vinaigrette. It was paired with the 2019 Rosé. If you read my review of the 2018 Rose, I have to note that this one is created entirely differently. It uses plums as one of the elements to give the cider its signature hue. I love the idea of plums as a point of continuity for this pairing since they are in the cider and the salad. It's a lightful easy cider, utterly delightful and acid driven. The Rosé is semi-dry but so fruity. 

Butternut Squash Lasagna made our entree. I expected a cream sauce based lasagna as many autumnal lasagnas swap out a tomato sauce for a Roux-based sauce, but I was delighted by my rich and hearty red sauce vegetarian lasagna. It had caramelized fennel, Remembrance Farm baby kale, smoked mozzarella, butternut squash ricotta, asiago, garlic, Cabernet tomato, basil, and Parigiano Reggiano. I will remember the umami and satisfaction of that lasagna for years. It paired with Ian’s favorite of his ciders (at least as he described it that evening) the 2020 Golden Russet/Porter’s Perfection Varietal cider. 

The Golden Russet/Porter’s Perfection upped the body and alcohol with an ABV of 10%. I appreciate that this cider has acidity, tannins, structure, and body. It's dry by the numbers but it still gives off an essence of nectar or floral sweetness. Ian says that comes from the Golden Russet apples. It’s a very special cider that just tastes golden, mature, and mellow to me. I loved it with the exceptionally concentrated tomato sauce of the lasagna. Cider and tomatoes can be so fantastic together!

At this point, even after having half of my lasagna packed for later, I was stuffed! And yet I wanted to taste the final pairing.

It was an individual apple bundt cake with lemon ricotta and drizzled with cider caramel. I knew it would be paired with Black Diamond’s Pommeau. The cake appeared in a decadent moat of sauces. It makes my mouth water to think back on it. Pommeau was a delightfully appropriate pairing because of its intensity, sweetness, and higher ABV. Most cider would not be able to be tasted alongside such a rich and sweet dessert, but pommeau is a mixture of cider spirits, fresh cider, and wonderful structure from oak barrel aging. All of these factors made it something extra special with this creamy fabulous apple cake. 

The whole meal was extraordinary thanks to the wonderful food preparation and outstanding pairings from Black Diamond. What a great way to start my Cider Week New York! 

A Birthday Pairing Dinner with Sur La Mer, Whitewood Cider Co, Castle Hill Cider, Aeppeltreow, Virtue, and Champlain Orchards

My dear friend El just had a birthday. For some strange reason, this means she wants to hostess an elaborate dinner party. She loves to cook and share delicious food with friends (it’s something we have in common, but I’m somewhat more low key in my cooking ambitions). She also loves a good cider; it’s the preferred beverage for most of my closest friends. So I pair a cider with each course. It ends up being a lot of food and a lot of cider, and a lot of fun. 

I chose all Finger Lakes Ciders last year, and I wrote about the event as part of my lead up to Finger Lakes Cider Week: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/09/finger-lakes-cider-week-and-birthday.html

This year, she wanted to do it again, so I happily volunteered to another set of pairings. I did want to switch it up a bit, so I choose 6 ciders from 6 different states beyond New York. I love my home state’s ciders, but I wanted a 100% different lineup. Elizabeth also wanted to switch it up this year by sharing a only creative partial menu before the food was actually revealed at the table.

1) Chips and salsa

Drew Family Wines "Sur La Mer" Brut Cider, California
http://www.drewwines.com/

Here’s how El describes the course, “a panoply of heirloom tomatoes from Jackman Vineyards...a raw salsa fresca made by combining them with some local jalapenos, cilantro, onions and a bit of lime juice to create a bright, fresh salsa including black icicles, bolsenos, and green zebras.”

And the cider’s official description: 

A preservation project, a way to preserve a farming heritage  A blend of three varieties:  Gravensteins, Philo Golds and Rhode Island Greenings for some acidity.  We've gone old school in our approach with a native yeast primary fermentation and dosaged with a champagne yeast  (no forced carbonation here) before bottling as a traditional sparkling wine is made.  We find the bubbles are finer this way.  Notes of green apple, citrus, bread yeast and salinity and seaweed due to our coastal proximity are evident here.  A perfect summer glass of bubbles to accompany so many foods.  We love creamy and salty cheeses or roast chicken with this lovely handcrafted Brut Cider.

The Sur La Mer cider smells of cooked apples and minerals. It was very dry and tart. I paired this dry high acid cider with salsas because of the mention of salinity in the description. Luckily it came through and a little extra saltiness along with super fresh salsa and local tortilla chips was delightful. The salt really brought out the sweetness of all the fresh tomatoes. The cider also brought just a little gentle funk to the table to help perk up everyone’s appetites. 

2) Pasta and pesto 


Whitewood Cider Company’s Kingston Black and Wickson Apple
http://whitewoodcider.com/

Fresh pasta is one of El’s favorite things to make. I love it when she cooks this because homemade pasta is just miles better than dried.  She says, “I wanted to give it a sauce that was both packed with flavor and relatively light, and a simple pesto was an obvious candidate. I just used basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, and a mix of pecorino romano and parmesan cheese.”

And the only description of the cider I was able to find online of this limited release cider, “Dry, fruit forward, sophisticated, big cider aged in a semi-neutral second use gin barrel. Flavors of very ripe tangerine, oak, vanilla and a touch of the gin botanicals.”

I anticipated this course of food being my favorite as I am a passionate pesto fan. I wanted the gin botanical notes of the cider to complement the basil of the pesto, and it did! Everyone gushed about this course paired with the Kingston Black and Wickson Apple. 

3) Duck Confit and Tomato Confit 

Castle Hill Cider’s Terrestrial, Virginia
https://www.castlehillcider.com/

I'm deferring to El’s description for this course, “Duck confit is one of my favorite treats; it’s rich and salty and just incredible...Because I had two pescetarians at my table, however, I knew I needed something satisfying to accompany the duck. Tomato confit is actually a completely different thing; meat confits are poached in fat, whereas vegetable confits are just silky and richly flavored sauces. This recipe used local ginger, garlic, shallots, and herbs from my wife’s garden to make a delightful bowl of dipping sauce for bread.” And that dipping sauce wasn’t just delightful, it was divine!

Castle Hill’s official description for the cider, “Like a cold pool on a hot day, Terrestrial’s acidity gives this cider a crisp finish. Made with a blend of Winesap and Albemarle Pippin apples, this cider pairs nicely with oysters or aromatic dishes and makes a cleansing counterpoint to rich cheeses.”

I was least certain of this pairing going in, but I knew how much I love the Terrestrial and had faith in the classic pairing logic of umami flavors with high acidity and tiny bubbles. The cider lifted all this food richness and aerated rich apple, pointed acidity, and firm structure too. For many folks either a dark meat or tomato sauce would call for red wine, but for me a structured and tannic dry cider with plenty of acidity will do the job for any tomato sauce I’ve met.  

4) Taco platter 

Aeppeltreow’s Americana
http://aeppeltreow.com/

The taco platter was in reality a table groaning under the weight of food choices. This course could have been the entire meal and everyone would have eaten bountifully. Options included Ancho-rubbed steak, tequila-lime chicken, Mahi-mahi marinated in ancho, lime, and jalapenos, and marinated tofu in the style of Chipotle. These were surrounded by a tomato salsa, a roasted salsa verde, a corn salsa, and a spicy peach salsa. And four cheeses. And peppers and onions. And shredded cabbage. And the base of hand pressed tortillas. 

The Aeppeltreow Americana’s official description declares, “Estate grown apples of Jeffersonian provenance. Our attempt to re-create Colonial American cider.  Crisp and clean. Zero residual sugar.”

I’m fond of many ciders from Aeppeltreow, so I hoped to find a special occasion for this very special cider. It’s aromas were very wine like: much more fermentation than fresh fruit. I loved the soft tannins and mellow acidity. I chose it for this meal because I wanted a still cider that would have plenty of body. The body is to stand up in the presence of all the strong food flavors, and I chose a still because bubble can really up the perception of spiciness. While some folks at the table have a spice tolerance, several did not. The Americana helped us enjoy this course ever so much. 

5)Maple Apple Donut Cake 

Virtue Cider Seedling Orchard With Schaerbeek Cherries
https://www.virtuecider.com/

and/or 

Champlain Orchard Single-Varietal Honeycrisp Ice Cider Library Edition 
http://www.champlainorchardscidery.com/

The cake starts out with sponge that’s is much less sweet and tastes predominantly of buttered cinnamon. This was topped with a cooked blend of Tango and Macintosh and a sweet maple glaze.

The Virtue Cider Seedling Orchard With Schaerbeek Cherries is described online as, “Virtue ciders orchard series pays tribute to our partnering farmers by featuring a single growers finest fruit. Michigan seedling orchard is a friend to chefs and farmers markets for their quality hand picked heirloom fruit.”

While the Champlain Orchard Single-Varietal Honeycrisp Ice Cider Library Edition is introduced, “Our single-varietal Honeycrisp Ice Cider has a wonderful pure apple flavor as well as the characteristic sweetness and zesty finish of the Honeycrisp apple. It is excellent with sharp cheese before or after dinner, or to complement desserts. We also love to pour it over ice cream.”

To be completely  honest, no one chose between the two ciders. We just started out with small tasting pours of each. The Virtue was phenolic, leathery and dry. It brought out the apple beautifully. There’s classic cider wisdom of putting cherry and apple together for a reason. For folks afraid of doing a dry cider with a sweet dessert, don’t be. Just choose a cider that has lots of flavor in addition to being dry. 

And the Champlain Honeycrisp started off with aromas of golden raisins and melted into twingey acid and beautifully balanced sweetness. Alex says it’s the best ice cider he’s had in his life. It was as much a pairing for the maple notes of the dessert as the apple, and that was heart-stoppingly good.

The whole dinner and birthday celebration was such a wonderful time. I feel so lucky to share evenings of food and cider with my amazing friends. 

Finger Lakes Cider Week and Birthday Locavore Pairing Dinner

My dear friend and cider accomplice Elizabeth  (http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/author/elizabeth/) had a birthday earlier this month. And unlike most folks, this means she wanted to bring down a heap of work and organization on herself to celebrate. This means she planned and cooked a five course feast at the home of a wonderful mutual friend.

As part of my gift, I paired the menu with local Finger Lakes Ciders and provided some of the ciders for these pairings. She was kind enough to allow me to write up the pairings and combine that post with my anticipation for this year's Finger Lakes Cider Week!

http://www.ciderweekflx.com/

Local Charcuterie Platter: Bellwether Vintage Heritage

http://cidery.com

El sourced smoked turkey, ham, rillettes, and duck confit from The Piggery. For the non-meat eaters we had local hummus by Ithaca Hummus. I enjoyed the Crosswinds Goblin cheese, Northwind Tripletree Tomme and a home-smoked cheddar. El also pickled her own cucumbers and beets.

Vintage Heritage is a very special cider cider that isn't readily available most of the time; its a cellar -aged edition of their Heritage cider. That description reads, “Dry; 6.9% alcohol; blend of European cider apples including Brown Snout, Dabinette, Chisel Jersey; this is the still version of Legacy; complex acid and tannin; an Old World cider to bring balance to your modern, hectic life.” This aged version really lets the playfully rustic side of cider shine. Its leathery, woody, tart and tannic. Delightfully different and something well worth trying if you ever get the chance.

Bellwether will be pouring samples of their ciders at the Ithaca Farmer's Market both weekends of Cider Week (and all other Farmer's Market Weekends) down at Steamboat Landing in Ithaca. 

Caprese Salad: Redbyrd Orchard Cider Celeste Sur Lie

https://redbyrdorchardcider.com

This simple salad was constructed of local heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and drizzled with F. Olivers Picual Olive Oil. 

Redbyrd Orchard Ciders says this about this cider, "Celeste Sur Lie ’14 –An elegant cider for celebration, made in the traditional style and disgorged after aging on bottle lees for over a year, giving you a beautiful helix of endless soft bubbles in your glass and a creamy buttery mouthfeel. 0.0% residual sugar, 11% alcohol/volume." This cider fits my one of my preferred flavor profiles perfectly. This is so crisp, clean, and devastatingly dry. It rings like a golden bell on my tongue every time I take a sip.

Fresh Pasta with Red Sauce: Kite and String Barrel Rye

http://www.fingerlakesciderhouse.com/good-life-cider-kitestring/

This hand-rolled pasta was served with fresh tomato sauce with garlic and basil, homemade ricotta and a garden salad with F. Oliver's Balsamic Viniarette Dressing. This course alone would have made a wonderful birthday dinner. Elizabeth really knows how to make homey comfort food like pasta shine.

Kite and String describe this cider as, “Off Dry. Champagne style. Stirred on the lees for 1 month. Aged 1 year in Rye Whiskey barrels. Buttercream with a backbone. Oak and smoke and shalestone.” and I chose it for that combination of smoke and backbone. Typically folks, pair tomato dishes with red wines, but I think cider has a fun option of doubling down on umami notes and adding both structural notes and lively acidity. This pairing supports my argument well.

Finger Lakes Cider House Grand Cider Buffet on Thursday September 28^th:

This event will be at Coltivare this Thursday evening, featuring cider oriented food and Kite and String Cidery's full lineup. This will be many folks first chance to try some of these awesome new releases.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/finger-lakes-cider-house-grand-cider-buffet-tickets-37257429976

Roast Chicken with Tomato-Cilantro Hollandaise: South Hill Cider Patina

http://www.southhillcider.com/

El's chicken came from Autumn's Harvest. He roasted them and served them with green beans, roast potatoes, and smothered the dish in tomato-cilantro hollandaise sauce. This felt just as complete with sauced potatoes and beans, almost as thought the sauce is the actual star of this course.

South Hill Cider has this to say, “Patina is partially barrel aged so that bright fruit notes ring clear over a well-rounded barrel influence. Sparkling, medium bodied, fruit forward with hints of vanilla. Dry. Bittersweet apples. 8.2% ABV.” I knew we would need to continue to have strong bubbles and some barrel presence in order for the cider not to disappear entirely against such flavorful food. Thankfully, the Patina was up to the task and then some. This cider has tannic balance and smooth elegance to spare.

South Hill Cider String Band and Tasting on Saturday, September 30^th

From 3-6pm on Saturday, you can stop by Agava in Ithaca to taste not only this restaurants inventive and appetizing food, but also listen to the cidermaker behind South Hill Cider (Steve Selin) play with the South Hill Cider String Band and sample their ciders.

Apple Cobbler Cheesecake: Black Diamond Porter's Pommeau

https://www.blackdiamondcider.com/

This cheese cake builds up from a graham cracker crust through a creamy crumb and is topped with Black Diamond Orchard Apples, a brown sugar oat crumble, and a burnt caramel sauce. Yes, it's decadent. Each element is necessary for the tantalizing whole. Being able to pair a pommeau with apples from the orchard that produced it, isn't a chance I get every day.

Pommeau, for those who don't love it already, is a very special cider based distilled beverage. It starts with cider which is distilled then back-sweetened with fresh apple juice and then aged on oak for an extended period. Black Diamond's Porter's Pommeau, according to Black Diamond is, “a blend of fresh cider made from Porter’s Perfection – an old english bittersweet apple and oak-aged apple eau de vie –is our take on the classic beverage from Normandie, France. Tasting Notes: Fragrances of ripe apples and vanilla, velvety tannins and a smooth, sweet finish. Enjoy it with dessert, or by the fireside with friends. Most people prefer to serve it slightly chilled. Alcohol: 20.0% Residual Sugar: 7.6% (Sweet)” And that's excactly what we did. I served this cider chilled to my dear friends with an amazing dessert. Perfection indeed.

Cider Cocktails with Black Diamond Cider in Trumansburg, NY on Thursday October 5^th

At hip foodie bowling paradise, Atlas Bowl, attendees will have the chance to try classic cocktails made with a cider twist and other original mixology creations all using the ciders and pommeau of Black Diamond Cider will bowling, eating, and listing to the tunes of cider owner Jackie Merwin who will be spinning as DJ Black Diamond. What fun! 

Whether celebrating a birthday, the season, or Finger Lakes Cider Week, enjoy with friends. I raise a glass to these good times! Happy Birthday, Elizabeth! 

Happy to #PickCider for Thanksgiving

I enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving and birthday dinner and putting 4 lovely ciders on the table. The day was remarkably stress free and the food came out deliciously. I thought I'd share some pictures of the feast! I shared my plans for the day in this recent post: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/pick-cider-for-thanksgiving-and-my.html

As promised, we started with Eden's Sparkling Dry Cider. It remains crisp, austere, extremely bubbly and delicious. I simply love this cider. If you have any chance to try it, you should.

After a glass of this, we were ready to fill our plates. Here's the breakdown: sweet potatoes with pecans, dressing, Brussels sprouts with faux bacon, biscuits, mushroom gravy, corn pudding, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, cranberry relish, and two vegetarian centerpieces. The picture cannot come close to the wondrous reality.

I offered two cider choices for the main meal. The first was a black currant cider from Number 12 Cider House. This ended up being amazingly tart and quite dry. If we worried that all of the carbs could put our palates to sleep, this cider was the cure.

I also wanted to share a still cider, but not just any still cider, something I knew would still have substance enough to stand out. I chose a Finger Lakes option from Good Life Cider, their Hickok. As I hoped this had plenty of fruit and richness while still remaining refreshingly dry. It had a subtly herbal aroma that really did complement my dressing well. This is a very savory cider with notes of black pepper along with well balanced minerality. I really like this one a lot. 

Here's a view of my plate before the destruction began.

Last I'd like to share pictures of our dessert course: two pies and Slyboro's Ice Harvest Cider. A nice long meal like Thanksgiving strikes me as the ideal time for an ice cider because one can really take the time to savor it. And this is an ice cider worth savoring.

The first dessert was for my birthday: dark chocolate tart with a gingersnap crust. 

And for our Thanksgiving pie we had apple pie with walnuts and blue cheese. The little twist on a classic was perfect and this pairs exceptionally well with Slyboro's Ice Harvest Cider.

All in all, I could not have been happier with my cider picks. Folks had choices and variety. Several of the pairings brought out an extra element in the food successfully. And I got to share some really special ciders with special people in my life. This is what I'm thankful for.

Pick Cider for Thanksgiving! And my Birthday!

I am so excited to share food and cider with my husband, my mom, and two of my very dear friends this year. Everyone is coming to my house. And how did I get this lucky? By having my birthday on Thanksgiving. Yep! I find that folks are plenty amenable when you get to double up on holidays like that. So consider all of these choices picked to go with a vegetarian Thanksgiving Feast that is also my Birthday Dinner!

I like to start with a welcome glass of cider when someone either walks in the door for Thanksgiving or when the emerge from the kitchen into our part-time dining room. This is the cider that comes before introductions, before sitting down at the table, before anything really.

Eden Sparkling Dry

Yes, this is a known choice. I have reviewed a previous iteration of it before: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/06/cider-review-eden-sparkling-dry-cider.html And it was my #4 cider of 2015. But its just so so good! And it really is the perfect cider to stimulate both conversation and appetite.

Find out more about all of Eden Specialty Ciders here: https://www.edenicedcider.com/

Here's the description of the Sparkling Dry.

Champagne-style cider made from heirloom and bittersweet apple varieties grown in Vermont. 50% of the blend is the famous cider apple 'Kingston Black'. It is naturally sparkling and clean - we hand-disgorge the yeast from every bottle! Goes well with oysters, seafood and vegetable dishes.

My choice to go with something known at the beginning of Thanksgiving is far from arbitrary. This is the only known choice of the four, but it guarantees that the meal will start deliciously. I know this cider doesn't need food to balance it out. The Eden Sparkling Dry can stand on its own.

I have chosen two ciders for the main event as it were. They can be taken as an either/or recommendation if you have a strong preference for sparkling or still cider. Alternatively, You can have some of both. I'm always a big fan of choose both rather than either.

Number 12 Cider House Black Currant Dry

I reviewed the Number 12 Cider House Sparkling Dry this Summer: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/06/cider-review-number-12-cider-house.html

And you can learn more about all of their ciders here: http://www.number12ciderhouse.com/

Here's the description:

Number 12 Black Currant Dry begins with aromatic notes of jam and rich black currant followed by a crisp, dry cider finish. Once considered the “forbidden fruit” due to a 100 year ban, the black currant is now experiencing a resurgence in America’s conscience. It pairs beautifully with locally grown apples by providing a tannic structure needed for depth and complexity. This is the cider that will change your perspective.

Here's why I'm choosing the Black Currant Dry. There will be plenty of creaminess at my Thanksgiving table. I want at least one dry bubbly option, but one with enough flavor that the food will overpower it completely. The currants should add pleasant tannins and acid. This would also be great for folks who have the traditional turkey as a main dish, but at my house it will be pair with something vegetarian along with sides of dressing, pumpkin mac and cheese, green bean casserole, and Alex's fabulous mashed potatoes.

Also on the table...Good Life Cider's Hickok Dry Still Cider

My previous review of a Good Life Cider is of their Barrel Rye: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/12/cider-review-good-life-ciders-barrel-rye.html

Here's the Good Life Cider's page (on the Finger Lakes Cider House website) http://www.fingerlakesciderhouse.com/good-life-cider/

The official description reads simply, "Still and dry Aromas of damp earth and dark fruit. Pair this cider with the good life." The ABV of this cider comes in at 8.5%.

This is specifically to off set my other favorite Thanksgiving recipe: cranberry relish. I want a still dry cider with some rich mellowness because my cranberry relish is tart and raw. I use the food processor to blend cranberries, eating apples, oranges, and pecans and this year I will skip the maple syrup to sweeten and instead borrow just a little from my last course cider. 

And with dessert...Slyboro Ice Harvest Cider

I got to visit Slyboro on the way back from our Vermont Cider Tour this summer. Previously, I reviewed the Black Currant cider: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/07/cider-review-slyboros-black-currant.html 

And back in the early days of the blog, I reviewed a now sold out cider, the Old Sin: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-slyboro-ciders-old-sin.html

Slyboro's website can be found at: http://www.slyboro.com/

To share the official description: 

Fresh, artfully blended apple cider is pressed in the depths of our North Country winter and tucked outside to freeze. At the first thaw, a rich apple essence is drawn and slowly fermented till summers end. The resulting ambrosia is redolent of tropical fruits and warm baked apple with hints of spice. For dessert, as an aperitif & very special occasions. Serve slightly chilled. 11% alc/vol 11.5% residual sugar. 375ml

Here's the mystery though, will dessert be traditional pumpkin pie, the glorious looking cranberry curd recipe I found online, or a birthday cake? I think this cider would accompany all three beautifully as I tend to prefer desserts that emphasize richness over sweetness. I want most of the sweetness to come from this enticing ice cider. 

And if you're planning on serving or drinking cider for Thanksgiving, share your choices on Twitter with #pickcider! 

Cider Review: Woodchuck's Private Reserve Barrel Select

Pardon the slightly noir photograph. I promise that Woodchuck's Private Reserve Barrel Select isn't particularly mysterious. I just haven't had many moments of sunshine for cider photos lately, so I had to shoot quickly. This is a perfectly approachable cider, nothing nefarious here.

Woodchuck gives us some fairly effusive copy about their cider: "Woodchuck Private Reserve Barrel Select is our ultra-limited cider crafted in small batches for a rare taste of sweet, crisp apple cider combined with smoky, dry bourbon flavors. Aged in genuine white oak Kentucky bourbon barrels, this copper-hued gem pairs excellently with cheese, pork roast and chocolate cake. Served best at 50 degrees, Barrel Select is truly an exclusive joy to relish."Drawing from that, let's just look at the information shared. This is aged in used bourbon barrels from Kentucky (Yay Kentucky!). They recommend pairing it with some fatty, sweet, intense flavors, so I'm guessing that this will be a very flavorful sweet cider. No mention of apple varieties. The ABV on this cider is 6.9% which does limit the places where it can be sold. Curse you, labyrinthine prohibition remnants haunting our alcohol laws!

Anyhow back to the cider at hand. Let's see how it looks.

Color and Appearance: Brilliant, almost no visible bubbles, orange

This cider is deeply and devotedly orange. You could call it copper or persimmon or even vaguely bourbon like, but it is a bold orange cider. Like most Woodchuck ciders, it has been filtered to complete brilliance.

Aromas: vanilla, cooked apples, whiskey, wood

Very dessert smelling. The apples are much more like my grandmother's stovetop cooked apples than anything more raw and natural. I also get some vanilla, caramel, almost butterscotch notes. Its all over the place so long as the place is sweet and candy related. More distantly I can also smell the wood and bourbon elements, but only through a fog of sugary food smells.

Sweetness: Too. Sweet.

This can be a recurring problem for barrel aged ciders and for Woodchuck's ciders. It doesn't always strike though. So for fans of sweet cider, this might be right up their respective alleys. It is however sweet even by those standards. The sweetness comes across with some of the same notes as the aroma but also with a maple flavor more than the caramel I smelled.

Flavors and Drinking Experience: Overwhelming on its own. Better with food.

I can taste some wood and some fruit but mostly dessert sweetness: maple, vanilla, caramel, booziness. I don't care for it as a sipping cider. However, when I sat down with some veggie chili and cornbread, that smoothed out the experience for me. Chili has a lot of strong vibrant roasty flavors and those pair well with Woodchuck's Barrel Select.

Socially, this is a great time for chili. We're all cold and stir-crazy. Maybe invite some folks over and try a whole bunch of new ciders along with a few different chili variations. This combo is not a bad one.

Pair some ciders and cheeses at The Cellar D'Or with me!

Watch this space for more details...


For a long while, I've wanted do start doing in person events for Along Came a Cider. It looks like the first one will be happening in October as part of Finger Lakes Cider Week. We'll taste a variety of ciders and cheeses at The Cellar D'Or in downtown Ithaca, NY.

And simply because Ithaca is too beautiful not to show off, here's a picture of a waterfall I walked to from my house this week.