Thanksgiving Ciders: Eve's Cidery's Darling Creek and Blake's Beard Bender Plus a Cider Event in Vermont!

Cider for Thanksgiving! Yes, it’s obvious but it’s just so good. There’s no way I’m going to celebrate the foodiest of all holidays without cider! This year, my mom came up to celebrate with us. And she stuck around for my birthday morning! The food and good times were simply marvelous, even with record-breaking cold temperatures. We hit -5 degrees overnight! Here’s how we incorporated cider into the Holiday!

We did cook with cider. We used a can of Blake’s Cider’s Beard Bender to add some cider notes to the vegetarian dressing, to the cooking liquid to our Celebration Roast, and into the mushroom gravy!

I use a dry yet fruit cider for cooking for most purposes. I do want to bring some acidity an apple to the finished dish. Plus cooking with cider usually enhances the compatibility for pairing with cider. I chose the Beard Bender because it is purely about the apple and neither too dry nor too sweet. It’s tart, zesty, and has some acid and tannin presence. And the Beard Bender came through for me. It improved each dish it touched markedly.

Visit the Blake’s Hard Cider website to learn about all of the ciders Blake’s makes: http://www.blakeshardcider.com/

I have reviewed several Blake’s ciders, most recently the Apple Lantern: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/10/cider-reviews-blakes-hard-ciders-apple.html

On the table itself, I wanted something dry, bubbly, acid-driven and sophisticated. I knew that I would get all of that and more with a bottle from Eve’s Cidery!

Eve’s Cidery is a local orchard-based cidery in Van Etten, New York. The company has been around since 2001. The cider makers planted an orchard, focusing on heritage apple varieties and cider-specific apple varieties. 

You can visit the website and learn much much  more at: http://evescidery.com

I have reviewed several Eve’s Cidery ciders before.

In 2013, I reviewed Autumn’s Gold back when the blog was first running: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-eves-ciderys-autumns-gold.html

And later that year the Beckhorn Hollow Dry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/10/cider-review-eves-ciderys-beckhorn.html

I reviewed the Albee Hill in 2015: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/12/cider-review-eves-cidery-albee-hill.html

And in 2017, Eve’s Perry was part of Very Perry May: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/05/very-perry-may-pt3-eves-cidery-wyders.html

Eve’s Cidery made in into both posts about Cider Con 2018

This has a mini-review of a previous year’s Darling Creek: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/02/cider-con-2018-pt-1-eden-specialty.html

And part 2 has a more recent year’s vintage of Autumn’s Gold: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/02/cidercon-part-2-including-heritage.html

And perhaps my most in-depth educational experience with Eve’s Cidery was the Twilight Walk, Talk, and Picnic Dinner with cidermaker and own Autumn Shostek back in 2016: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/cider-event-twilight-walk-talk-and.html

Now for my thoughts on Eve's Cidery's Darling Creek Batch 2017. Here’s the short description: 

Deeply layered, complex, off-dry bittersweet cider.

Evolving aromas of powdered sugar, cloves, and espresso mingle with suede leather, cowboy sweat and a bit of glamour which hang off an angular frame. The mid-palate is hefty, with a hint of refreshing bitterness which dissipates into a tropical finish of ripe, sweet-sour pineapple.

And you can read more about this particular cider’s history here: https://www.evescidery.com/ourcider/2017-darling-creek/

Appearance: antique gold, bubbly, brilliant

This brilliant cider’s color is a beautiful antique yellow gold.  As the pictures show it’s brilliant, showing off a generous helping of bubbles

Aromas: Woody, Autumnal apples, funky, savory

The Darling Creek smells woody and beautiful. This drying smell activates my salivary glands immediately. Something about it reminds me of both Oak and autumnal apples in a clean and earthy root cellar. These aromas are both funky and savory.

Dryness/sweetness: Dry

Wow! This is so interesting. I’ve tasted previous years of Darling Creek and found them to be pleasantly off dry, but this year’s batch perceives to me as much drier. The website still lists it as off dry, but I think the increased use of bittersweet and bittersharp apples makes it taste drier than it might be chemically.

Flavors and drinking experience: funky, dry, bubbly, tart

The Darling Creek tastes dry, tannic, funky, and astringent. And this lovely cider is oh so very very bubbly! That thrills me so! Some note in the flavor reminds me of dried leaves. The whole experience is like drinking late fall. Obviously that made it perfect for a harvest meal like Thanksgiving.

The Darling Creek has a wonderfully full mouthfeel and tons of nuanced sophisticated flavor. It’s best appreciate in small sips. That pointed acidity is zingy! I love how complicated and thoughtful this cider is. The flavors are bright with high acid and high tannin. The cider is herbal, savory, with notes of pine and white pepper. 

And with our meal, the whole experience was decadently lovely.

And I am thrilled to announce that I'll be leading a guided tasting in Winooski, Vermont at Eden's Boutique Taproom and Cheese Bar! I'm visiting on December 19th to talk about cider styles and how we can get the most out of the information on a cider's label. This should be a fantastic time! If you're anywhere near the Burlington/Winooski area, please come up!

Learn more about the event here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/447866402411371/

Cooking with Cider: Crispin's Honey Crisp in Apple Scones with Maple Glaze

It has been far too long since I've shared any of my cider cooking experiences here, especially since I'm discovering new ways to use cider for cooking all the time. This seems like a very winter appropriate recipe to share for the brutal cold wave that happens to be freezing most of us here in the United States today. My good friend Amber and I baked apple scones with cider and made a Crispin Honeycrisp maple cider glaze. They turned out super yummy.

Apple Scones with Crispin Honeycrisp Maple Glaze

 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 heaping tbs baking powder

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 lb (or 2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup apple, grated (no need to peel the apples before grating)

First off, the Apple Scone part of the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 375° F

Combine dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Put aside.

Mix cubed butter with heavy cream, maple syrup, and grated apple in a different mixing bowl. Feel free to use either a hand mixer, stand mixer, or a wooden spoon, depending on what you've got. I don't have a stand mixer, so I know more about how to use a hand mixer a spoon.

Then combine the dry bowl ingredients and the wet bowl ingredients into whichever bowl is larger. In any case, take it slow. You don't have to worry about a perfect texture. It is better for little bits of apple to remain together than to overmix.

 
Generously flour your counter surface and set your dough on top of it. Similarly flour your hands, a rolling pin, and the top of the dough. Use the rolling pin to gently roll the dough into a roughly scone shaped mass. It might be between 1 1/4 and 2 inches tall and somewhat smaller than a dinner plate. Transfer this carefully to a buttered cookie sheet. Once on the sheet, make gentle slices across the dough to make the number of scone servings you'd like have in the end. I'd say it works best to have either six or eight wedges.

Into the oven they go! Now, before you read the baking instructions, remember to start your cider and maple glaze. If you start as soon as the scones go into the over, your timing should work out well. Now, back to baking...

Bake at 375° F until you can see some hint of browning on top. Around 25-35 minutes. They might not look 100% done, but turn the oven off and let them stay warm inside while you finish up the glaze.

Crispin Honeycrisp Maple Glaze

This is the sweet sticky heart and soul of the recipe.

1/4 cup pure maple syrup (use whatever grade you have on hand, but I really prefer grade B)

1 cup Crispin Honeycrisp Cider

Pour both of the ingredients into a saucepan and simmer them slowly on the stove. Basically you're making a reduction or simple syrup.

The key is patience because it can look like nothing at all is happening. Don't give in to the temptation of turning the heat up too high because you do not want your syrup and cider reduction to crack or turn into caramel in the pot. Though it would still be tasty, you want this glaze liquid enough to coat the scones and impart rich apple cider and maple flavors throughout.

And that's exactly what you do. Once the syrup has reduced by 1/4 or even 1/3 *and* once you've cooled the scone after removing it from the oven, pour the reduction all over the circle of scone pieces. Messy but so so good.

Many many thanks to Amber for masterminding the recipe development and cooking. She's an expert baker, and I'm just a cider fan with a camera, but I think we worked together well.