Cider Review: Woodchuck's Local Nectar and an Announcement about CiderCon 2017!

I've been hearing about Woodchuck's Local Nectar for a while. This is the cider made from only Vermont apples; its semi-dry and has a higher ABV more in line with 100% juice ciders. I've been curious about this one for a while, so when I spotted it on  grocery store shelf in Vermont a few months ago, I picked one up. Usually Woodchuck kindly sends me little cider care packages, but this one I had to hunt down on my own.

Woodchuck is now celebrating their 25th anniversary! For cider in America, that's actually a tremendously long time.

You can read more about the celebration here: http://www.woodchuck.com/blog-post/25th-anniversary-cider-growler-launch

And Ciderstock 2016 is happening: August 20th in Middlebury, Vermont! Check out the music and food lineups here: http://www.woodchuck.com/ciderstock/index.php

I've tasted most everything Woodchuck has released: far too many to list in any one review. But I do want to share a few of my Previous reviews:

Gumption: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/07/cider-review-woodchucks-gumption.html

Cellar Series Chocolate: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/06/cider-review-woodchuck-cellar-series.html

Hot Cha Cha Cha: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/03/cider-review-woodchucks-hot-cha-cha-cha.html

Daychaser: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/05/cider-review-woodchucks-day-chaser.html

Barrel Select:http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/01/cider-review-woodchucks-private-reserve.html

But its time to turn to today's review: Woodchuck's Local Nectar

 Official description:  "Woodchuck® was born and raised in Vermont and our roots remain firmly entrenched in our home state. This cider was handcrafted using apples solely from our orchard partners in Vermont. It is light and crisp, semi-dry, and a pure reflection of the fantastic apple crop Vermont is known for."

Appearance: butterscotch, brilliant, visible bubbles

The color is more deep than bright. It reminds me of butterscotch candies but made totally brilliant. It is easy to see lots of bubbles in this cider.

Aromas: understated, ripe apples, vinous, dusty 

I don't notice strong aromas from this cider, even when I seek them out. But what's there smells fruity and dusty. In some ways the aromas remind me of a semi-dry riesling.

Sweetness/dryness: semi-sweet

I find this cider semi-sweet, while being extremely well balanced and pleasant.

Flavors and drinking experience: applesauce, fruit esters, juicy, blackberry

Let's start with the obvious. This cider tastes appley Like applesauce but little smokey. Somehow it tastes more natural than some offerings by this brand. I'm also getting some yummy fermented fruit notes and esters. No tannins. Medium acidity. Reminds me of the Farmhouse Select Original '91.

 The overall impression comes across as freshly juicy. The sparkle is strong and pleasant. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't easy drinking. The most interesting thing abou tthis cider is its subtly blackberry finish. Both Alex and and I tasted some bubbly fruits of the forest notes consistently.

I had my local nectar with a homemade vegetarian burrito smothered in salsa verde. This was a perfect way to serve and enjoy this cider. The brightness of the salsa paired with the medium acidity and sweetness of the cider and the corn, tofu, tomato, rice filling was a nice offset to such a fruity and balanced cider. 

If I could buy this around here for hot days and mexican food, I totally would.

Last but not least, I am super excited to announce that I will be presenting at Cider Con 2017 in Chicago on Cider Branding and Online Content Marketing with my dear friend Eric West of Cider Guide. This isn't until February, but learning this news made my day today!

Cider Review: Bantam Cider's Wunderkind

To celebrate my return from lovely, warm, comfortable Florida, I'm reviewing my very first Bantam Cider. You can check out their website here: http://www.bantamcider.com. It has a beautifully simple design and lots of excellent information. The company operates out of Cambridge, Massachussetts where they share some equipment with a small winery: a good practice for a young company.This is how Bantam describes its own identity as a cider company:

Bantam Cider was born from a proud family tradition of
winemaking and a desire to be part of a creative process
rooted in the local community.

We were inspired to do something special, to create a truly unique and
modern line of products that would reshape the way people experience
cider. We source our apples from local orchards and create and trial
cider concepts at our small lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By shar-
ing capacity with a regional winery, we are able to scale up production
to meet demand. This allows us to grow our business while maintain-
ing flexibility and a compact footprint.

We are a small enterprise in a world of big brands. While we don’t have
a big budget, we do have big ambitions and hope to challenge conven-
tional thinking about what cider should be.

We are committed to making creative and distinctive crafted cider using fresh pressed apples and high-quality,
all-natural ingredients. 

These are some pretty admirable (and lofty) goals. I'm curious about how their focus on innovation and experimentation will translate to taste. I like a good traditional cider in many different styles, so we'll see what breaking tradition tastes like.

Bantam makes a few different ciders. My wonderful brother-in-law picked the Wunderkind up for me during a family visit. He chose just the right one because this is their first cider, which is always a grand place to begin. The bottle didn't give me very much information, but when I looked up the Wunderkind online, I found much more. Here it is:

We are proud to introduce our first cider, Wunderkind.
Bantam's maiden voyage is named in honor of one of
the greatest modern adventurers, Amelia Earhart. She
was bold and courageous and never settled for any-
thing less than achieving the extraordinary. It is her
fearless spirit and sense of adventure that inspires
our own quest.

Wunderkind is bright and crisp and gently lingers on
the palate. It is made from a blend of local apples,
slowly fermented to capture subtle esters, and del-
icately balanced with a hint of flower-blossom honey.
It is the result of countless test batches on dozens of
apple varieties and yeast strains to arrive at just the
right combination of flavors, aroma and body.

Wunderkind isn't simply a new twist on a familiar
theme, it's a new story altogether.

Still curious about what they mean about a new story. Let's see.

Appearance: White, very pale, super clear

Bantam's Wunderkind just shines in this big gorgeous glass my family let me borrow. Obvious brilliant. The color looks nearly white, almost light green. The bubbles look like champagne bubbles in that they are so very active and fine. I wish I'd taken more time for photos, but getting photos and tasting notes while enjoying cider and family at the same time isn't actually as easy as I'd like it to be.

Aromas: Honey

I can smell just oodles of honey. Secondarily, the Wunderkind wafts off notes white wine, pear, and vanilla. It doesn't not smell very much like apple. Perhaps this is the innovation to talked up in Bantam's promotional copy. It smells back sweetened, which means that the cider was likely fermented to dryness and then sweetened after fermentation to taste. This is a very common technique for cidermakers producing on any scale. Smells lovely but different.

Sweetness: Sweet

The taste matches the smell in that I can definitely taste some significant back sweetening with honey on the finish. That really affects the character of the sweetness and the cider.

Flavors and Drinking Experience: sophisticated even while being sweet, creamy, and approachable

At first the Wunderkind tastes sweet, then it blooms into a creamy floral mid palate. Next, I get spices  and very easygoing, fleeting honey-vanilla on finish. What really sets the Wunderkind apart is that it isn't strongly fruit forward even while having plenty of flavor and sweetness. I experience this cider primarily as something light, sophisticated, and pleasant. It goes well with any number of desserts, and since I was visiting family I got to try it with several. I enjoyed it most with almond cookies. The  tiny bubbles seem to occur naturally and add wonderful texture and lightness.  The Wunderkind comes across as bright but not super acidic, very low in tannins, and very friendly.

I'd definitely bring this cider to party. It seems meant for light conversation and little desserts. I'm curious to try Bantam's other offerings. This one really worked for me despite not tasting very much like my usual favorites. Maybe they are achieving exactly what they were talking about in terms of breaking tradition?

Cider Review: Bold Rock Virginia Draft

 
I had the wonderful chance on my way down to Duck North Carolina to stop in Norfolk Virginia to stock up on a vacation's worth of cider, and then some! The first cider I tried on vacation was one by Bold Rock Hard Cider. I'd heard of them before through various cider boards on Pinterest. The company is based in Nellysford, Virginia. The company came into being when John Washburn and Brian Shanks combined location, resources, and expertise to put some Virginia apples to a new cider destiny. They've been working on a locally oriented and environmentally sound company ever since, winning both international and local cider awards with several of their ciders. You can read more about their ciders and tasting room on their website: http://www.boldrock.com/.

I chose Virginia Draft for my first Bold Rock cider experience. Unfortunately, the Bold Rock website does not include any sort of tasting notes or information about apple varieties used in their ciders. The website does tell me that the Virginia Draft is 4.7% ABV and should be eaten either ice cold or over ice.

Appearance: brilliant, warm applesauce

When poured, some foam appearance on the surface of the Virginia Draft, but it calms quickly. The clarity is completely brilliant. The color suggests to me a warm applesauce in a very pleasant way. 

Aromas: Fresh apple, pear, cherry

Though this cider doesn't have a very strong smell, I could detect fresh apples, pears, and cherries. A totally fruity smell with no rough edges.

Flavors:  appley, low acidity, no tannins

This fruit forward cider offers tons of apple flavor.  My husband Alex calls it low impact, but I say the cider is decidedly mellow. It doesn't have particularly strong elements of either tannins of acidity. The finish definitely shifted towards baked apple and cinnamon notes. This really seems like a fall friendly cider.

As for my suggestion for when and how to enjoy this cider, I admit that I'm influenced by my vacation. I had mind without any food accompaniment in a hot tub under the stars. What a fantastic way to drink cider. I highly recommend it. : )