Cider Review: Farnum Hill Summer Cider

I cannot believe I've been keeping a cider blog for nine whole months without talking about any Farnum Hill Ciders. This is a grievous error on my part not only because they have played such a pivotal role in America's cider renaissance (which they undoubtedly have), but also because they were one of my early cider life-lines when I came back to the United States after trying and enjoying ciders during my study abroad at the University of East Anglia. (Here's my mostly unrelated shout out with affection to my nefarious guides to the wonderful world of pubs and cider, the UEA Games Soc.) Anyhow, I've been enjoying their ciders for almost ten years, so this review should have come earlier.

Farnum Hill Ciders come from Poverty Lane Orchards in Lebanon, New Hampshire. They make many ciders and sell apples, including unusual varieties of apples that are otherwise hard to come by. You can visit their fabulously informative website at: http://www.povertylaneorchards.com. Stephen M. Wood and Louisa D. Spencer have run and owned Poverty Lane Orchards since its start in 2000. These folks are serious about apples, science, and cider. I highly recommend checking out their Cider Facts page to learn some interesting things about apples and climate and also to get a good feel for the brand's unique personality. http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/farnum-hill-ciders/farnum-hill-cider-basics/  Fascinating stuff; I certainly didn't know anything about "Dosage" before reading about it there.

Before summer ends, I want to review Farnum Hill Summer Cider.  This cider has an ABV of 7.8% and like all Farnum Hill Ciders prides itself on using carefully chosen blended and cider apples. Rather than list their entire three paragraph orientation to the cider, I'll point my readers to it here: http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/farnum-hill-ciders/the-ciders/summercider/
and quote a bit about the cider itself. The folks at Farnum Hill say this, "Farnum Hill Summer Cider is golden and gently sparkling, blended to remind people in the States that good ciders make ideal summer “wines,” something the wider world never forgot. So in this one we go for prominent fruit and keen acid, soft-pedaling the tannic, earthy notes common to the other FHC blends. In Summer Cider the fruits are rich, the citrusy notes are strong, with gentle sweetness in the background. It’s a bit like whiskey sours, without the alcoholic whack."I'm not quite sure the digs at both United States drinkers and whiskey sours need to be there, but I'll be on the lookout for the acidity and lightness specifically.

Appearance: brilliant, cool blonde

Please forgive me for thinking of this cider's color as one of Alfred Hitchcock's leading ladies (specifically Tippi Hedron in The Birds), but that's always what cool blonde says to me. This Summer Cider has visible bubbles, most dissipate fast, but small fine streams continue through the liquid. Beautiful brilliance as well.

Aromas: fresh apples, banana, cake

Apple smells definitely come through first and foremost. The secondary fruits I sense most are banana and blueberry.  I could also detect bits of cake and walnut. This smells like a complex and lovely buffet of sweet flavors, but we'll see if the cider is as fruity and sweet as it smells.

Sweetness: Semi-dry to Off-dry

Actually separating the sweetness from other elements of enjoying this cider is fairly difficult. I can smell sweet fruits, but the taste is far more bright and acidic. It is definitely not bone dry, but it isn't a semi-sweet either. I'll say a gentle off dry or a more hardcore semi-dry. Hopefully that's not too confusing.

Flavors and Drinking Experience: high acidity, low to medium tannins, off-dry 

The Summer Cider tastes good to sip, but it tastes even better in big drinks. The flavors come in two distinct waves: first sweet, bright, second is dark, bitter, plummy flavor at the mid-back of the tongue.  Clean finish. The acidity is what makes it summery, and it contributes to the sense of  near dryness while also offering some enjoyable fruitiness. This is one of the lightest bodied ciders they make, perhaps the Summer Cider is giving a nod to the Spanish cider tradition.

I can definitely recommend this cider with all sorts of light summery foods and activities. Try the Summer Cider with bruschetta and fresh corn or lobster rolls. Bring a glass to a hammock, sneak a bottle into your canoe, eat a few more dinners outside with this cider before the weather gets too cold. Fall is coming soon, and I think Farnum Hill is more than right to think of this cider as uniquely suited to summertime. Whatever version they make each year, they attempt to make it available May through September where their other ciders are sold.  If you see this one, give it a try.

Cider Review: Alexander Keith's Original Cider

 
I like to review a wide variety of ciders. That's one of my primary goals for this blog, so when I got a cider unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to review it. A Canadian tourist passed it along to a group of us United States cider folks, saying that it was a new Canadian cider. That's how I got access to Alexander Keith's Original Cider. It looks pretty sleek with that uber professional logo and graphic design, so I wonder how it has flown so completely under my radar.

Maybe I've just missed something, or perhaps I don't hear enough news of the Canadian cider scene. What's really interesting though is that as soon as you look at the back of the can, you can see that it isn't actually produced in Canada. Alexander Keith's Original Cider looks to be made in Baldwinsville, New York. Interesting. Also, when I looked up Alexander Keith's brewery, I discovered that after a long Canadian history it now belongs to Labatt which is owned by Anheuser–Busch InBev. Obviously, neither of these companies has much of a history with cider.

The company has a great website: http://keiths.ca. Again, beautiful graphic design, super quality photography(way to make me look bad, guys), and excellent functionality. It even has an interactive wheel that helps you generate tasting notes and suggested food pairings for all of their products (all of the rest or which are beers). Kinda neat! I do get some hesitation when I first see the suggestion, "Best served over ice," because that is not usually a good sign. A cider that needs ice is a cider that will benefit from being tasted less and less accurately.

Here's what the company says about their cider, "With a light and refreshing taste, Alexander Keith's
Original Cider has just the right balance of sweet and tart, and is best served over ice." The ABV on this is 5.5% and the cider can be purchased in pint cans, bottles, and on tap in some locations. Let's find out how it tastes.

Appearance: Brilliant clarity, light straw color, lots of bubbles

As the picture shows, Alexander Keith's Original Cider is very very bubbly in appearance. The bubbles cling to the side of the glass, form a ring at the surface of the cider, and rise profusely all through the liquid. I expect lots of carbonation.

Aromas: green apple candy, Malic acid, overripeness

I primarily smelled apple candy which is a very acidic sweet smell. One of my fellow tasters got notable levels of Malic acid which is associated with fruity sourness. Sometimes this is added to foods or drinks to enhance their flavors.

Sweetness: Sweet!

Again that candy and sour sweetness from the aroma really comes through when drinking this cider. 

Flavors: sweetness, apple, and chemicals

The carbonation levels are high but not shockingly so. The apple taste is dominated by sugar and doesn't fill the mouth. I feel like this is a thin beverage. The finish includes chemicals and shampoo. After thinking a it, I could taste hints of Ammonia. Again one ofmy fellow tasters was able to give me some more detailed information. What I smelled as Ammonia is diamonium phosphate which is used in place of yeast nutrient sometimes in brewing. This isn't a very enjoyable beverage for me, I'm sad to say.

To be fair, I think folks who enjoy commercial 6 pack ciders or who like other InBev offerings might add this to their repertoire. As for me, I'm glad to have gotten the chance to try something for free that is being marketed in Canada. I also definitely see a value in checking out both the artisanal and commercial extreme ends of the cider spectrum periodically to what is going on all over the market. Thanks also to my fellow tasters, I learned a lot.

Cider Review: Albemarle Ciderworks Royal Pippin Virginia Apple Cider

This afternoon, I'm quite pleased to share my first review of cider by Albermarle Ciderworks. I've been following the company online for a while, but I got a chance to taste several of their ciders on my recent vacation. I asked on Twitter and did a bit of research into where I could get cider reasonably close to the Norfolk, Virginia airport and I was thrilled to see so much cider at the fairly nearby wine store. I hauled my embarassing amount of vacation cider to the Outerbanks of North Carolina and reviewed ciders all vacation long. This is definitely a process I recommend and plan to repeat.

You can check out their website here: http://www.albemarleciderworks.com It has lots of great information about their ciders, local events, and cider more generally. Very nice. Though I haven't gotten to visit it, I'm excited that Albemarle has a tasting room! You can visit them Wednesdays - Sundays from 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. in North Garden, Virginia just south of Charlottesville.

I'm starting this series of reviews with my encounter with their Royal Pippin Virginia Apple Cider in no small part because I've already tasted and reviewed the Newtown Pippin single variety by Original Sin. You can check out that review for comparison here: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/02/cider-review-newtown-pippin.html. The apples aren't the same, but they are closely enough related that I think looking at the reviews together makes sense.

Here's the official blurb for the cider from Albemarle: "The Albemarle Pippin, besides being an exquisite dessert and culinary apple, makes a delightful single varietal cider. Royal Pippin has notes of pineapple and grape, with a well balanced acidity and a lush apple taste. It is a refreshing apertif and pairs splendidly with seafood and pork. 8.5% ABV." What I find really interesting is that the label lists a different ABV than the website; on the cider label the ABV appears to be 9.5%. I'm sure batches vary and that labelling requirements are as mysterious in Virginia as they are in other states, but I wish I knew what the actual ABV of the cider was. 

In the websites's tasting notes section, it says this about the cider: "Royal Pippin is a wonderfully diverse cider, perfect for pairing with so many dishes.  Roasted chicken over winter root vegetables, lemony scallops, poached salmon, even spicy carnitas or a firm, nutty cheese. . . all work well alongside this cider."

Giving a bit of extra info in the "Why we like it" section, Albemarle says this about the background of its Royal Pippin: "The Albemarle Pippin has a storied past; Queen Victoria and her subjects were so enamored of the taste of the Albemarle Pippin that they were willing to pay higher prices and forego the import tax on this richly flavored apple.  Our Royal Pippin cider captures all the best aspects of this apple's essence superbly."

Appearance: slightly hazy, glowing deep vanilla

The color needs a slightly more whimsical description than some, perhaps because of the haziness or the lovely bubbling. So, I stand by my glowing deep vanilla color assessment.

Aromas: Fresh apples, wine yeast, tea, pencil shavings

This smells sweet but the other blended aromas that include clean minerals, iron, wood, and wine yeast give me a good hint that it won't likely taste sweet. I am expecting a fairly high tannin level though.

Sweet-dry scale: off dry

Upon first taste, my prediction is fulfilled. This is not a sweet cider, but is approachable and full of flavor. I love this level dryness. The Royal Pippin could easily go with food or be enjoyed just on its own.

Flavors and Drinking Experience:  floral, high tannin, low acid, woody

Thie cider tastes wild and English, but not farmy. Instead it strikes me as refined with hints of very sharp cheddar, lapsang souchong tea, rich mushrooms, maybe even bleu cheese. The Royal Pippin's  finish is citrusy, but I get no citrus before then. It gives a lingering warmth that is most enjoyable.

Drinking Experience:

This single varietal is better balanced than Original Sin's Newtown Pippin.  In fact, it is so well balanced and drinkable, I would not have guessed it for a single origin cider had I known this beforehand. For me that makes it not just an educational or interesting beverage, but one to savor on its own merit as well.

Though you could drink this on its own, I recommend it with a summery veggie tart something with lots of zucchini, tomatoes, corn and cheese. It could also go easily with sitting on a porch and watching the world go by. Very lovely indeed.

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. : )

Perry Review: Fox Barrel Blackberry Pear

To start with full disclosure, this was another sample perry gifted to me by the kind folks at Crispin, Fox Barrel's parent company. This is one of the last ciders I got to photograph and taste in New York City before moving to Ithaca. You can check out their really nicely developed website that has tons of photos, info, and extras at: http://www.foxbarrel.com/. I have reviewed one of their perries before here: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/07/and-now-for-something-completely.html.  I timed my tasting for maximum fruit relaxation during our massive July heatwave.

I couldn't get the Fox Barrel website to work for me, so here's what they say that I could find on a different review site "Naturally fermented using 100% pear juice, not from pear juice concentrate,or flavored hard apple cider. Filtered cold for extra purity and infused with natural blackberry juice. With no added colorants, sugar, sorbate or benzoate preservatives. No added malt, spirit, grape or apple alcohols. Naturally elegant, refreshingly adult with an authentic blackberry dark-fruit taste and a sweet-sharp fresh tang. Mouthwatering juicy complexity. Luscious pear-berry bouquet."There are a lot of claims and descriptions in there, but we'll see how it tastes.

Color and Appearance: blood orange, no visible bubbles, brilliant

This is a beautiful beverage.  It appears intensely colorful and completely still. The clarity is such that you could easily read text through it in good light, so brilliant.

Aromas: blackberry, punch

This doesn't have much in the way of pear aroma, but I can easily smell blackberry and a sweet fruity punch sort of melange. I'm tiny bit worried about how sweet it will be, based on the aromas.

Sweetness: sweet, fruity, tart, but a clean finish

The Blackberry Pear tastes sweet, but its acidity makes the sweet balance well with its tartness. It is refreshing and clean on the finish. No syrupy issues here, as I've had with some ciders blended with fruits or fruit flavors. Using only real ingredients makes a definite difference, so congratulations to Fox Barrel there.

Flavors: not very pear, more blackberry with zing

This is a lot more than just a sweet fruity blackberry drink, though it starts there. The Blackberry pear offers warmth with a yeasty nutty loveliness. Definitely enjoyable even on hot hot night.

Drinking Experience: tremendously easy drinking

My worries were for naught. Fox Barrel has blended blackberry tartness with pear sweetness in a lovely and totally easy to enjoy way. It isn't a beverage I'll add to my regular rotation, because when push comes to shove even a very nice perry just doesn't compare to cider, but I like it. Put most simply: not a cider, but tasty.

The Blackberry Pear would be a fantastic party perry that would pair well with sushi or light desserts like sponge cakes, gelato, or sorbet. One could easily play up either the sweet or tart side of this beverage or even just slip in a fresh sprig of mint and put it in a pretty glass to offer to guests.

Cider Review: Bad Seed IPC (India Pale Cider) Reserve

Before leaving New York City, I stopped at the Union Square Greenmarket regularly. It is a great place to pick up some New York State ciders that are a bit off the beaten path. If you ever want to check out their times, vendors, etc. the website has all that info: http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket-site/manhattan/union-square-greenmarket. On one of my last trips before moving, I picked up four ciders from a quite small new cidery, Bad Seed Ciders. Their offerings seemed adventurous and what I tasted at the stand pleased me. This is the first, but I'll be reviewing all four the ciders I bought.

Bad Seed Cider doesn't have a traditional website. Like more and more companies, they are spending their web time on their Facebook presence. Here's the link to their active Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Badseedcider. It has tons of great pics and updates about their availability, but not much info about each of the ciders. I'm not a big fan of cideries not having a consistent place with tasting notes and detailed information about each of their offerings, but I understand that developing and maintaining both a website and a social media presence is tons of work that can feel redundant. Here's what I could find out on their FB page. They were founded in 2011 and are based out of Highland, New York as a development of Wilklow Orchards.

The Bad Seed's cheeky acronym IPC stands for India Pale Cider, not a phrase I've ever seen before. The official description says this about the beverage: "India Pale Cider- Fermented with and American Ale yeast and Dry Hopped with Cascade hops for a bright grapefruit flavor of a fresh IPA" The cider is a small batch reserve with with an ABV of 5.5%. I have shared here a few times how much I love dry hopped ciders, so my hopes are high.

Appearance: tremendously bubbly, hazy, creamy beeswax

When poured this forms a head briefly, but even after that dissipates lots and lots of bubbles both cling to the glass and to the surface of the liquid. I'm almost alarmed by how bubbly this looks. The color is a creamy beeswax with hints of yellow/green. I think the color looks a bit different than many ciders because of the number of bubbles and because it is hazy rather than brilliant.

Aromas: Not apple, lemon, bran and wheat, hint of herbs

The IPC smells cold in an unexpected way. I smell all kinds of fruits and foods, but not much apple. The citrus smells dominate the nose of this cider.

 Flavors: Big citrus bitterness, fresh hay

 Again, not very appley. The Cascade hops speak as grapefruit pith and there's a decided backdrop of hay and bitterness. I think by using both beer yeast and hops, this has traveled further into beer territory than most ciders influenced by beer. I love how full the mouthfeel tastes to me.

Drinking Experience: first though is cider for beer people.

Mind you, I second guess that, because the passionate beer afficianados in my life seem to divide binarily about cider. Either they grant its pleasures and validity, in which case they like a number of ciders, or they do not and they list the things they dislike about every cider they try. So I guess it is a cider for cider people who enjoy some beer characteristics. I fall decidedly into this category, so it certainly is a cider for me. It is citrusy, bittery, and extremely carbonated. There is a slightly soapy aftertaste which is odd and perhaps a sign of stressed yeast, but doesn't prevent me from enjoying the cider tremendously.

In terms of pairing, I'd suggest having it with a very flavorful meal. This isn't a light salad or dainty snacks kind of cider. Get a big pizza or make it a burrito night when drinking Bad Seed's IPC. The cider's bitterness would go well with rich foods, including everything cheesey. The flavors are so big and lovely that it really demands some big food as well. I think it could also be a great cider for the last grilling occasions of the summer. Take advantage of the good weather and this very summery cider before fall arrives.

Cider Review: Distillery Lane Ciderworks Traditional Dry Sparkling Cider

Distillery Lane Ciderworks makes and sells cider in Jefferson, Maryland near the town of Burkittsville. They are the first licensed cidery in the state. I first heard about them first through a fellow cider blogger who lives much closer, but they have a really interesting story and location. Their website tells it far better than I could here, http://distillerylaneciderworks.com/ Be warned that though the website has great info, it does have a tendency to spit visitors back at the front page unexpectedly.

The Traditional Dry Sparkling Cider is the first cider I've gotten to taste from Distillery Lane Ciderworks. The ABV is measured at 7.5%. Here's what the cider makers have to say about it, "Our Traditional Dry Sparkling Cider is made from a blend of English, French, and American cider apple varieties. The blend of apples gives our ciders the right combination of acid, tannins, and sugar to make fine hard cider.  We take the well-balanced cider blend and allow it to finish the fermentation process in the bottles (similar to bottle-conditioned craft beers).  The result is a fully dry, sparkling beverage that is perfect for a hot summer day or an evening toast. Many people have commented that this hard cider is very similar to champagne."

Appearance: significantly Hazy, mellow lemon curd color

The Traditional Dry Sparkling has a warmer tone than many ciders. After pouring, I noticed a ring of mousse around the glass. The cider looks so hazy it appears that the tiny bubbles have to fight their way to the top.

Aromas: fresh apples, lemon peel, hay

I notice enough fabulous smells that I am positively champing at the bit to actually taste this one.

Sweetness: Dry

Deep bone dry. This is what I've been waiting for. So many ciders that get described as dry don't taste fully dry to me, and this one actually does. This means it is a cider for people who know and love the beverage rather than first time cider tasters.

Flavors: citrus zest, minerality (stones), wood and smoke

The Traditional Dry Sparkling shows its high level of tannins, making it taste smoky, almost meaty. I tasted medium to high acidity, but I'm definitely still getting a handle on how to gauge acidity. It was enough to make the cider citrusy but not enough to trouble me, and I'm not the biggest fan of super high acidity ciders. The cider is so British in style that it makes me long for Norwich, where I first enjoyed cider.

Drinking experience: warming, strongly sparkling, structured

The full mouthfeel and strong body really point to their use of cider apples. I enjoy the level of carbonation because I can drink it very comfortably, but I won't accidentally finish a glass without noticing. The thing about its warmth is that this cider tastes like it has a higher ABV than it actually does.

Drink this in the afternoon while listening to Bowie, The Smiths, Morissey, whatever British music moves you. Don't invite anyone talkative over. This cider deserves your full attention. Fantastic.