My 10 Favorite Ciders of 2016

Alrighty. We are almost through with the super terrible, very no good, rather awful year that was 2016. Personally, it was the hardest and saddest of my adult life, therefore, I'm pretty excited to observe its demise. My favorite cider list has become an important part of wrapping up a year and getting ready for the next. I've never been good at New Year's Eve, but I do love lists.

For context, here are the previous years' lists: 

2015 list: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-10-favorite-ciders-of-2015.html 

2014 list:http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/12/my-10-favorite-ciders-of-2014.html 

2013 list http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-10-favorite-ciders-of-2013.html) 

As in earlier years, I have two rules: I'm not listing more than one cider from any company and I am going to limit myself to ciders that have coverage in the blog. Beyond that, my only caveat is that these are my personal favorites that I wrote about in 2016. These may or may not be your favorites, but I encourage you to taste them and make up your own mind. 

I'll end with a confession. This list has turned out quite revealing of my own tastes and predilections. Oops?

                                 

10. Woodchuck's June and Juice: 

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/10/cid10. er-review-woodchucks-june-and-juice.html 

I can sense the scoffing, but I won't apologize. This is a tasty cider and one that surprised me. The herbal elements play well together and don't totally dominate the apple.

9. Shacksbury Classic http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/cider-review-shacksbury-original.html 

Here's where I started to feel some pain. This cider could be at the top of a lot of lists, because its very good. Then again, all of these ciders have been favorites. But, if you see this one, try it.

8. Seattle Cider Company Gin Botanical: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/02/cider-review-seattle-cider-companys-gin.html 

I mentioned that the list might be revealing, and this counts. I do love herbal infusions in cider when balanced well. This is a great example. I only wish I had the chance to buy this cider regularly. 

7. Left Foot Charley Henry's Pippin: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/12/cider-review-left-foot-charleys-henrys.html

This cider was going to be good, so I waited for just the right moment for it. Zesty acidity and clean flavors sold me on this cider instantly.

6. Cornish Orchards Vintage 2013: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/04/cider-review-cornish-orchards-vintage.html 

Here's another cider that checks all of my boxes in specific. I love the high tannin, rich qualities of many English ciders and that's precisely what the Cornish Orchards Vintage 2013 delivers.

5. Good Life Cider Hickok:

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

and 

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/happy-to-pickcider-for-thanksgiving.html 

This cider changed my mind! Often still ciders don't strike me as very exciting, but this is a total showstopper. Its complex, dry, and fruity in the perfect combination. I adore it.

4. Number 12 Ciderhouse Sparkling Dry: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016_06_01_archive.html

Startling! I really didn't know what to expect from this cider and it wowed everyone who tasted it with me! Really great tannic structure.

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

Something about the fermentation methods and and the apple varieties Black Diamond uses sets their ciders apart in terms of mouth-watering richness. Everything they make is special.

2. Foggy Ridge Serious Cider: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/05/cider-review-foggy-ridge-ciders-serious.html

Here's a classic that has deserved a spot on my favorites list for years. I so enjoy Foggy Ridge ciders. I had this one with my mid-winter holiday feast and I know I'll have it again as soon as I have the chance.

And, my number 1 favourite cider of 2016...

1. South Hill Cider Stone Fence Farm http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/08/cider-review-south-hill-ciders-stone.html

South Hill makes some spectacular ciders; there's no denying that, but this one is really something. This single farm cider sings with its perfect blend of high tannins and high acidity.

What a wonderful cider to be ending my top ten with. I cannot say very much positive about 2016, but I've had amazing cider experiences and I count myself so lucky to know the friends I have within the cider world. And we'll get to join up in Chicago soon for Cider Con! I cannot wait.

Amazing people bowl me over with their knowledge, generousity, warmth and humor again and again. Thank you for letting me join in. Cheers.

My 10 Favorite Ciders of 2015

Thank you! Along Came A Cider has had a fantastic 2015, and I am so grateful. I tasted cider in England, at CiderCon, at GLINTCAP, and in kitchens, tasting rooms, and restaurants everywhere I went. Thanks so much for each glass, each apple, each conversation shared this year.

Cider itself also had a great year in the United States and around the world. Many new cideries and cider bars opened their doors. Others grew in taste and reach. My favorite news though has to be the CIDER Act. This act makes cider more comprehensible to the United States Federal Government, and begins to support this internationally popular agricultural product. Read what the United States Association of Cidermakers says about it here:

http://ciderassociation.org/resources/Documents/Meeting%20Minutes/CIDER%20Act%20Passage.pdf

To share my joy and gratitude, I want to share which 10 ciders have thrilled me the most this year. At this point it's a tradition for the blog. 

(my 2014 list: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/12/my-10-favorite-ciders-of-2014.html and my 2013 list: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-10-favorite-ciders-of-2013.html) 

To borrow from last year, I have two rules: I'm not listing more than one cider from any company and I am going to limit myself to ciders that have a review on the blog. Beyond that, my only caveat is that these are my personal favorites that I reviewed in 2015. These may or may not be your favorites, but I encourage you to taste them and make up your own mind.  

10. New Day Craft's Johnny Chapman

I love how this cider—made in Indiana—smells malty and tastes fabulously balanced yet sweet. Its character of  maple, caramel, and sorghum charmed but did not overpower. 

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/05/cider-review-new-day-crafts-johnny.html
  

9. Rev Nat's Hallelujah Hopricot 

This west coast cider not only struck me as super tart, bitter, hoppy and mildy fruity, but it also made a major impression with its creativity and innovation. This, to me, is the most outstanding contribution of American west coast ciders in 2015. 

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/07/cider-review-rev-nats-hallelujah.html

8. Awestruck Premium Hard Cider Hibiscus Ginger 

Staying with my theme of exciting ciders, I was amazed by how developed and balanced this adventurous offering the taster. It looks beautiful in the glass, but is so much more than that. Awestruck, a young New York State cider company, really has something to say with this zesty blend of apple, hibiscus, and ginger.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/10/cider-review-awestruck-premium-hard.html

7. Cornwall Cider Co. Lyonnesse 

My review of Lyonnesse was part of a longer entry on all of the ciders I found and tried during my trip to Devon and Cornwall this May. This cider smells like cooked apricots and is semi-dry. It stood out because it offered great bubbles and a higher level acidity than most UK ciders. I was just endlessly impressed with its bright acidity and medium-high tannins. Its full and oaty mouthfeel kept it uniquely English and decidedly special.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/06/along-came-cider-goes-to-england-pt-2.html

6.Good Life Cider's Barrel Rye

This is my most recent addition to the list, and it's a special one. I tasted this New York state cider a few times before reviewing it, including on the night the CIDER act was passed. What a perfect celebratory drink: bright with acidity yet deep with caramelly oxidation. It's recalls maple and coconut, uniquely combined with clementines. Very yummy indeed.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/12/cider-review-good-life-ciders-barrel-rye.html


5. Castle Hill Cider's Celestial 

This high-acid off-dry cider from Virginia was a special treat found in a Florida grocery store. I have the highest praise for its clean fermenation and stone fruit notes.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/02/cider-review-castle-hll-ciders-celestial.html

4. Eden Sparkling Dry Cider

Now we've crossed into the rarefied terrority of the top four. These are the ones that start to reveal my preferences and biases as a cider drinker. Vermont's Eden Sparkling Dry Cider hits all of the notes I enjoy: great mouthfeel, high tannins, enough acidity to keep things firm, and gorgeous sparkle!

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/06/cider-review-eden-sparkling-dry-cider.html

3. AeppelTreow Winery's Appley Brut Sparkling Cider

And now for the second appearance of an AeppelTreow Cider in my favorites list. This year I loved the Appley Brut, and previously I adored their Kinglet Bitter (which I just tried on draft for the first time at a top notch beer store in Louisville and loved again). But this Wisconsin cider offers a crisp, very bubbly, and cracklingly sharp experience with great balance.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/09/cider-review-appeltreow-winerys-appley.html
 
2. Aspall Imperial English Cider

My choice here cannot surprise anyone who knows me. I love English ciders of the particular type Aspall offers—what can I say, we get along well.  Their sense of balance is difficult to beat and the mouthfeel is nearly always outstanding. This particular cider is smooth, dark, rich, and just cuddly.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/11/cider-review-aspall-imperial-english.html
 
And now, drumroll please...

1. Farnum Hill Extra Dry Cider

Farnum Hill, based in New Hampshire, is the only cider company to have made all three of my yearly favorites lists.  (Previously, I'd nodded to both Kingston Black and Farmhouse.) That might tell us all something about their quality, or maybe something about my tastes. I tried this as part of Protocol Wine Studio's month of Twitter discussion amongst wine and cider folks. It was really a great time.

What I love about this cider is its complexity and controlled funk. Yes, the Extra Dry was earthy and mushroomy, but it still offered loads of fruit. A cider that gives me orange, leather, and butter is doing something right.

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/08/cider-review-farnum-hill-extra-dry-and.html

With that, I wish you all a safe and happy New Year! Let's enjoy cider together in 2016!

Along Came A Cider Goes To England: Pt 2 "What ciders do you serve here?"

This post documents the ciders I found along my travels mostly without making special side trips just for proper cider. I knew almost nothing about most these ciders before trying them, and I had a wonderful time just asking people about cider wherever we went. Turns out that this is a fantastic ice breaker question with B&B owners, drivers, bar tenders, servers, and pretty much anyone I met. Folks seem universally pleased to recommend ciders and most fancy that Americans have never had cider before. We are evidently a nation to be pitied in this regard.  A few folks also wanted to tell me that American beer is "very poor." I'm afraid news of our craft beverage scenes, either beer or cider, has not hit the mainstream in Cornwall. Alas.

There's a mix of very small orchards and cider companies to very large industrial operations. Most places had one or two cider choices, and I always opted for the cider I had not tried before. When I did have more choices, I consistently aimed for the most local and the driest cider. Here's what I found in the order I found them.
 

 
Northcoast Apple Cider http://ncwine.co.uk/collections/cider

I found this at a tiny wine shop called Moreno Wine Merchants in London because it happened to be across the street from the Air Bnb room we rented. it has the most beautiful label and I wish we'd had more light to capture it properly. 

The Northcoast smells like bruised apple, a little phenolic, sweet. I love the dark copper color. This cider has only very light carbination; the sparkle is barely there and presumably entirely natural. Immediately, I notice tongue-drying tannins, but this cider is not sour. It has very low acid. It tastes sweet, warm, tannic, astringent, a little phenolic, a little acetificed. There's a very small hint of sweaty olive in the phenols I noticed, but not much and not bad. This is how I imagine English craft cider tastes. I especially like the long minerally finish. 4.5% ABV There's quite a big different between sips and quaffs: sips are a distinct, puckering and relaxing with its thornier characteristics, and a big drink brings out the apples more, especially in the aroma—whatever freshness and malic acid seems only available in this way. Not a clean fermentation. Complex while still quite sweet.  Unlike any American cider we've had. Allegedly aged in bourbon barrels, according to the wine store gent, but I can't taste it or smell it.

Healey's Cider Rattler Original http://thecornishcyderfarm.co.uk

I had this cider at a pub in Penzance with a seafood-oriented menu and I had it with whole makerel. I want to note that the Rattler was offered at more places than most other ciders I saw on this trip, and I've learned since that it is more an industrial offering. My tasting notes definitely reflect that. It tastes very sweet and bubbly, far more soda like than most English style ciders. It wasn't bad but goodness is it a sweet one that tastes more like a pear and apple carbonated juice than anything else.

Cornwall Cider Co. Lyonnesse http://cornwallciderco.co.uk

This cider had the best context of any of the entire trip because I found it at a little snack shop about three quarters of the way through one of our first full hiking days. I'd been expecting a nice little afternoon pick me up in the *cough cough* hot english sun of ice cream, but I was able to choose between 4 different ciders instead! The Lyonesse has great deep burnished copper color, and very French-cider-esque aroma with sweetness and darkness. It smells a little soft, like cooked apricots and stones. I was thrilled to find that this cider is indeed a semi-dry! I'm afraid many of the semi-dry ciders I taste on both sides of the Atlantic are more sweet than dry. This one is a little acetic. The bubbles clearly come from force carbonation; the Lyonesse has a higher level of carbonation than most UK ciders. It tastes best to me in larger drinks. I am just endlessly impressed with its bright, high-acid, medium high tannins; this cider is really balanced. It's full mouthfeel is almost oaty while being fruit-oriented and so drinkable. Extremely well balanced with rich mouthfeel. Nice rounded extended finish with hay and tropical fruit notes. The Lyonesse is definitely the best drink of my vacation to that point.

Shane's Cider from the Seven Stars in Penzance (no official website)

I had Shane's Cider at the Seven Stars in Penzance. This is one pub that is decidedly NOT run by regional chain St. Austell. The Seven Stars pub plays a fascinating range of music: the Cult, Giorgio Moroder, Village People, and Christina Aguillera. The decor is similarly eclectic and campy but more homey. Now for the cider. It's colour is light polished brass but distinctly hazy. It is served cold and bubbly with a big head that dissipates quickly. It smells dusty, cheesy, yeasty and subtly perfumed. The first flavors I get are so interesting: bright, pear and peppercorn, zesty green apples. Med to high levels of sparkle, tastes only mildly alcoholic, offers medium tannins, semi-dry, and medium high acid. Overall, the cider strikes me as mild, well balanced, with quick finish a little enjoyable bitterness. I spoke with Shane about his creation and here's what he told me. The apple blend varies on season. It is fermented in oak vats. Shane mixes in something special that he won't reveal! Curious! The ABV is unknown. I really enjoyed this one and stopping in at the Seven Stars was awesome.

Norcott's Cider Original http://www.norcottscider.co.uk

In terms of aromas, this cider offers up yeasty, soft scents with a few sharp notes that strike me as clean, like aftershave, with spice and menthol. The cider is sweet with high acid and medium tannin levels. It reminds me of some French ciders, especially with the honey flavors. One neat note of funk on first impact keeps it from being pedestrian. I do enjoy its clean bright flavor though it could be more distinctive. The Carbonation consists of many small bubbles that are not too intense. The bigger the sip, the faster it all disappears. Take small sips to maximize the funk and interest, since the big sips go so fast. Balanced-ish, but one notch sweeter than is strictly necessary. The ABV is 4.5%. We enjoyed this one with wood-fired pizza.

Thatcher's Gold Draught Cider http://www.thatcherscider.co.uk

On at least one night of vacation in the UK, I have to have fish and chips. This was my cider for fish and chips night because I expected a crisp and bubbly easy drinking semi-sweet cider from Thatchers.  And my expectations weren't far off. The cider smells to me like a dry well powdery, minerally, stones. It smells very little like apple. In terms of taste, the Thatcher's Gold was indeed semi-sweet with a creamy mouthfeel. Comparatively, it isn't very tannic. It reminds me of spicy warm applesauce. Big sips are more like applesauce. Tannins become more apparent if you chew it a bit. I'm also noticing lots of notes of orange juice with a slight malt aftertaste. Not bad with fish and chips but not the most interesting either.

Symond's Founders' Reserve: http://symondscider.co.uk

When I sniff this cider, I smell yeast and mild tannins along with understated fresh apples. The flavors when I taste it are more varied: underripe strawberries, red bell peppers, and nuttiness. The Founders' Reserve offers high levels of acidity and tannins in a very balanced and pleasant way. This cider definitely strikes me as off-dry. Like most of the ciders I've tried on this trip the level of sparkle is gentle and medium to low. This one was a big hit with everyone at the table! It paired well with fish pie, Sunday roast, and pasta with brandy cream sauce.
  
My ciders were varied, but largely tasty. I enjoyed checking out what is easily available when walking the Southwest Coast Path in Cornwall. I wish I could have had car access to visit orchards and cideries, but that will have to wait for another trip. Keep your eyes peeled for my last England post about my trip to the Euston Cider Tap in London. Cheers!