I hope everyone reading this is healthy, doing what they can to stay that way and keeping others healthy too. If you’re stuck at home, working way too many hours at an essential job, unmoored in a land with no time and only pajamas, or attempting to just keep your own livelihood afloat, you are not alone. I want to offer what support I can from a safe distance, so stay tuned for some extra fun cider content and activities coming soon. But for today, two reviews from cideries I’ve never reviewed before!
I want to start Bauman’s Cider. I was lucky enough to receive a review sample in the mail recently. And let me say, getting cider samples has only increased in excitement in these days of staying at home.
Bauman’s Century Farm Cider was founded by Christine Walter who combines her science expertise with her farm familiar upbringing to make the best cider she can. The cidery’s name hearkens back to the homesteading days of the 1890s when the Oregon farm was founded.The orchard is part of a now 5th generation family farm.There are many mentions of the farm’s first cider maker Christine’s great-grandpa Stephen, but the brand speaks clearly about both appreciating tradition and looking forward for the possibilities of progress.
Visit the cidery homepage to learn more. https://www.baumanscider.com/
The cider I want to share first is the small batch Mountain Rose.
Here’s Bauman’s official description.
Mountain Rose apples have a delicate red flesh, that glows the perfect blush hue when fermented. They have lots of acid and aromatics. We fermented just these apples, with a white wine yeast to puckeringly dry, then aged in French Riesling barrels for a month. This blush cider is dry, but with lots of mouth feel from the time in oak. 6.9%aBV.
Appearance: flamingo pink, bubbly and brilliant
This cider’s pink hue reminds me of flamingos. The Mountain Rose is brilliant and shows off some fun bubble action in the glass. (Apologies for the fuzzy picture!)
Aromas: Grape, ripe apple, red currants
The Mountain Rose smells like newly washed graped, red currants, and ripe apples. There’s the barest whisper of volatile acidity, but only enough to perk up the anticipation of tartness.
Sweetness/Dryness: Semi-dry
The Mountain Rose manages to create a lovely and lofty balance as a semi-dry cider. What sweetness is present is that of berries and fruit.
Flavors and drinking experience: high acidity, berries, citrus and zest
It's true that color can change our perception of flavor, but whatever is working on my brain and palate, I can taste berries, citrus and apple in this cider. The Mountain Rose does bring the super high acidity that I expected after its aromas. The acidity plus the light semi-dryness makes for a light bodied and very zippy cider. It’s not without tannins though!
This fruity, berry forward cider just keeps pleasing me with its bubbles, balance, and beauty. We paired this with a sauteed grouper, potato pancakes, and asparagus. The cider was a mouth-watering accompaniment for this light and springy meal. I loved it.
And my next cider is one I got from Press then Press. I’ve been wanting more access to west coast ciders (an ongoing issue for me). I emailed Chris at the company, let him know my general profile preferences, and he created a custom case for me. It was a great experience!
Learn about all the ciders and your purchase options here: https://pressthenpress.com/
Here’s a video of me unboxing my order: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWmCO89Gltk&fbclid=IwAR2aOjOBTlUzkU7GUaZEgGekeXInEpick6NuaNBousqAs_5DByNEzz3f6vk
My first cider from that box is Wheel Line Cider’s Mainline! This cidery is a family business and orchard in Washington State. I appreciate how much I read about fruit and apple varieties when I peruse the website. Apples make cider, and it matters what apples people use for their blends.
https://www.wheellinecider.com/
Here’s how the cidery describes the Mainline.
This cider features the Harry Masters Jersey apple that has been partially aged in white oak barrels, with partial spontaneous ferment and then blended together creating a unique smell and flavor profile. The aroma has hints of toffee, caramel and vanilla, with a tasty tart, crisp green apple flavor that will leave you pallet craving more! ABV: 7%.
Once I had the honor of knowing a cat named after the Harry Masters Jersey apple, so I have a particular fondness for seeing that apple in cider.
Appearance: deep saffron color, hazy, some bubbles
This cider reminds me so much of some french and english style ciders based on its appearance. The color is warm and deep like threads of saffron. It’s just a bit hazy with some visible bubbles.
Aromas: fruity, white grapes, pears, mild oxidation
Wow! I am totally impressed with how fruity and juicy this cider smells. The Mainline is just brimming over with notes of pear and white grape. The aromas are very juicy and just a little oxidized. It smells like the tiniest drizzle of hot caramel over a dessert of fresh fruit.
Dryness/sweetness: Semi-dry
This shocked me, because I expected a sweeter cider based on those aromas. While the Mainline isn’t fully dry, it’s close.
Flavors and drinking experience: funk, minerals, acidity, stone fruit
The Mainline cider is much funkier, drier, and higher acid than I expected from those aromas. I was really thinking I’d get a fruit salad in a glass, but this is more like minerals, fusel oils, and farmy funk. This cider will wake you up!
I appreciate intense minerality and acid, so I’m super happy with this surprise. Fans of funky, super tart ciders should take notice. My initial notes for acidity were, “Yowsers, ear curling acid!.”
The cider isn’t strongly sparkling, I’d describe it as more mildly petillant.
The Mainline does bring some fruit to the drinking experience. My co-taster noticed and remarked upon a note of under ripe nectarines on the finish. Since those are his favorite fruit, consider this high and specific praise. We enjoyed this cider with our last frozen flatbread pizza dressed up with yellow bell pepper and extra Parmesan. It was a strong pairing, but I get the feeling that the Mainline could lighten much heavier foods with ease. I think I’d choose to put it with a baked macaroni next time!
Stay safe folks and break out the good stuff!
The most common complaint I hear from casual cider drinkers is that there is not a good option for picking up a six pack of dry cider in most grocery stores. I cannot count the number of times I've heard a variation of this comment. I've been suggesting cidermakers fill in this market gap for almost as long as I've had this blog. Several brands have released ciders that approach this idea, but none have yet met the mark. Angry Orchard is the latest attempt, and I'm curious to see what they are offering as a dry six-pack cider.
We're all familiar with the Angry Orchard brand; they sell more cider in the United States than any other. Angry Orchard appears everywhere, so if they could make a dry six pack cider, it would be big news. And with a name like Stone Dry, it sounds like they are trying.
I'll share a link to Angry Orchard's website, so readers can find out about Angry Orchard ciders and their process as well as swag and recipes.
http://angryorchard.com/
Here's a chronological list of my previous Angry Orchard reviews:
My first Angry Orchard review tasted the Elderflower Cider: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/cider-review-angry-orchards-elderflower.html
Roundup review of multiple Angry Orchard styles, including Strawman, Traditional Dry, and The Muse: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/05/roundup-of-angry-orchard-reviews.html
Then I tried the Hop'N'Mad Apple: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/03/cider-review-angry-orchards-hopn-mad.html
Most recently, I reviewed their Summer Honey: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/08/cider-reivew-angry-orchard-summer-honey.html
That makes this review the seventh Angry Orchard cider I'm sharing here. Today's variety won't surprise anyone who has been watching the newest cider releases; Angry Orchard's Stone Dry debuted most recently as an addition to Angry Orchard's cider lineup.
I got my two bottles of Angry Orchard Stone Dry as a review sample from Angry Orchard. So, thanks guys! They also sent a helpful fact sheet and a note from the new head of Research and Development, Ryan Burk. I'll include as much information as I can to best frame my review.
Here's the official promotional copy describing this cider: "Angry Orchard Stone Dry – the driest cider in Angry Orchard’s core
collection – is our twist on traditional English dry ciders. This cider
balances the acidity of culinary apples with the tannins of traditional
cider making apples, for a cider that is clean, refreshing, and slightly
puckering on the finish."
That reads similarly to the fuller description included in my fact sheet, but they aren't identical.
Angry Orchard Stone Dry-- the driest cider in Angry Orchard's core collection -- is an American interpretation of the traditional English dry cider style. It offers bright apple aroma, juicy flavor, and a clean dry finish, showcasing an intricate balance between the sweetness and acidity of culinary apples and the tannins of traditional cider making apples. The traditional apples chosen by the cider makers are European bittersweet varieties like Dabinett, Binet Rouge and Harry Masters Jersey, which contribute to the cider's high tannic character and dry finish. The result is a refreshing, slightly puckering cider with drying finish, most often felt on the middle of your tongue and the front part of your mouth.
While most of the juice from apples in the cider is fermented, Angry Orchard's cider maker add a bit of non-fermented bittersweet apple juice into the cider during the post fermentation stage to help achieve this cider's balanced, dry taste. This results in Stone Dry's fuller tannic mouthfeel as well as percieved dryness and robust bittersweet aromatic notes -- much like a very ripe apple.
the last few facts I need to include are that the cider has 5.5% ABV, and this will be offered year round, both in six packs and on draft.
Appearance: maple syrup color, ring of bubbles around the top of the glass, clear and uncloudy
Though this color would not strike one as particularly dark for maple syrup, it looks impressively dark for a cider, especially an American cider. I also noticed a persistant bubble ring around the top of my glass. Again, not a usual cider characteristic.
Aromas: yeast, beer-like, fruity with notes of grapes and apples
The first thing I noticed about how this cider smells, is how very beer-like the aromas are. I smell more yeast than fruit. It smells pleasantly cleanly bready. This isn't to say that there aren't fruit notes too. I smell plum, apple and grape in this cider too.
Sweetness/dryness: Off dry
While this isn't strictly dry, it is certainly off dry. That's my second to driest category as I perceive levels of dryness and sweetness. This also has characteristics that will most likely influence folks to think that this cider is completely dry. I'll get into those later.
Flavors and drinking experience: medium tannins, nice acidity, bold first note and mild finish
This cider at first tastes bitter yet then gets distinctly fruity. It tastes dusty, stony, crisp and acidic. This has to be the best Angry Orchard cider I've ever had, hands down. I'm that impressed! I liked some elements of their Elderflower and the Strawman previously, but this is more balanced and enjoyable. Stone Dry offers up a pleasantly fiesty level of fizz. As promised there is some presence of tannins, but they aren't dominant in the experience. And some acidity. And these are the reasons, I think many drinkers will find this cider dry. It offers tannins, bubbles, and acidity without scads of sugar. This will be familiar to most fans of American craft cider, but not necessary to those who haven't found much in the way of tannins or dryness before.
For a distinctly not-beer person, I love the ways in which this cider
reminds me of the best parts of beer. I like the yeasty aromas and first bitter edge. But I know a beer aficionado would
differ from my opinion, but perhaps like this cider more than other grocery store ciders.
Suggested pairings from the fact sheet include root vegetables, seafood, and charcuterie, but my recommendations will be a bit more everyday. This is a sandwich cider because it is so well balanced. Have it with your hummus and red pepper and sprout wrap if you like, egg and tomato on a croissant, or a veggie burger or even a pile of marinated mushroom with melted provolone on a baguette.
I mean to show flexibility when I say have this with a sandwich. Beautiful sandwiches come in many forms and flavors, and this cider could accompany many of them! I would also pair this cider with game nights, all the better to share with your friend who haven't had a cider like this before.
