Cider Review: Peak Light Cider's Farm School

All I want is flowers. It's ridiculous. This craving feels like it belongs to springtime and just wandered into my brain by mistake. Nonetheless, what brings me joy right now is Cosmos, Zinnia, Spider Plant, Mums, Coneflowers, Mayweed, and Sunflowers.  Please just stick me in a garden with a plate of cheese and a cider; I’ll come back in a few weeks, I promise. 

For right now I want to share Peak Light Cider’s Farm School. I got to sip this cider with friends and brunch on the screen porch. What a lovely way to enjoy a cider.

Peak Light Cider comes to us from Sauvie Island in Oregon. The farm is biodynamic and organic. The cidery was founded by Jen and Travis Lovejoy. Here’s how Peak Light Cider introduces the cidery.

This isn’t just cider. This is a farm to bottle experience of organically grown apples hand-picked at peak ripeness. Where honeybees dance and gatherings are queen. Where days are spent outdoors, dirtying hands, laughing, swapping stories, and staying for supper. Because community is more than who you know, what we drink matters, and every glass feels like coming home.

Peak Light Cider has only had one previous review. I checked out the Field Run: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2021/04/cider-review-peak-light-ciders-field.html

I recommend visiting Peak Light Cider’s website to learn more about the cider and its offerings: https://peaklightcider.com/

Here’s the cider’s official description.

This cider is a creation of collaboration and partnership with Wombat Flats Farm on Kiger Island, Oregon. This limited release cider from the 2020 harvest blends traditional bittersweet and bittersharp apples, including Yarlington Mill, Brown Snout, Muscadet de Dieppe, Vilberie, and Porter’s Perfection. Aromas of molasses and tilled loam soil with notes of chestnut and buckwheat honey. This bitter cider pairs well with radicchio salad and fresh baked bread with herbed butter.

It honors an Autumn of social distancing from broader communities, while coliving with dear friends, homeschooling and working together on the family farm. How bittersweet it is! Enjoy. Preferably with friends or family and some afterglow.

Appearance: warm apricot, brilliant, bubbly

Farm School poured with a bit of mousse all the way through the bottle. There’s that much bubble to see! The color reminds me of mango, tea, or apricot with a medium intensity and a gentle warmth. The cider’s clarity is brilliant.

Aromas: Overripe mushy apple, caramel, spice. 

The farm school smells like fall to me. The predominant note is overripe soft apples. Secondarily I get hints of caramel that make me think of barrels and just a hint of oxidation. There’s also a little baking spice in the grace notes.

Dryness/Sweetness: Dry

This is a dry cider. If you want a great example of a cider that will help you differentiate between acidity and tannins, this is super clear example. Read on for more.

Flavors and drinking experience: very tannic, medium acidity, barrel quality, boozy

 

I love how the Farm School tastes. This is a mature cider that’s at ease with its dry, very tannic profile. It has medium acidity to my palate, but I’d be curious what folks who primarily drink west coast ciders would say. There are still caramel notes like were present in the aroma, but they rise and swell without sweetness. The cider’s fruity appley mid-palate folds into a slightly boozy barrelly finish. There’s just a bit of funk, but not much.

Overall the Farm school is a cider with big full flavors but with a gentle smooth transition through every moment of the tasting experience. It was a wonderful pairing with coconut spice muffins, late summer vegetable frittata, and vegetarian chorizo. What a treat!

Cider Review: Peak Light Cider's Field Run Semi-Dry Cider

As much as I want to say that I’ve arrived at the wonderful and carefree afterparty that I hope comes next in our collective social melodrama, I can’t. It’s been a rough couple of weeks(on top of the rough 13 months), and I know that’s been true for many many friends near and far. Take good care of yourself and those you love. Good luck. And until we can party in the streets with joy and safety, we can still try wonderful new ciders at home.

This week I want to share my notes on Peak Light Cider's Field Run Semi-Dry Cider. This is another cider that I received through joining the Northwest Cider Club. I highly recommend this for folks like me who don’t have easy access to lots of Northwest ciders or folks who just appreciate all of the curating work that goes into these selections. 

Learn more about club options here: https://www.nwcider.com/member-benefits/nw-cider-club/.

You can visit Peak Light Cider online to learn more about the company and its ciders: https://peaklightcider.com/

Here’s a bit of how Peak Light describes the cider process.

We adhere to principles of organic and biodynamic farming. Our practices support natural ecosystems that maximize biodiversity in the orchard—drawing beneficial insects, snakes, tree frogs, and nesting songbirds. Our flock of chickens “cleans” the orchard floor eating harmful pests during dormant winter months and provides valuable natural fertilizer to the trees.

The Peak Light cider included in my club selection is the Field Run Semi Dry, and here’s its official description.

ABV 6.5%     RS 1.4%     TA 0.5%     PH 3.8

Our field run semi-dry cider blends mid-season maturing apples. Residual sugars are left behind, lending a subtle sweetness that draws out this cider’s aromatic qualities. Lightly floral with notes of baked apple, sweet grass, and Meyer lemon. Enjoy on its own or with soft cheeses, crudités, and summer salads.

Appearance: intense popcorn gold, few visible bubbles, brilliant

The Field Run has gorgeous brilliant clarity! What a pretty cider. The color is intense. It reminds me of the gold in unpopped popcorn kernels. 

Aromas: tomatoes, cinnamon, white wine, and acetic acid

This is where things start to get really different. I was surprised to find the most recognizable aroma to be tomatoes, followed by cinnamon, and white wine. In the background I could smell a mineraly sort of aroma and some acetic acid. This makes me expect something wild, tangy, and savory.

Sweetness/dryness: Semi-dry

As promised, Peak Light’s Field Fun is semi-dry. I get enough sweetness to open up the layers of flavor but not a lot more. It's a nice approachable level.

Flavors and drinking experience: minerals, pear, cucumber, tannins

I love finding ciders that surprise me. The Field Run does exactly that with a very different flavor profile. As soon as I sip the cider, I can taste medium acidity, but it dissipates quickly on the mid-palate. What remains longer is an austere minerality and some pleasing subtle notes.

Once the acidity fades, I can sense some tannins on the mid palate. Flavors include cucumber, pear, paw paw, and apple. The cider’s sparkle is a medium petillance rather than something more effusively bubbly. The finish is quick and delicate, almost elusive. 

We had this cider with a simple seasonal meal: a frittata with spring potatoes, onion, and flaked salmon with a green salad. I think many light dishes would work well here. The Field Run could be served with many different cheeses or even a dessert course cider with pastries and fruit.