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!

Cider Review: Farnum Hill Extra Dry and my experience thus far with Protocol Wine Studio

As summer has turned from balmy to doggedly hot, I've been grateful to have a cool evening activity to look forward to once a week. I've been participating in the Protocol Wine Studio (http://protocolwinestudio.com)August conversation on cider. Every Tuesday evening, several folks from the curious to the extremely knowledgeable chat about cider using the hashtag #winestudio.

The neatest part for me is that this whole month of August is not only cider themed but further focused on Farnum Hill Cider. When I agreed to participate, I was sent a box of four of Farnum Hill's Ciders, two of which we cracked open last week. The remaining two will likely have to wait until the last night, August 25th. The actual name of the event series is:

 Drop that Axe! Cider Then, Now and Future –
A Cider Comprehensive with Farnum Hill Ciders

You can read more about the ongoing event here: http://protocolwinestudio.com/event/winestudio-online-session-xxvii-farnum-hill-ciders-new-hampshire/

We talked so far about terroir, cider apples, minimal use of sugar , bold embrace of high tannin, high acid, super dry, slightly funky ciders and many many larger questions about the current world of cider. I'm really enjoying it. Please join in the conversation and check out what's going on with the hashtag #winestudio this Tuesday and next Tuesday at 9pm EDT.

Beyond wanting to share the cider conversation on Twitter, I wanted to share my more in-depth review of the 2013 Crop Extra Dry Cider.

As always you can go visit Farnum Hill's website and learn about their farm, their history and their ciders here:

http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/farnum-hill-ciders/

As far as my own history with Farnum Hill, I've enjoyed their ciders since 2002 and reviewed a few of them.

Here's the Farmhouse:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/08/cider-review-farnum-hill-farmhouse-cider.html

And the Summer Cider:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/09/cider-review-farnum-hill-summer-cider.html

And they frequently make my 10 Favorite Ciders list for any given year:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-10-favorite-ciders-of-2013.html

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

 
 Here's the description that I received along with my sample bottle (it's different from what appears on the website):

Unlike wine language, our "extra dry" means this cider contains zero sugar,  residual or returned. But it sports mad fruit from citrus to mango, a real example of the different between 'fruit' and 'sweetness.' Many apple varieties combine in this blend, principally Dabinett, Yarlington Mill, Chisel Jersey, Harry Masters' Jersey, Wickson, and Golden Russet.

I love this description. It gives me apple names, sweetness/dryness level, and some expectation of what to look out for in terms of flavor. And it isn't over inflated. Perfect. 

There were some great aroma and flavor notes noticed by different folks. I'm definitely going to benefit from tasting in a group of several folks rather than my usual experience of tasting mostly by myself.

Appearance: deep butterscotch gold

Everyone noticed how rich a color this cider has. Most ciders look much paler in the glass. When asked, Farnum Hill's cider blender Nicole Leibon, attributed the color to oxidation of the fruit. Interesting! 

Aromas: Spice, orange peel, summer flowers

Different folks noticed a huge range of aromas everything from sweet floral aromas, to baking spice, other variations on spiciness, lemon, citrus, other fruits including both stone and tropical fruit.


Sweetness/dryness: Dry

We agreed on the dryness of the cider but it came across differently to different drinkers.

Flavors and drinking experience: bottle conditioned, slightly funky, high acid, high tannin

Aside from those broader descriptions all manner of more specific notes stuck out to diffent people. Lot of fruits were noticed, mostly citrus. I tastes lots of orange and orange peel. For me, what stood out the most (and in a very positive way) was the balance of both high acid and high tannins.  For folks perhaps more surprised by cider's funky side, people noted cheese, leather, butter, mushrooms, yoghurt and earthy flavors. I can taste them, but they don't stand out to me. I find the Extra Dry beautifully balanced.

We also talked about mouthfeel. You have to when a cider does mouthfeel this perfectly. Seriously. The cider is taut, sharp, but also velvety and rich. I'd call all of that relevant to the high acid plus high tannin factor. We also discussed the bubbles and bottle conditioning of this cider. What was interesing to me were the more abstract words that came up like intense or focused.

I had my ciders with an heirloom tomato pie with a cheese crust followed up by a dark chocolate bar. Both pairings worked with not only this cider but also Farnum Hill's Farmhouse cider. 

Needless to say, I love this cider. I also really enjoyed talking about it with a wide variety of other interested folks. Please join us next week and learn more about cider and Farnum Hill!