Last post before the 4th of July! I hope you have you plans made for how to celebrate the most picnic, cookout, fun, food, and firework's holiday in America's calendar year. I hope you've thought about how you'll #pickcider as part of this awesome occasion. Here's one last review of a new release seasonal cider that's just tailor made for summer parties.
One of the coolest things about Nine Pin is their amazing range of specialty and seasonal ciders. Looking at the website just now, I counted 17 available ciders. That's impressive, and even more so once I tasted several of these and found out how good they are.
You can read the whole list and find out much more here at their site:
http://www.ninepincider.com
I couldn't finish up my series of #PickCider reviews without Nine Pin Ciderworks' summer seaonsal release: Peach Tea. They were kind enough to share some samples with me just in time!
Here are my previous reviews of Nine Pin Ciders:
I first reviewed their Signature Blend: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/04/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-works-nine.html
Ginger: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/10/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-works-ginger.html
Blueberry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/08/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-blueberry.html
Though not a review, Nine Pine Ciderworks is part of my cider event calendar every winter, and this is the writeup when they launched the annual Gathering of the Farm Cideries, which is an amazing event every year in Albany: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/02/my-cider-event-calendar-cider-and-beer.html
Official description:
Peach Tea is Nine Pin’s take on a classic summer drink. This cider, crafted from a farmhouse blend of New York apples from Kinderhook, N.Y.-based Samascott Orchards, is cold-infused with a custom peach tea blend from Short and Stout. The infusion of these ingredients creates a bright, refreshingly tart, and delicious peach cider. Peach Tea pairs well with sunsets and warm summer nights.
I got some amazing pairing recommendations from Alejandro for this cider including tire swings and puppies. It was charming, and I'm curious to see if I'll agree. The ABV is a middle of the road 6.2%.
Appearance: transparent, very few visible bubbles, warm apricot color
One of my co-tasters said that the cider's appearance reminded her of the warm orange tones of peaches, and I think that's completely fair. I found it reminiscent of dried apricots.
Aromas: Peach! More peach!
This smells completely like peaches and unfermented peach juice. I can envision the drips of peach juice running down my chin when I smell this. Its almost mind boggling.
Sweetness/dryness: Sweet
This is a sweet and juicy cider.
Flavors and drinking experience: peach, hints of tea, bit of creaminess
Rather like the aromas, I was surprised by how very juicy the Peach Tea is! The cider tastes a tiny bit creamy as well. To be more specific, its a sweet sort of juicy- not very tea like, to me One out of three tasters, one could pick it up clearly, and guided the rest of us to noticing a bit of tea. Maybe the tannins mid palate were from the tea, but I found my impresions of tea growing as the taste matured. It comes out mostly on the finish - as a sustained note.
Something else, we all noticed about the Peach Tea cider is that the drinking exeperience is light and not very boozy to the tastebuds. Somehow the balance sweet and fruity with high acid stayed very friendly. The cider is easy drinking and not punishing or sharp at any moment of the taste journey. Maybe it is as cider for warm nights and cuddling puppies.
For us it was an evening on the porch with chevre and strawberry short cake and good conversation. There are endless ways to #pickcider but it is always best with good company.
I know that summer is on its way out: grass has gone to seed, spiders are going web-crazy, and insects will my mellow evening with songs. Or, more realistically, because all of the college students have come back. This is nature's reminder for me to drink fruity summery ciders while I can. These go so well with hanging out on my screen porch and eating all of the summer vegetables.
Hence, Nine Pin Ciderworks Blueberry. Which I feel super excited about right now while blueberries are actually in season in upstate New York.
You can read all about Nine Pin Ciderworks in Albany, New York on their Facebook page. If you live in the area, I'd especially recommend checking it out because Ninepin keeps a busy social calendar and their events are super fun.
https://www.facebook.com/ninepincider
I've reviewed a few Nine Pin Ciderworks Ciders before.
My first taste of Nine Pin Cider, the Signature Blend:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/04/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-works-nine.html
Here's my review of their very tasty Ginger:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/10/cider-review-nine-pin-cider-works-ginger.html
But today is all about Nine Pin Ciderworks Blueberry!
Here's how Ninepin introduces it, "This is a blend of apples co-fermented with blueberries from Indian Ladder Farms. It has a dry, complex, and integrated flavor and is rose in color" This cider comes in with a nice round 6.0% ABV.
Appearance: brilliant, bubbly, blush
What a fun color! This cider looks a blushing pink or even delicately lilac. It's brilliant such that we have no trouble seeing hundreds of very active bubbles in the glass.
Aromas: Very little aroma, dust and mineral, no apple
Even when poured into one of my mini-widemouth jars, I don't get a lot of scent from this cider. What I do smell reminds me of earth and dust and wet limestone more than fruit. Hrm. Interesting. Perhaps this will fall more to the tart and dry side of the spectrum.
Sweetness to Dryness: Semi-Sweet
Nope, I wasn't getting all in the smell that comes across in the drink. This is a very melded fruity sweetness and decidedly a semi-sweet.
Flavors and drinking experience: tart, green apples, blueberry, clean
I can taste just the tiniest bitterness but tons of tart malic and citric
acid. It creates a very pleasant salivary reaction. Rather like very tart and nearly sour green grapes.
I'm loving the strong carbonation, which is predictable for me. Love those bubbles. In this semi-sweet cider, the blueberry fully melds with apple. I can totally see the co-fermentation described in Ninepin's description. Even if I hadn't read it, I would have guessed that the blueberries were added
early in fermentation. Not a long or complex finish but brilliantly clean from start through finish.
I had this cider with homemade fisherman's pie and the pairing was incredible! Of course this acidity of this cider goes with a rich pie crust, creamy liquid, tender fish, and piles of vegetables. I'll also recommend this as cider in sips.
Big gulps don't show off its best characteristics.
Ninepin Cider makes a number of limited runs with different styles and additions, and I consistently enjoy them. So, if you like cider adventures, check out these seasonals!
