Cider Review Virtue Cider's Percheron

I'm writing about a Virtue cider today for two reasons. First, my dad brought some Percheron to share with me when he visited this past weekend. And second, AB InBev came back for a second round of purchasing and bought up the rest of Virtue. I have no idea how this will change the company, or anything about the company's inner working. But did I want to write about bottle that was recently in front of me before much could change or change again.

Here's Brew Bound's take on the story:

https://www.brewbound.com/news/anheuser-busch-inbev-buys-remaining-stake-virtue-cider-shuffles-high-end-team

For those who don't know, Virtue Cider was started in 2011 by Greg Hall. This cidery is based out of Fennville, Michigan. They use a lot of international inspiration for their ciders and aren't afraid of a little funk. My main connection was having my first cheese and cider pairing class from Greg Hall in 2013 at Murray's Cheese in New York City. I'll remember that evening with fondness for a long time to come. 

I wrote it up back in the early days of the blog: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/06/pairing-ciders-and-cheeses-inspiring.html

Read more about Virtue: http://www.virtuecider.com/ 

My previous review of Virtue ciders include the Mitten: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2014/05/cider-review-virtue-ciders-mitten-and.html

And the Ledbury appears in this 2015 cider roundup: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2015/02/cider-review-roundup-virtue-slyboro.html

Official description: This Norman-style blend of last season's high-acid Michigan apples is aged in French oak and refermented with wild yeast. We finish Percheron with fresh pressed apple juice for a touch of sweetness. ABV 5.5%

The official description also includes a section on tasting notes and pairings. They say, “Percheron has notes of vanilla and a wonderful aroma of apple blossom with a hint of orange. It is gentle, tart cider with a tannic finish. Food Pairing: Percheraon is best enjoyed with a stinky French cheese like Livarot, or with roast pork, wild boar, or a hearty beef stew.”

Appearance: Brilliant, no visible bubbles, cool gold color

Apologies for no in the glass photographs. I was pinned to the couch with a sleeping cat on my lap. It happens. The cider was lovely though, brilliant and an icy gold.

Aromas: dried fruit, leather, raisins, overripe apples

I know the Percheron's style is inspired by french ciders but to me these smells connote English ciders. Notes are leathery, dried tropical fruits and raisins, all as an overlay to overripe apples. The scents include something a little floral and a little spicy.

Sweetness/dryness: Off dry

This cider has a hint of sweetness, but it doesn't dominate the flavors. Instead the level of dryness/sweetness is approachable and pleasant. The sweetness I do get is subtly fruity and caramel tinged.

Flavors and drinking experience: high acid, medium high tannins, tea, barn, melon

The french oak barrel aging gently steers the flavors of the Percheron. The definites are high acid, medium high tannins, with a low intensity of bubble. To be fair, my bottle is a bit on the elder side and maybe the effervescence has partially aged out. The wild yeast brings with it a little funk, but it remains in balance with the other characteristics of the beverage.

My overall impression is like a combination of traditional English, French and Heritage North American styles. I enjoy how the Percheron remains just off-dry (with some sweetness) and glimmers with notes of tea, salt, barn wood, melon and mandarin orange. This cider is mellow, complex and refreshing—quite pleasant.

Who knows what the future will bring. It can be sentiment of trepidation, but I prefer to think of it as an encouragement to enjoy what we can of the present. 

Cider Review: Shacksbury Classic

Autumn is well and truly here, even Halloween has recently come and gone. With the cold nights, my cider cravings tend toward darker and richer flavors. So, I'll be hunting around my cider stores for the beverages that might fit such a desire in the coming weeks and months. This is how I ended up choosing the Shacksbury Original for today's review.

During my trip to Vermont this summer, I had the pleasure of wandering around Windfall Orchard with David Dolginow of Shacksbury Ciders. You can take a look here:

http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-great-vermont-cider-tour-day-3.html

As far as learning about Shacksbury from the website, I think the most direct way is to let these folks describe themselves.

Far from ordinary, apples are the most diverse food plant on earth. Unfortunately, only a handful of varieties are cultivated at scale in America, and all of those are designed for eating, not cider making. 

At Shacksbury, we believe cider can, and should, be daring and complex. From gnarled trees on New England farmsteads to Old World orchards in England and Spain, our cider will change the way you think about this amazing fruit.

Find out more at the website: http://www.shacksbury.com

Let me just take a moment to appreciate the crisp and lovely photography on the website. It takes time and effort to share high quality photos like these, but what a difference it makes!

This official description is presented on the website as a series of bullet points. 

2014 CLASSIC
Bold, earthy, lightly sparkling, and dry
The best pizza cider, ever
Apple varieties - Browns, Ellis Bitter, Dabinett, Michelin, Jonagold, McIntosh, Empire, Spartan, and Somerset Redstreak
Apples grown by Sunrise Orchards in Cornwall, Vermont and Dragon Orchards in Herefordshire, England
Slow, partial native yeast fermentation in stainless steel and aged for 9-12 months
500ML, 6.0% ABV
Produced and bottled by Shacksbury Cider in Shoreham, Vermont

Based on what I'm reading about the Shacksbury Classic, I expect high tannins, plenty of aroma, good body, and possibly bits of funkiness. The anticipation is real.

Appearance:brilliant, harvest moon, lots of bubbles

This certainly looks more like an English cider in color compared to most of what I see in my glass. This color looks just like a harvest moon low in the sky. The picture reveals a totally brilliant cider with loads of visible bubbles.

Aroma: overripe apples, golden raisins, petrol

Gracious goodness, this has all the richness in aroma I could have asked for. Primarily I smell golden raisins and delightful overripe apples. Secondarily I detect some sappy green freshness, citric acid, petrol, rubber, and steel (!) Totally complex.

Sweetness/dryness: Off dry

This was a little more difficult to parse than usual. Different folks tasting together disagreed on whether this was just off dry but with lots of fruit characteristic or if it was sweeter. The sweet folks argued that the sweet perception was blunted by acidity. I say off dry. If other folks have tried it and want to weigh in, please feel free!

Flavors and drinking experience:high acid, high tannin, UK influenced, mild to medium funk

This cider offers up LOADS of flavor; its very very good. My first surprise is how high acid and high tannin it is—like a high acid UK cider. I taste lots of fruit with the tiniest petrol funk, but really pleasant and understated. Some of the sharpness reminds me of Spanish ciders but none of the volatile acidity. There's plenty of both tropical fruit and lactic acid playing together. This cider has great rich mouthfeel with honey and leather aromas in the finish.

Overall the Shacksbury original is golden and rich. high tannin. It is off-dry, but really drinkers can perceive the sweetness. They really get glorious high tannins, lingering flavor, and depth.

I enjoyed this cider with a warm pecan apple crisp after trick or treaters took every bit of the candy at my house, but I'm sure you could pair it with a lot of other foods and experiences. Because it has so much of  both acid and tannin, I'd let it be the centerpiece and not choose a food that goes heavy on acidity. Let this tasty cider be the star!

Cider Review: Number 12 Cider House Sparkling Dry Cider

Summer officially begins here with the solstice, but summer feels like it has been here far longer. Upstate isn't known for dry rainless stretches and 90 degree days, but we have them. Orchardists, my thoughts are with you. Personally though, I've been curious about expanding my notions of the right ciders for warm weather. Since Number 12 Cider House from Buffalo, Minnesota sent me two bottles of their cider, I thought I'd try one with a porch picnic last week to see how that works.

The identity that I see in Number 12 Cider House is very oriented towards quality. The name comes from their twelfth formulation of their cider, from back in 2011. They kept experimenting in order to develop a cider they loved. I know that sounds obvious and perhaps even universal, but it isn't. Many brands present heritage or regional identity or apple growing rather than focusing on the taste and quality of their cider. I appreciate that companies share their own set of values and priorities, but I admit I get extra excited when the final fermented beverage takes center stage.

The charming website has more information here: http://www.number12ciderhouse.com/

Usually, I turn to hopped ciders for warm weather, but I chilled and served a bottle of Sparkling Dry Cider in hopes it would be refreshing for a picnic on my porch. Here's what Number 12 Cider House says about this cider.          

Number 12 Sparkling Dry is a truly dry, English style cider with a slightly tart finish. It has just the right amount of dry and tart, with an appley bouquet and a champagne-like sparkle. Sparkling Dry is blended with over 10 varieties of apples, picked and pressed and fermented to goodness. It is the culmination of 17 years of experimentation. And we're ready to share.

 This cider has an ABV of 7.4%. I'm curious to see what this Minnesota cider inspired by English ciders will actually taste like!

Appearance: brilliant, active visible bubbles, old gold

As the picture shows, this is a lovely cider with lots of active bubbles and fantastic brilliance. It looks like a champagne in a deep gold color. Very heartening.  It pours with a lacy mouse of bubbles and at the tale end of the bottle a good bit of cloudy sediment. 

Aromas: fermented fruit, caramel, yeast

The Sparking Dry smells fermented first and foremost. I can scent yeasty ripe apples and dust maturity. Everything about the smell points to mellowness, richness, and ripeness. The smell is appley but not like fresh fruit. I can also smell a bit of caramel. 

Dryness/sweetness: Decidedly dry.

Finally! They said dry and dry it is.

Flavors and drinking experience: citrus, sharp, rich, tannic

Wow! The first thing I notice about this cider is how it stimulates a salivary response. This cider has a lot going on. It is both high acidity and high tannincs. It tastes dark, and rich yet firm and sharp. The first hit of flavor is bitter, fruity and astringent at once. The acid lingers and creeps up tongue to salivary glands. I get a curling sensation below my ears! Wow! 

I just keep noticing the acidity plus tannins over and over. I love how the cider cuts through fatty food. In terms of mouthfeel, there's lots of sparkle, this cider is bottle conditioned for certain. I find it very wine like as well as being influenced by english cider making. There's just a little gentle funk, but not enough to scare anyone.  I like how this cider tastes spicy, with  a bit of black pepper flavor. In terms of fruit, I get lemon, quince, and crabapple. One of my tasting companions thought it tasted like a sharp and tart apple peel. Everyone found it *Very* good. 

For this porch picnic, we had cous cous with sun dried tomatoes, caramelized Vidalia onion, roasted red peppers and feta cheese. The cider worked well with this, as well as a veggie loaded green salad with avocado. Try your own pairings, but keep it simple so that this complex cider can get the attention it deserves.

Cider Review: Wandering Aengus Cider's Dry Oaked

So, it's time for a first but also a second for Along Came A Cider. This is the first time I've gone back and reviewed a second bottling of the same cider. In this case, I'm returning to Wandering Aengus' Dry Oaked Cider. This is a pleasure for me because I so enjoyed the 2011 Dry Oaked.

If  you want to compare the two, start with the previous review:  http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/11/cider-review-wandering-aengus-dry-oaked.html 

Or, for even more context, one of my very first cider reviews was of Wandering Aengus' Bloom:
http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2013/01/cider-review-wander-aengus-bloom.html

This is what the reverse of the Dry Oaked's bottle says about the cider, "Wandering Aengus Ciders are crafted from blends of traditional cider apple varietals renowned for their complexity.Oaked Dry is a blend of bittersweets and sharps that offer rich tannins and spicy aromas with a mild oak finish. This sophisticated dry cider pairs well with rich and aromatic foods: prosciutto, salami, or stinky cheeses. Orchards: Bittersweets: Newberg, Culver & Salem, Oregon Sharps: Hood River and Ashland, Oregon"

This vintage of Wandering Aengus Cider's Dry Oaked was Bottled June 2012 and hasan ABV of 8.0%  A bottling of this cider won a 2015 GLINTCAP gold in english style category. 

Appearance: clear, glowing embers, few visible bubbles

Wow, look at how dark this color is! It is the only cider I've seen that looks to me like glowing embers in winter hearth.

Aromas: Boozy, soft, and appley

This smells like wets apple skin, alcohol, and firewood. Even if I didn't know something of what was coming, these aromas would clue me into the tannins of this cider. It even smells the tiniest bit like iron.

Dryness/sweetness: DRY!

This dry is a true dry.It's more astringent and velvety than most ciders, and that makes me love it.

Flavors and drinking experience: oaky, dry, tannic, rich and complex

This tastes very oaked. I know fire keeps touching the sensory impressions I have of this cider, but somehow the oakiness seems like oaky charcoal in a pleasing and good way. Or at least the wood near the charcoal. It is both highly tannic and moderately acidic. This combination gets some serious salivary gland action.

But this cider isn't just sensation; the flavors build a complex yet unified whole. The initial oakiness graciously gives way to lighter flavors like lemongrass and green tea. In the background I get just a little bit of phenols and turpentine. 

Texturally, the cider gives mild carbonation. Its rich mouthfeel is distinctly not caramel but rather buttered toast. I love what a slow drinking thoughtful cider this is. Have the Wandering Aengus with blue cheese, fig, roasted onion, perhaps altogether on foccacia. 

This cider is perfect for a long discussion of anything enjoyable and just a little decadent.