Archive for category Cider
Vander Mill Cider Masala
Maker: Vander Mill, Spring Lake, Michigan, USA
Style: Spiced Cider
ABV: 6.8%
Appearance: Cloudy gold and effervescent.
Nose: Clove, ginger, star anise, crisp apple.
On the palate: Medium-bodied, slightly tart. Apple pie, sweet curry, ginger chutney.
Finish: Tart and spicy. The tartness tickles the cheeks for several minutes afterwards.
Parting words: If there’s a cider equivalent to B. Nektar meadery, Vander Mill is it. They release a number of one-off experimental bottlings like this one.
Cider Masala is a cider infused with Indian Masala spices. It’s an interesting sip, and as an experiment it works. I don’t see it becoming a go-to cider, but that’s not the point. Vander Mill Cider Masala is a recommended.
Vander Mill Hard Apple Cider
Maker: Vander Mill Cider Mill & Winery, Spring Lake, Ottawa Co., Michigan, USA
ABV: 7%
Appearance: light gold, not much in the way of legs. Lightly effervescent.
Nose: Dry, a bit of yeast at first, but it dies down shortly.
On the palate: light and dry. A little sweetness and some delicate apple flavors, but mostly dry and light.
Finish: Fairly sweet, but mostly dry. Very pleasant.
Parting words: This is a fine table cider. It’s not overly sweet or heavy, and pairs very well with food. Serve it as you would a Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc or a dry Riesling. Kudos to Vander Mill for using all Michigan-grown fruit and producing hard cider at all, frankly. It is a constant puzzlement to me why more Cider mills and orchards in Michigan don’t produce hard ciders but opt instead to become petting zoos and doughnut bakeries. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Vander Mill Hard Cider gets a recommendation. They make a variety of ciders, include fruit-juice flavored ones and a Wit made with Belgian ale yeast and spices. Hopefully I can review those someday soon!
Crispin Hard Apple Cider Artisanal Reserve: The Saint
Maker: Crispin Cider Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Notes: Made with Belgian Trappist yeasts and flavored with maple syrup
ABV: 6.9%
Appearance: cloudy gold, especially when served in ice as recommended.
Nose: A little yeasty funk and then some bright apple tartness.
On the palate: Medium-bodied, but rich. The sweetness and woodiness the syrup brings to the table are a nice counterpoint to the funky, slightly floral notes of the yeast and the tartness of the apple. Balanced but complex.
Finish: Clean but the funk lives on in a very pleasant way and the sweetness lingers in the cheeks for a good long while with a nice banana flavor.
Parting words: This is a very nice drink. This is not a table cider, but one for contemplation as befitting its Trappist heritage. Not much else to say really. Crispin does good things with cider. I recommend The Saint.
Cinnamon Girl Hard Cider
Maker: Left Foot Charley Winery, Traverse City, Michigan, USA
Style: Spiced cider (infused with cassia sticks)
ABV: 5.2%
Appearance: Old gold. Persistently effervescent.
Nose: Crisp apples and a hint of spice.
On the palate: Full-bodied and sweet on initial entry. As the cider lingers in the mouth a bit, the cassia/cinnamon comes through. It’s not fiery or overbearing, it’s just a pleasant twist on what is already a delicious American-style hard cider. It’s like a liquid version of my mother’s apple crisp.
Finish: Sweet and slightly spicy. The sweetness lingers for quite a long time. Pure, crisp bliss from beginning to end.
Parting words: Cinnamon Girl works fine as either a dessert cider or a table cider, especially with Mexican cuisine. It works best as a sunny fall afternoon cider or a party cider for sharing. No matter how you drink it, if you love sweeter ciders, you’ll love Cinnamon Girl. Highly Recommended. Unfortunately it is only available at Left Foot Charley winery in Traverse City, Michigan. Call ahead to make sure they have it on tap.
Review: Magner’s Original Irish Cider
Maker: Magner’s/Bulmer’s, Clonmel, Tipperary, Ireland (C&C Group)
ABV: 4.5%
Appearance: gold with an odd pinkish hue. Fizzy, but the head dissipates quickly.
Nose: Yeasty and dry, sourdough bread.
On the Palate: slightly sweet with a hint of sourness like Granny Smith apples or the cider apple equivalent. A hint of some other sort of fruit is lurking in the background. Cherry or raspberry maybe?
Finish: Dry fading into an assertively yeasty taste.
Parting words: This cider is firmly in the British style. Sugar has been added and it is effective at tempering the yeast and sour
dryness. It’s more amicable than some of the bone-dry English ciders that seem to take their cues from Champagne than anything else. But in sweetening itself up it loses some of the subtlety that makes the bone dry British ciders interesting. At any rate, a nice refreshing drink, but not worth seeking out.
Head to Head How much wood?: Woodchuck Fall Cider vs. Woodchuck Winter Cider
1) Woodchuck Fall Cider (with added spice)
2) Woodchuck Winter Cider (flavored with French and American oak)
ABV
1) 5%
2) 5%
Color
1) Dark Amber
2) Copper
Nose
1) Sweet, pumpkin spice: allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon
2) Pungent, sourdough bread, effervescent
On the Palate
1) Fairly heavy mouthfeel. Very sweet, like pumpkin bread. Very little apple coming through.
2) Light apple flavor, dark sweetness, drier than most Woodchuck. A surprising amount of wood, with a very faint hint of vanilla
Finish
1) Cloying, sweet fairly short.
2) Still short, but dry and lightly sweet.
Parting words
I really didn’t care too much for the fall Woodchuck. It was too sweet and too heavily spiced. The winter edition was much better. The addition of the wood adds an extra dimension to the latter that makes it very much worth trying. The fact that wood barrels are not mentioned on the label, only that French and American oak was used, leads me to believe that it was flavored with wood chips, not in barrels. So what do you say, Woodchuckers? How about a bourbon barrel Woodchuck sometime in the future?
Review: Sleeping Bear Farmhouse Cider
Maker: Sleeping Bear Winery (Brooklyn, Michigan)
ABV: 6%
Color: straw
Nose: rich, hint of tartness, butter, apple pie, minus the spice
Palate: Suprisingly dry and hefty, pleasantly effervescent
Finish: More surprises: sweet and delicate
Parting Words: Very food friendly particularly with shellfish and chicken. A pleasant, delicate cider that could benefit from higher ABV , but overall is well-balanced and not syrupy or gimmicky. A good, solid cidere de table. According to the Sleeping Bear website, they are currently sold out, but I’m sure there are some out there on store shelves and hopefully a new batch will be coming along later this year.
Now Drinking
Posted by Josh in Cider, Fruit Wine on September 6, 2010
Black Star Farms Carbonated Apple Hard Cider
Maker: Black Star Farms Winery (Traverse City, Michigan)
ABV: 7%
Is there anything Black Star Farms doesn’t do well? One may well ask. At the most recent Michigan Wine & Spirits competition they did fairly well: Best of Class Dry White: Black Star Farms - 2009 Arcturos Pinot Gris, Best of Class Semi-Dry White: Black Star Farms - 2009 Arcturos Riesling, Best of Class Sparkling Wine: Black Star Farms - 2008 Sparkling Wine, Double Gold: 2007 A Capella Pinot Noir. Not too shabby. They also have an aged apple brandy and numerous eaux de vie. Rumor has it that a 10 year old apple brandy will be hitting the shelves of their Traverse City tasting room soon. I’ve put my best dusty-hunting friends on the case.
Anyway, this apple cider, presumably the younger cousin to their brandies, is not exception. It is in the dry-ish British style (of the mass-produced ones we get here, anyway) but doesn’t go off the edge like the one I reviewed from Motor City.
The nose is light, almost like a Riesling, sweet apple blossoms and a bit of citrus. In the mouth, it’s all crisp, early season golden skinned “eating” apples, like Golden Delicious or Ginger Gold. The sweetness then comes in, but fades away quickly. The finish is light and sweet. This is one of the best ciders I’ve had since I’ve started this blog.
Now Drinking
Woodchuck Summer Cider (Limited Release)
Maker: Green Mountain Cidery, Middlebury, Vermont.
ABV: 5%
Wow, I hadn’t realized that it had been this long since I posted! Well I haven’t stopped drinking, but I have stopped writing. So let’s remedy that right now shall we?
This cider is the special summer release for Woodchuck. The bottle is mostly blue. Initially I thought it was just to project a cool summer image of lakeside living. But as it turns out there’s another reason. As their website states,
“If there was going to be an official drink for the summer season, it would be our Limited Release Summer Cider. It was inevitable; we were going to come up with a Summer Cider at some point, mostly because the two just fit together so nicely. Our Summer Cider is light, crisp, and leaves the tingle of fresh-picked Blueberries on the tip of your tongue.
“Blueberries are a New England tradition that everyone looks forward to. They’re found in the cool shady spots off the trail when you least expect it. You’ve got to hunt for them, but the reward of sweet Blueberries on a hot summer afternoon is not to be forgotten. Neither is the stain they leave on your shirt.”
Wow, what a cool New England tradition! I’ve never heard of those before, what are they called again?, blue berries? Wow, us midwestern slobs have nothing like that around here!
All sarcasm aside, I did sense something a little different about this cider when I first tried it but I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time. It’s a testament to how seriously the folks at Green Mountain take their produce. The cider itself is a pale straw color (not some blue kool-aid color) and the blueberry is subtle but adds a perfect tang to the finish and to the nose. Like blueberries, this cider has the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. As a refreshing summer drink, it suceeds wildly. Buy some.
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