A bottle of Sea Cider Prohibition against the blue Seattle sky.

At 12.5% ABV, I feel obliged to start out by letting you know right up front that Prohibition is a boozy doozy.

It’s flavored and colored with molasses, and aged in bourbon barrels for 6 months; this gets you a fine, fizzy, caramel-colored drink which — and Andrea can back me up on this one — may knock you flat on your ass and/or leave you full of regret in the morning if you don’t pay attention.

(Not that there’s too much of a chance of that in modest doses, but given it comes in 750ml bottles, you may want to make sure not to down a whole bottle in one session, is what I’m saying. Bad Rider doesn’t judge anyone’s drinking habits, we just want you to have the facts so you can make well-informed decisions.)

I imagine Sea Cider might’ve had to add molasses just to get it sweet enough to ferment to 12.5% ABV without it going completely, undrinkably bone-dry — in addition to the color, there’s definitely molasses in the flavor, sure, and the aroma’s laden with brown sugar, but Prohibition doesn’t actually end up terribly sweet overall, and has so much else going on that its sweetness hardly even takes a dominant note.

Prohibition is spicy and fiery and kind of rummy, with a sharp bite up front on top of a woody, somewhat bitter foundation. It’s a unique and complex cider for sure; probably not the kind of thing you’re going to want to drink all the time, but absolutely a treat worth picking up now and then when you want something with a real kick.

Frankly, I think every single suggestion Sea Cider makes about Prohibition on their site sounds fantastic (“delicious cold, or mulled and heated with butter…pairs well with steak, Caribbean and Moroccan food, and is perfect for marinades, barbecue sauces and cocktails”), and can’t wait to try some of them myself.

You can locate some Prohibition for yourself here — or, if you’re in Canada, some Rumrunner, as that’s the name it’s sold under there.