Category Archives: Cider

Seattle Cider – Washington Heirloom (2013 Vintage)

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I’ve yet to find the Seattle Cider offering that really knocks my socks off, but they keep putting out solid, fairly interesting stuff, and the 2013 Washington Heirloom continues that trend.

This 6.9% ABV cider introduces itself with a syrupy-sweet aroma, edged in sourness, and pours a clear light yellow, fairly fizzy.

The flavor kicks off with hard sharp acidity, then eases into a tart, off-dry, off-beat flavor — the bottle copy mentions WInesap apples featuring prominently, and I can see how they may be lending some different, sort of dark fruit flavor than ciders that favor mainly dessert, bittersweet, or classic cider apples

The aftertaste is cool and crisp and a little woody, but doesn’t last long. To me this is a cider that tastes like winter: cold fruit from the ground, cold wood, the snap of cold air in your lungs.

Seattle Cider isn’t kidding around with their limited editions — only 2400 bottles of this have been made, so if you’d like to try some, get yourself to a store and check it out.

Schilling Cider – Oak-Aged

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Schilling Cider Oak-Aged

Schilling Cider Oak-Aged

For Thanksgiving, I bring you all one of my favorite ciders: Schilling’s Oak-Aged. The very first time I tried Schilling’s Oak-Aged it went straight to my go-to list. It’s a mellow and easy-drinking cider, with a distinctive taste, at a reasonable price, from a local cidery. What more could a cider drinker ask for?

The aroma is sweet and spicy, more pepper and cinnamon than apple, with a kind of burnt, nutty smell following behind. It’s a clear, pale gold and 6.5% ABV.

After an initial hit of spice there’s an edge of sweetness to the taste, but it’s more than balanced out by the woody flavor and bitterness imparted by the aging process. The aftertaste lingers only a little and then fades. Still, it’s not brash — I stand by my description of “mellow.”

I definitely think this is a cider that would pair well with a wide variety of meals; I’ve had it on its own as well as with meals from sandwiches to sushi.

Schilling’s Oak-Aged is absolutely my favorite Schilling cider of their offerings I’ve tried thus far — sometimes they tend to go a little strong for regular drinking for my taste (as in their Chai Spice and Grapefruit ciders), but it’s hard to go wrong with the Oak-Aged.

Track yourself down some Schilling here, and don’t hesitate to check out some of their other flavors as well.

Troy – MMCXIII

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Troy MCMXIII

I’m not saying I didn’t see it coming from the pretentious “MCMXIII” labeling, but…

When I was at my local liquor store looking for something I haven’t yet tried and reviewed, the beer & cider buyer happened to be there, chatting to some other customers, and upon his very strong recommendation (produced in its turn by the strong recommendation of others that he try it) I picked up a bottle of Troy.

They’re apparently only on their second year of cider — the first year they took what they could get from around the accessible outside of an old fruit orchard and this past year they were able to get in and reach the interior.

The cider is barrel aged and wild fermented, and I noticed a considerable amount of sedimentary sludge in the bottle of the bottle.

My first whiff was sharp and acidic, almost vinegary. The cider is a light yellow, more or less cloudy depending on how much of the sediment you rustle up. I leaned toward trying not to disturb it.

Little did I know that that whiff of vinegar was only the prelude to a much stronger sourness and acidity in the taste of the cider. This stuff is aggressive.

It’s so strong that it’s hard for me to pick out any individual notes in this — it’s a different sort of cider to be sure, and I don’t know how much of that comes from its heirloom apple/pear/quince composition and how much comes from the wild fermentation.

To be honest, I flat out cannot recommend this cider. I suppose if someone was already a fan of drinking actual vinegar, they might like this cider, but other than that, pass.

Maybe I just got a bad bottle? I checked out some other reviews and they give quite a different impression of this cider. If you’d like to take a gamble, or you are one of those people who likes drinking vinegar, you can keep an eye out, but if you ask me? Just don’t.

Seattle Cider – Three Pepper

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Seattle Cider Three Pepper

It looks so unassuming, until you take a whiff.

Being the kind of person who doesn’t usually take their Thai/Indian/Mexican food crying-spicy, I was dubious about this cider the first time I picked it up. THREE Pepper cider? I asked myself. It’s only one bottle, you can handle it, I replied. To myself.

After I tried it, someone doing their own exploration of regional cider offerings asked me how it was, and in the months since I recommended it they’ve apparently been drinking almost nothing else.

If you’re already ambivalent about the idea of drinking pepper cider, the aroma isn’t reassuring: it’s an immediate dramatic hit of jalapeno and capsaicin.

To my surprise, though, this cider is more bark than bite — when you actually take a sip you get mostly a medium-sweet cider, with some fresh pepper flavor and fire that hovers around the outside and eases in toward the finish.

The heat from the peppers lingers in the aftertaste, and the quicker you chug it down, the more it’ll make itself known, but over the course of a bottle it never gets to the point where it bothers me.

I’m a bit at a loss trying to think of what kind of meal you might pair it with — something else spicy, probably, but not so spicy you want your drink to save you.

Track down some Three Pepper for yourself here. It says small batch/limited edition, so you may have a hard time finding any, but I’ve seen it in my local store for months, so then again maybe not.

Portland Cider – Kinda Dry

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Portland Cider Kinda Dry

Portland Cider Kinda Dry

Trust Portland to be the kind of place with a cider named “Kinda Dry.” At least there aren’t any birds on the label.

Most ciders I drink have an aroma you have to look for and pay attention to, but my glass of Kinda Dry is sitting on my desk and the smell is steadily wafting into my nose from a couple feet away. It smells bittersweet, and almost boozy — but not like alcohol, more like fragrant orchard apples beginning to sour.

Living up to its name, Kinda Dry is not sweet, but retains just enough to keep it from giving ever entirely to bitterness and dryness.

Portland Cider Company’s website says it was founded in part by British expats “with the mission of bringing handcrafted cider in the English tradition to the northwest,” which explains why Kinda Dry puts me in mind of some English ciders I’ve tried in the past.

It’s hard to pin down notes of the flavor for me; various aspects chase each other around the corners of my mouth. It’s not predominantly bitter, nor sweet, nor dry, but it is all of those things in part; it’s light and finishes with a lingering woody aftertaste. Overall, I like it. It’s interesting.

Kinda Dry is a clear gold, low fizz, and 6.8% ABV. Find some for yourself here.

2 Towns Ciderhouse – Cidre Muscato

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2 Towns Cidre Muscato

2 Towns Cidre Muscato

My love of muscat goes at least back to college, when I discovered Kasugai fruit gummies and ate a copious amount of them, especially the muscat and melon flavored ones. As I eventually developed a taste for wine, at first I leaned toward sweet wines such as muscats, and now that I’ve tried 2 Towns’ Cidre Muscato it’s not a surprise that I enjoy it as well.

It’s a clear, pale yellow, almost a tiny bit greenish even, and has a definite recognizable muscat aroma, light and sweet and sharp.

It’s definitely sweet — like a muscat wine would be, not syrupy. It really does taste rather like a muscat wine profile is sort of overlaying the cider. There’s an immediate hit of sweetness in the taste, and some acid, but then it dries out and develops into something more complex before fading and leaving an echo of grapes lingering in your mouth.

Overall, this cider seems lighter than a comparable muscat wine would be — understandable, since muscat wines tend to be 10% and up in ABV while this is only 6.9%. As far as I’m concerned, it’s another hit from 2 Towns. Locate some for yourself here!

Snowdrift Cider – Cliffbreaks Blend

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Snowdrift Cider's Cliffbreaks Blend

Snowdrift Cider’s Cliffbreaks Blend

My first experience with Snowdrift Cider was a glass of their Nebula Red at Capitol Cider a while back. It was, and I put this mildly, like pure manna from heaven descended into a glass. Nothing I’ve tried from Snowdrift since then has quite lived up, as is so often the case, but I still get excited when I see their labels.

Deep golden in color, 7.8% ABV and mostly still, Cliffbreaks has a fresh, tangy scent underlaid with light bittersweetness.

For some reason the aroma led me to expect a drier cider than it turned out to be. In addition, the bittersweet notes in the aroma don’t particularly translate into bitterness in the flavor.

It has some tannins supporting a profile largely dominated by strong, mouth-puckering tartness and acidity, but is decidedly more on the sweet side than the dry.

That’s not to say it’s over-sweet, or that I’m bothered by the lack of bitterness — the balance is quite good. “Bold & Assertive” is how the bottle sums up Cliffbreaks, and I’m not inclined to argue (though I’m not entirely on board with the more detailed notes they claim, like an “aromatic coconut finish”).

Find yourself some Snowdrift here! They’re pretty small right now, so good luck if you’re not in Washington, but they do have an online shop, and I look forward to them expanding over the coming years.

Doc’s Draft – Pumpkin Hard Apple Cider

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Doc's Draft Pumpkin Hard Apple Cider

Doc’s Draft Pumpkin Hard Apple Cider

I found one more pumpkin cider! Okay, now that Halloween is over I know everyone’s on to peppermint everything, but I couldn’t resist sneaking in one more. Besides, the Pumpkindrome isn’t over so we’re not done with pumpkin season here at Bad Rider anyway.

Doc’s Draft is a production of Warwick Valley Winery in NY, and the bottle copy mentions roasted pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg.

I do actually get some pumpkin in the aroma, along with the spices — mainly the cinnamon and ginger.

A little mustiness comes out in the flavor, which is acidic and medium-dry. The pumpkin gets rather drowned out by the tartness, acidity and spices, but it’s still there in the background.

It’s slightly fizzy and a clear light yellow, with a 6% ABV. As ciders go, it’s kind of strange, but neither terrible nor great. I wouldn’t pass up a really good cider in favor of this one, but if you’d like to give it a try it’s not the worst choice you could make when it comes to pumpkin cider. I know, I know, damned with faint praise, etc.

It is, at least, more likely that East Coast folks will be able to find this one than many of the other ciders I’ve reviewed — in fact, Warwick Valley’s locator site only lists locations in New England. So give it a try!

Boonville – Bite Hard

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Glass of Boonville Bite Hard cider & small Portal turret bot

Bonus Portal turret since I don’t have a bottle or can to show off.

Boonville’s Bite Hard made a brief appearance in my Cider Summit roundup post, but now that it’s shown up on tap at my favorite liquor store’s growler station I’ve been able to write a proper full review of it.

Bite Hard is a clear, light yellow, with a light aroma, fresh and tart. It lives up to its name in flavor with an immediate snap of tartness and acidity — this is definitely a cider with personality.

It’s very dry, and a little bitterness comes forward after the initial bite, fading without much in the way of aftertaste. There’s some body to it, but overall I wouldn’t describe it as terribly complex — not that it’s bad, just that it’s straightforward.

It’s a good palate-clearing cider, to have with something rich and heavy that will benefit from a contrast with Bite Hard’s crisp tartness and acidity instead of being overwhelmed by it.

Boonville is located in California, and their locator page only lists places in CA and MI to find their cider, so good luck searching to those of us in the Pacific Northwest I guess. If you spot it, do give it a try!

D’s Wicked Cider – Baked Apple

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D's Baked Apple Cider

D’s Baked Apple Cider

Like Angry Orchard’s Strawman, D’s Baked Apple isn’t a seasonal offering, but thematically it fits well enough.

D’s is a small outfit in eastern Washington, an area better known for its wines than its ciders — though, come to think of it, it’s also known for apple production, so I’m a little surprised I haven’t heard about a cidery out that way before now.

In color, Baked Apple cider is cloudy and amber like real non-alcoholic cider (not the fake rebranded juice crap), and there’s a sort of cinnamon-y, roasted aroma to it. Honest to goodness like baked spiced apples.

It’s quite sweet, but there’s also vanilla and a little bit of a pie crust sort of taste to it.

To be honest, the first time I tried this cider I wasn’t wild about it, but coming back to it after a couple of months I appreciate it more for doing exactly what it claims to. I mean, it’s named “Baked Apple” and it really does taste like baked apples.

If that sounds like something you’d be into, look for some in a store near you! No locator available but you can check out their website here.