Category Archives: Cider

Woodchuck – Fall Harvest

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Woodchuck Fall Harvest

Woodchuck Fall Harvest

With their fall seasonal release, Woodchuck is going not for pumpkin pie but for apple pie, and not for an explosion of spices but for something sweet and evocative of particular flavors without being overpowering (Seattle Cider I’m looking at you).

It’s a clear, dark amber and only 5% ABV, with a mild and sweet aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon. The taste is (unsurprisingly) also quite sweet, with smooth vanilla and a little apple tartness.

All in all, a respectable entry into the fall seasonal category. Reminds me a little of the Neigel Pearfect Pie I tried at the Seattle Cider Summit, but less aggressively pie-tastic than I recall that one being.

Every cider I’ve had from Woodchuck has been on the sweeter side, but not so much that I feel bad recommending the ones I’ve liked to other people who like sweet ciders. Sometimes I’m not a fan of their flavor choices (like, surprisingly, the winter seasonal), but overall I trust them to deliver pretty solid commercial stuff.

Find yourself some Woodchuck here!

Ace – Pumpkin Cider

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Ace Pumpkin Cider

Don’t do it, kids.

Hailing from California, Ace is not the local-est of local operations, but in my quest to bring you comprehensive coverage of pumpkin ciders I’m allowing it.

Buuuuuut I’m allowing it for one specific reason: to bring you a warning that it’s bad.

To start off with: it smells bad. Yes, there are spices there, and even some pumpkin. There’s also a smell that I most strongly associate with Nickelodeon Gak — that kind of sharp, chemical, plastic smell.

The taste never really makes up for the smell, nor does it particularly distinguish itself. It’s almost anticlimactic: sugary and pretty stock apple-juice with a side of pumpkin pie spices.

Don’t look for some Ace Pumpkin cider of your own. Try some Crispin Steel Town instead – while not strictly speaking a seasonal cider, given the competition it’s turning out to be one of the better ciders I’ve tried this fall.

2 Towns Ciderhouse – ‘Cot in the Act

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2 Towns Ciderhouse "Cot in the Act"

2 Towns Ciderhouse “Cot in the Act”

I’ve been on a bit of a pumpkin spice mean streak so I wanted to mix things up and review something that’s not at all autumn-themed. My local Bartell’s was happy to oblige with some limited-release 2 Towns ciders such as this “‘Cot in the Act” apricot cider.

True to the name, it has a light apricot aroma; it’s a light, clear yellow with medium fizz and 6% ABV.

Though the apricot also comes out in the taste, it’s not terribly sweet overall and has some nice tartness backing it up. A bit sharp and acidic, but not too much.

As we already know, I’m not the world’s best guesser, but this definitely tastes to me like it’s got a definite portion of bittersweet and/or cider apples rather than just a straight dessert apple blend.

I wasn’t able to find info about this limited release on 2 Towns’ website, but the bottle copy does say it’s “just for the dog days of summer,” so you may be out of luck finding it locally yourself now that we’re well into October.

Best of luck, though — I feel like I’m starting to recognize the general taste profile of 2 Towns, and I enjoy it.

Angry Orchard – Strawman

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Angry Orchard Strawman

Angry Orchard Strawman

Neither pumpkin-flavored nor seasonal, Strawman is one of Angry Orchard’s trio of “Cider House Collection” ciders, meant to be “rare and innovative.” It’s made from “traditional culinary and bittersweet apples” then aged in oak.

It’s a cloudy orange, with low fizz, and a bitter, slightly spicy and funky aroma. Tart acid and bitterness dominate the taste, underlaid with a bit of wood and enough sweetness to keep it from being dry.

I thought Strawman seemed an overly brash, sharply boozy-tasting cider until I saw that it’s got an ABV of 10%; that explains the alcoholic bite to an extent, though I’d still place it closer to the 12% Prohibition than the comparable 10% Bad Apple.

All in all it’s an interesting cider, very aggressive, definitely not something you’d want to drink with sweet or mild foods.

While I’m happy Angry Orchard is trying out higher-end, more interesting and complex ciders than their regular lines (though really, all I want from them is Elderflower all year round), I’m gonna have to be That Cider Snob for a moment:

At the price point of Strawman (and the rest of the Cider House Collection), you can do better.

Instead of buying 750ml of Strawman, you could buy as much or more actual small-batch craft cider that’s just as creative and interesting, from small operations that are probably local to you (wherever you are) and probably could use your business and support more.

If you respect the Angry Orchard name and want to drinking something from them that’s a little more interesting than usual, by all means try the Cider House Collection. But folks, I encourage you to check out the smaller outfits in your area and give them a chance.

Tieton Cider Works – Smoked Pumpkin Cider

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Tieton Smoked Pumpkin Cider

Tieton Smoked Pumpkin Cider

For those of you overwhelmed by pumpkin spice everything, you may be in luck on the cider front, as I’ve only been able to get my hands on three pumpkin/pumpkin spice ciders so far. Even at only one per week, I might be done with pumpkin ciders by Halloween.

Tieton’s Smoked Pumpkin cider smells kind of funky, like the jack-o-lantern you left out on your porch for a few days too long.

I do get some squash flavor in this one, unlike Seattle Cider’s spice domination; overall it has a dark, somewhat funky taste. It’s similar to, but distinct from, other bittersweet craft ciders I’ve had.

Tieton’s bottle copy talks about it starting with smoke, following with pumpkin, and finishing with apple — I don’t agree that it’s as neat a progression as they’re claiming, and the smoke doesn’t identify itself particularly strongly, but in general they’re not wrong about the profile.

It’s very still, a cloudy amber-gold, and 6.9% ABV. Founded in 2008, Tieton has been around a while in comparison to much of the recent cider boom — their locator page shows a presence in 13 states as well as British Columbia.

Domaine Dupont – Dupont Reserve

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Dupont Reserve Cider

Dupont Reserve Cider

We try to stick mostly to local stuff here at Bad Rider, but someone recently gifted me a bottle of Dupont Reserve as thanks for helping them out with some stuff, and since I’m drinking it anyway, why not review it as well?

Domaine Dupont is a maker of French cider and calvados (which for the record is my favorite of what I think of as the “classy”or “serious” hard liquors — brandy, scotch, etc). This Dupont Reserve cider is aged in calvados casks for six months, and comes in a thick, heavy, champagne-style bottle.

It’s SUPER fizzy, with a giant head as it pours, 7.5% ABV, and a semi-cloudy light golden color. The aroma is a bit musty, and kind of dry, but not in the usual sense of sweet vs dry; it smells like a sun-baked dusty dirt yard.

The taste is bright and acidic at first, following up with smooth sweetness and a mild bitter undertone. I definitely get an impression of the calvados casks working on this cider, casting shades of age and depth over it.

Domaine Dupont seems like hardly the kind of outfit that would need any endorsing from me, but for the record I do quite like this cider. You can get your hands on some from their online store — unless you’re in the US, in which case I’d say that this is more likely to be found in your local specialized liquor store than a grocery store or corner shop.

Seattle Cider – Pumpkin Spice

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Seattle Cider Pumpkin Spice

Seattle Cider Pumpkin Spice

For better or for worse, cider has become popular enough over the past few years that some cider makers are starting to hop on board the Pumpkin Spice bandwagon in fall.

While I won’t be running an actual bracket like Andrea, I will of course round up all the pumpkin and pumpkin spice ciders I can get my hands on and review them for you, in addition to any other autumn seasonals I find. And anything else that’s generally thematic, while we’re at it (Angry Orchard Straw Man, I’m looking at you).

We start today with Seattle Cider’s Pumpkin Spice Cider.

This is definitely more of a spice cider than a pumpkin cider — the bottle claims cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves followed by “just a touch of pumpkin,” but if the pumpkin’s there at all it’s extremely understated.

Cinnamon and cloves dominate the aroma; the other spices come forward in the flavor to mingle with the apple.

If this were an actual pumpkin pie, or even an apple pie, I would sigh and make adjustments to my recipe, because the proportion of spice to fruit/squash filling is way out of whack.

As a cider, it’s fine — just as long as you’re aware you’re on the express train to Spiceville and that’s where you want to be. I bet it would actually be pretty good mulled with an orange (NON clove-studded, plenty of clove in there already, thanks) and maybe some rum.

It’s medium/heavy fizz, golden in color, and 6.9% ABV. If you’re in WA, OR, MI, or AK, you can find some for yourself here.

 

Crispin – Steel Town

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Crispin Steel Town

Crispin Steel Town

Steel Town is a limited release from Crispin to commemorate their 5th anniversary,  a blend of ciders aged in 5 different casks (sherry, port, shiraz, rye, and bourbon).

Don’t pay too much attention to the overly flowery and enthusiastic bottle copy, which talks about Steel Town being a “jam session cider” and ascribes musical attributes to the 5 different casks used to age it — the Dave Matthews Band in a cider bottle, if you will.

Whether that description sounds positive or negative to you, Steel Town is good drinking.

It kicks off with a mild honey-vanilla aroma and a hint of squash, and pours a cloudy amber. The 5-cask aging really has given it impressive complexity and depth of character — it’s a little sweet and fruity, a little bitter, a little spicy, but everything in balance, with no single element overpowering the rest.

And even balanced as it is, drinking it cold and drinking it as it nears room temperature are more dramatically different experiences than many other ciders I’ve tried as various aspects of the flavor come forward and retreat.

Crispin recommends drinking it chilled (50-55 F/10-13 C), “with or without 1 or 2 ice cubes.” While I agree that’s the sweet spot, its mercurial nature makes it interesting in different ways at higher or lower temperatures.

Steel Town is 6.9% ABV and isn’t listed on Crispin’s website for locating yet — it’s just starting to ship out to markets, which means this is your advance warning to keep an eye out for it. I’m already going to miss it when it goes away.

Alpenfire – Pirate’s Plank Bone Dry

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Alpenfire Pirate's Plank Bone Dry

I *never* get the wax to come off so clean like that!

Pirate’s Plank is a scrumpy-style cider, meaning it’s made with “traditional methods” (to wit: raw and unfiltered in this case) usually in smaller batches, and often tannic whether dry or sweet.

Living up to its name and scrumpy style, it does actually taste a bit like drinking a plank of wood, if one could achieve such a feat without splinters in really unfortunate places.

I’m not complaining; it’s pretty much the cider that comes to mind in a positive way when I think of very dry ciders. It’s a cloudy gold and really fizzy — pours several inches or so of head out of the bottle. The flavor and aroma are consistent with each other: slightly musty, lightly spicy, definitely bone dry and woody but not too bitter, lingering in the nooks and crannies of your mouth.

Pirate’s Plank uses mainly cider apples — Kingston Black, Vilberie, Dabinett, Yarlington Mill — with only Granny Smith represented from the dessert apple category, and it comes in at a respectable 6.9% ABV.

Alpenfire has pretty solidly positioned themselves as a higher-end brand, running more expensive than many other ciders but with a higher quality expectation to match. I imagine in part it’s simply because most (all?) of their stuff is organic.

I’ve never had a bad cider from them, though, and their packaging is always classy, with bottles wax-dipped or given other design treatments that manage not to cross over into being ostentatious.

Locate some Pirate’s Plank or another Alpenfire product to try for yourself here!

Anthem – Hops

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A glass of Anthem Hops

A glass of Anthem Hops

Though I’m not the biggest fan of most hopped ciders, I respect Anthem Hops for doing its thing. If you’re the kind of person who generally likes hopped ciders, or who thinks an apple-y lager sounds tasty, I feel pretty confident in recommending this one to you.

I hesitate to recommend some hopped ciders to beer drinkers because apple and hops seems like a combination that might not appeal to many (despite “appeal to beer drinkers” usually being the reason for hopping a cider in the first place), but this is one I feel pretty good about.

The Cascade hops give the cider a, well, hoppy aroma, but also with a side of fruit and florals. It’s quite dry, a little tart, a very pale straw color, and the hops are well evident in the bitter, somewhat funky taste — but they don’t fight with the apples, instead blending together into a cohesive whole.

Interesting thing about Anthem: they have a page where you can see specific percentages on what recent individual batches of each of their products contain — for example, I’m probably drinking Batch 52 of the Hops, which is 40% Red Delicious, 28% Granny Smith, 5% Golden Delicious, and 26% assorted others.

Another interesting thing about Anthem: the batch info is especially relevant (though it would be even more relevant if it included ABV) because their product line stays the same, but with varying composition over the course of the year based on what fruit varieties are available. You can see in the case of their main cider that even from one batch to the next, the composition can change significantly.

(So when it comes down to it, yes, this review can only be of limited use to anyone unless you drink some of the same batch I’ve got. But at least you have a general idea of what to expect?)

Anthem’s site says the Hops ranges from 5.0%-6.9% ABV, and my local liquor store had this tap at the growler station listed at 6.9%, but I don’t know if they’re just listing it at the high end of the range to be cautious or if that’s actually the ABV of this batch in particular.