Tag Archives: limited release

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.

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.

Schilling Cider – Grapefruit

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A bottle & glass of Schilling Grapefruit Cider

A bottle & glass of Schilling Grapefruit Cider

For this review I actually went out and got a Steigl Grapefruit Radler to compare with, even though beer is gross, because I couldn’t quite believe how much this grapefruit cider doesn’t appeal to me.

Turns out Stiegl Grapefruit Radler is not all that bad to an anti-beer person, really. (Which has cued subsequent curiosity for me about whether hopped and yeasty ciders are eroding my hardline resistance to ALL BEERS EVER.)

There’s certainly a lot of grapefruit taste in this cider, even a grapefruit aroma stronger than any aroma I get from most ciders. But it’s not a good grapefruit taste, it’s bitter and sour and tart, with no balance. My original notes on this cider started with “blech.”

Perhaps grapefruit and apple is just inherently a bad combination, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true without additional data points. Instead let’s chalk this up to a learning experience for Schilling, a new local company I’m otherwise fond of — their Oak-Aged is one of my go-to ciders and will show up in a later review.

Schilling’s Grapefruit Cider is a cloudy pale yellow and has an ABV of 6.0%. Schilling seems not to acknowledge that this cider exists anywhere on their site, so I’m not sure where you can find it — in my case, it was at a small deli/convenience store that opened up just down the road from where I live.