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Archive for the ‘Cider’ Category

In which I post about a highly underrated beverage

Posted in Beer, Cider, Liqueurs and Liquors, Wine, tagged , , on July 20, 2011 | 7 Comments »

Meet my heatwave beverage of choice. It is, in my opinion, highly underrated, and deserving of much more praise than it currently receives:

Basic Info:
Name: water
Origin: nature
Style: n/a
ABV: n/a
IBU: n/a
I drank this: from a bottle, in my car, while driving*

See, the thing is, the high today was something like 102, with a heat index so absurdly high it makes me sweaty just thinking about it. The other thing is that, being a sales rep, I spend the majority of my day in my (tiny, black, possessed of very slanted windshields) car.

As a result, I’ve been, well, hot.

As a result of the result, I’ve been drinking a lot of water.**

Water is AWESOME. It is, however, unappreciated in the blogosphere.*** I think I know why. It’s subtle, water is. See, unlike the hop bombs I usually consume (which generally suck if they possess any subtlety at all), water has no scent. It also no color. The flavor is nonexistent. In fact, if there is a scent, a flavor or a color, there’s probably something wrong.

On the other hand, water is wet, it’s chemical free,+ and it helps prevent or cure dehydration, heat stroke, hangovers, illness, etc. So, you know, drink some, especially if it’s as stupidhot near you as it is in the sweltering midsection of the country where my butt is currently sitting.

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*Being that open containers are illegal in my state, this is the only time you’ll ever see a reference on this blog to drinking while driving.
**And iced coffee, if I’m being perfectly honest. But the iced coffee happens in the morning – when it’s only 93 or so – and is a daily necessity. Without caffeine, I’m a horrid, horrid person. With a headache.
***If “blogosphere” is still a thing. I haven’t watched enough cable news lately to know if blogosphere is still a buzzword or not.
+ Actually, unless you’re drinking distilled water, this is a relative term. It’s chemical-free in comparison to my usual review topics.

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This post brought to you by this experience:

On Monday, after the fourth bank thermometer I drove by that had a temperature reading of over 100, I decided to give up on any ideas of getting home before rehydrating and bought myself some water at the convenience store. Then I refilled it twice while I was out. When I got home, I had the brilliant idea of shoving the half-full* bottle in the freezer, so that I’d have a giant ice cube in the morning. This would, in turn, keep my water cold throughout a good chunk of the next day.

Or so I thought.

The chunk of ice that started out the morning like this:

…was completely melted by the time I’d left my first stop (say, 30 minutes), and undrinkably hot by the time I was done with my third (say, 90 minutes total). This was while my poor car was running the a/c full blast. However, when the forecast from the Weather Channel is as gross as mine is, well, the a/c stands no chance at all. Neither does ice.

 

I screencapped this at 8:07pm, and it’s 96 out. 96. Even worse, check out the heat index for tomorrow. I could cry. Furthermore, when it’s this hot, the air shouldn’t even be capable of holding this much humidity. So for everyone who says that Arizona is great because it’s a dry heat, that’s great. Our heat isn’t dry.

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*This is how I typed it without thinking – maybe I’m secretly an optimist.

Then again, this entire post is fundamentally an excuse to bitch about the heat, so. There’s that.

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Crispin Honey Crisp

Posted in Cider, tagged , , , on April 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Fun fact: honeycrisp is a (reallyreallygood) type of apple. There are no honeycrisps in this cider* – apparently honeycrisp does not make for good cidering. I trust these guys to know, because they haven’t disappointed me yet.

Basic Info:
Name: Honey Crisp
Origin: Crispin Cider
Style: Cider
ABV: 6.5%
I drank this: poured into this kickass “I’m going to go plop on a back porch” glass:

In my “bad photo of the day,” you can see how cloudy the cider is – it’s absolutely opaque. At the same time, it’s not quite this orange – it’s actually roughly the color of fresh-squeezed lime juice. The label, on the other hand, is rather *more* orange than this, but the only reason you need to know that is so you can find some.

Onto the cider itself, shall we?

First off is the scent. It’s powerful. Like, I poured some into the glass, capped the bottle, stuck it in the fridge, and realized, something like four-five feet away, that I could smell apples. Not fake apples, either, but big, juicy, freshly-cut red apples. Unlike the other Crispins I’ve tried, this cider didn’t have a pronounced yeast scent at all – it’s all super-fresh apple apple.**

Tasting it, the apple is full-on and central, but slightly tarter than the scent – like, where the scent screams “red apple” at me, the flavor is a bit more “green apple.” Not Jolly Rancher Green Apple Candy-type green apple, but it’s a bit closer to green than red. That said, it’s not actually a tart cider – like maybe something in the off-dry to semi-sweet range more than something in the sugarbomb range of sweetness. There’s also a slight (really, really slight) hint of yeast flavor in it, but only the slightest touch – just enough that it adds a sort of spicy (clove, maybe) complexity to everything.

And it bubbles.

I like bubbles.

The thing with the bubbles is that I think they’re what skews my perception of the cider as being a bit tarter in taste than in scent, but I don’t think I could explain exactly why if I tried. The other thing with the bubbles is that they help give it this really clean mouthfeel (wine snobs, think Extra Dry sparkling wine mouthfeel, rather than Brut or Semi-Seco). So clean, actually, that the word “crisp” actually appeared in my notes, and I had to laugh at myself for using both “honey” and “crisp” in my tasting notes. This cider was aptly named.

To sum up, this was fantastic. I’m unsurprised, because pretty much everything I’ve had from them has been intriguing and different and really, really good. At this point, I think Crispin could brew cider, throw in brussels sprouts and golden beets and goat cheese, and still make it taste lovely and refined.+ Go try some so you can be as happy as I am.

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*or apple wine, as they style it. This is normally where I’d snark a bit about “apple wine” sounding pretentious when cider is a perfectly good word, but I can’t do it with Crispin. They can call this anything they want as long as they keep making it, and frankly, I’d be happy calling it wine as well. I’d rather have this than quite a few of the wines I’ve tried.
**You guys, my allergy medicine is ACTUALLY WORKING, so I could tell! Seriously, my nose had been off for days. Stupid flowering trees. 
+Thinking about it, roasting brussels sprouts and beets, drizzling them with a balsamic reduction and then tossing some goat cheese on top would make a potentially really good food pairing for this cider.

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Woodchuck Seasonals

Posted in Cider, tagged , , , , , , on April 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »

PRESENTING:
A review by friend and special guest blogger, The Lizzinator:

Woodchuck cider has made its name on its Granny Smith apple cider, a punch in the face of flavor that lacks subtlety but is incredibly craveable. It also has a number of variations (802, dark and dry, amber) of a more classic apple… cider, plus the abomination that is pear.

Woodchuck also puts out a wildly popular series of seasonal brews (as well as the occasional one-of such as Halloween pumpkin), just one per season. So it better be good. These tend to sell out just as the named season has started, so you better be fast or you may have to take your chances with the 12-pack case, which contains 3 “mystery” bottles that could be the seasonal you missed out on or could be the dreaded pear, which I can only hope ended its production run years ago and is being pawned off on the unsuspecting, 3 hidden bottles at a time.

Fall 2010 was delicious – tart and complex, as refreshing as Granny Smith but less of a blunt instrument. Then came winter 2010.

The first sign of trouble came in the calorie count: a mere 140, where most in the line hover around 200. Perhaps a light brew to cut through the heavy seasonal foods? Makes sense – and, like winter 2009, it was oak aged, which makes for a lovely dry cider. Then comes the rest of the description: with vanilla. VANILLA.

Now, I love vanilla. I wear vanilla as perfume. I am in a deep, loving relationship with my vial of Madagascar vanilla beans. But vanilla does NOT belong as a single, off, lingering note in apple cider. Yes, it was real vanilla, not that artificial monstrosity that is the vanilla what “pancake syrup” is to maple. But it was kind of terrible. Yes, I still drank it.See More

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Crispin The Jacket Cider

Posted in Cider, tagged , , , on January 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

 Dear Crispin Ciders,
I find myself having a problem. There are multiple Limited Release Ciders on your website that I would dearly, dearly love to get my grubby paws on (namely The Four Musketeers and Br’er Rabbit). How might I do so? If I need drive to your HQ, that’s fine, but I need to know this so I can plan it for a day when we don’t get 8+ inches of snow.
Smooches,
Kim
P.S. I love you and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

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Basic Info:
Name: The Jacket
Origin: Crispin Cider
Style: Cider, brought all the way up to 11*
ABV: 8.3%
I drank this: poured from the bottle, provided to me by Derek Bean of Crispin Ciders (thank you!), shared with my brother after his nasty drive home in multiple inches of snow on a series of roads shared with people who have evidently never driven cars before (i.e., he had a crap day, loves cider and loves whiskey, and I felt it would be horribly rude of me not to share this lovely stuff with him).

Crispin describes this cider on the label as “a blend of four unique apple-wines; fermented with Belgian Trappist ale yeast; Irish Stout yeast; wild fermentation heirloom cider-apple wine & Colfax Classic apple-wine: all aged in Tennessee Whiskey barrels. Finished with unfiletered Gravenstein apple-juice aged in the same casks.”

So, what does this tell us?** Basically it says that Crispin has taken a blend of their other ciders and aged them in what amounts to Jack Daniels barrels. This never would have occurred to me to try, which is probably why I’m the one writing a blog and they’re the ones making a (huge, I hope) profit. Because this cider is amazing. It is the bestest of all best ciders I’ve ever had.

The Jacket begins with a really rich smell of apples with a hint of wood and a touch of whiskey.*** It’s warm and wonderful, sort of like wassail.

The flavor comes in waves – it’s one of those drinks that is complex enough that it has to be broken down into moments. It begins with a hint of whiskey at the tip of the tongue, touched by a hint of yeast. That’s followed by a warm, slightly thick apple flavor with hints of wood and spice, which is followed again by whiskey at the swallow. There’s enough carbonation to be noticeable, but it’s still very smooth. The aftertaste is a really balanced combination of apple and whiskey.

Compared to other Crispin ciders I’ve had, this is the least overtly yeasty – the flavors are all so perfectly balanced that nothing stands out in particular, yet it all works together to make something amazing. It’s like alchemy.

It’s glorious. GLORIOUS. Like, I would date this cider if I could. This cider is like the apple wine equivalent of Clive Owen in a smoking jacket. *drool*

So Crispin, I think y’all are slightly insane for all the odd things you keep doing to cider, but I love you for it completely. Keep on keeping on, and I will do my level best to figure out how to get my grubby paws on more of this divine nectar.

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*If you don’t know this reference, you need to watch better movies.
**Other than someone needs to spend a couple of weeks reading Reasoning With Vampires and then revisit the punctuation issues.
***I am a loser side note: I actually *have* a perfume of this. It’s BPAL’s Fearful Pleasure, a Limited Edition perfume from fall 2008.

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Crispin Lansdowne Cider

Posted in Cider, tagged , , , , on December 20, 2010 | 3 Comments »

More from the “things what can be done with cider when the brewers are feeling adventurous” front:

Basic Info:
Name: Lansdowne
Origin: Crispin Cider
Style: Cider
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: none whatsoever, yo. No one wants bitter cider – not even me.
I drank this: poured from the bottle, provided to me by Derek Bean of Crispin Ciders (thank you!)

This particular version is cider brewed with molasses and Irish Stout Yeast. I think they may have been going for something along the lines of a snakebite? I’m not sure. It’s interesting, though, I’ll give you that.

Freshly poured, it smells like yeast and apples and a bit of molasses, the last of which put me strongly in mind of gingerbread (which sounds awesome right now and would probably be really good with this cider – or any cider - but this is all irrelevant tangent time)(I will get back on subject now, promise). The cider is a medium brown color and cloudy from the yeast.

This is one of those moments where you really, *really* want to get the yeast all mixed up in with the rest of the cider before you pour it. I tried a few sips after carefully decanting the cider to keep the yeast out and was overwhelmed by molasses. Then I swirled the yeast in the bottle and poured it into my glass, and it was measurably yummier with the yeast – like it all suddenly translated into a liquid that made more sense or something like that. So when the bottle instructions tell you to make sure the yeast is in there, follow directions (besides, all the extra vitamins the yeast provides are good for you). The yeast also makes the carbonation lovely. Really. Lovely. Like I’d love to come up with a punchier word to use there, but “lovely” is what came to mind, stuck, and refused to let any other word in. It’s lovely.

Flavor-wise, at first I got yeast on the tip of my tongue, a strong hit of molasses everywhere, and then apples in the back of my mouth and on the swallow. The molasses flavor was stronger than I was thinking it would be, and the yeast wasn’t as overpowering as it was in the Saint. At first I wasn’t a big fan – the flavors seemed too disjointed, like a batch of sauce that needs another four hours of simmering before the flavors meld into something really fantastic. I think it just took my tastebuds some time to figure out what was going on – the cider was better about halfway through. Heavy molasses with apples, brought together by the yeast. Good, especially if you like gingerbread molasses.

Basically, it’s good and it’s really different, but there’s a part of me that wants all these flavors in baked goods rather than liquid form. But I want some to bake with, because this could make EPIC GINGERBREAD CAKE.

ETA: Shaya of Stick a Spoon In It uses Crispin Lansdowne in an awesome-sounding beef stew recipe - check out the link and try the recipe!

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Crispin Brut

Posted in Cider on December 13, 2010 | 1 Comment »

More from the cider world now that my cold is beginning to go away and I can sort of smell again – the Crispin Brut super-duper-extra-dry.

Basic Info:
Name: Brut European-Style Extra-Dry
Origin: Crispin Cider
Style: Cider
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: none whatsoever
I drank this: poured from the bottle, provided to me by Derek Bean of Crispin Ciders (thank you!)

This stuff is awesome. It’s so awesome that I may have to hang up my Strongbow addiction* and flip to this all the time.

Scent-wise, it’s got a bit of a yeasty funk overlaying a really nice, natural apple scent. I feel almost like I should underline or italicize or *something* the word ‘natural’ in that phrase, because tripping over an apple scent that actually smells like an apple instead of Jolly Rancher Apple Flavoring is about as rare as tripping over a strawberry scent that doesn’t smell like a Strawberry Shortcake Doll. So basically, this smells like slightly-yeasty apples. The yeast isn’t really a bad smell – it’s just, well, yeast. It doesn’t smell entirely like baking bread, but it’s the type of scent where after you smell it you can see how it would combine to make the smell of baking bread.

Taste-wise, this cider is everything I want in a straight cider.** It’s fizzy apples. Not sugary, not loaded down with corn syrup, not heavy, nothing but apples. And they fizz. Really. Simple, lovely, honest-to-goodness-really apples.

That’s it. It’s fizzy apple juice. And there’s alcohol in there, but I defy you to be able to taste it. This stuff is flat-out the most elegant cider I’ve ever had.

*Erm, “addiction” is admittedly a strong word, given I drink probably five pints of cider a year. That said, this can be a solid 3 or 4 of my yearly 5 pints and I’ll feel quite happy.
** I gather the same can be said for my cider-loving mom, who has requested more.

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Crispin The Saint Cider

Posted in Cider on December 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Let me begin by saying that I never actually thought I’d be writing reviews of beers that I actually got for free, but it’s happening and it’s really pretty cool – everything I’ll be reviewing from Crispin was complementary. That said, I’m not going to tell you people that I love something if I don’t love it. I’ll always be honest with you, even when I know that I’ve got an unpopular opinion (say, for example with the Boulevard Tank 7: I don’t like it at all, but we sell a veritable ton of it at work – a lot of discerning beer drinkers love the stuff). So you can rest assured that if I tell you I love something, I do, and if I don’t love something, well, I’ll tell you that too.

Basic Info:
Name: The Saint
Origin: Crispin Cider
Style: Cider (brewed with Belgian Trappist yeast and Maple Syrup)
ABV: 6.9%
IBU: completely irrelevent, as this is cider and cider is hopless
I drank this: poured from the bottle, provided to me by Derek Bean of Crispin Ciders (thank you!)

This is, flat-out, the most interesting cider I’ve ever had. Ever. My standard cider experience is either Woodchuck Amber (the Amber is their usual – you’ve had it, I’m sure), or Strongbow (which if you haven’t had, you should). Either way, they’re both totally normal fizzy hard apple ciders. They’re good (I prefer Strongbow), but they’re not really remarkable. They’re what you have when you want something apple-y rather than something beer-y. (Or wine-y. Or whiny.)

Crispin’s The Saint is absolutely NOT like either of those ciders. It’s honestly not like anything I’ve ever tried before.

The Saint is apple cider that has maple syrup added and has been fermented with Belgian Trappist Yeast (think Chimay Red Label – that’s the Trappist that most people have tried, if they’ve in fact ever tried one at all). Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was interested.

So, to start out, it’s yeast. The first two sips were absolutely 100% total yeast. To be honest, it wasn’t pleasant. It was, well, yeasty. I stuck with it beyond two sips because brewers’ yeast is pretty much 100% vitamin B12, and I figured a few more sips could be nothing but good for me. I wasn’t, however, anticipating that I would enjoy said sips.

But something happened. After my mouth adjusted to the yeast, the apple flavor came pouring out, and the cider magically became one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s weirdly, wildly, intriguingly different from every cider I’ve ever had, but it’s excellent. The apple flavor is along the lines of a green sort of baking apple, not quite Granny Smith, but something of that ilk. I never really noticed the maple, but it may have helped smoothe out the taste. Like I said before, the yeast flavor is prevalent, but it isn’t so strong after a few sips, and the strain they use in fermenting the cider creates amazing champagne-style bubbles.

So. This stuff is good. It’s different and interesting and fun and something I can wholeheartedly endorse. And, being cider, it’s gluten-free, which means those of you on that sort of diet can enjoy it (instead of trying to find some sort of gluten-free beer, because, from what I can tell, those kind of tend to suck). If you can find it, grab it and try it. If you can’t but find yourself curious anyway, bug your local liquor store to order some for you. It’s definitely worth it.

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