wherein Liz reviews some hard ciders, because why not
A post apropos nothing in particular:
I don't like beer.
I never have, and I am pretty sure I never will.
When Nick and I were kids, our parents used to let us try tiny sips of whatever alcoholic beverage they were drinking with dinner -- basically, we got a clean teaspoon from the kitchen and they'd measure out a spoonful as a sample -- and while I thought red and white wines were a bit odd (and Mom's occasional Black Russian and Dad's occasional brandy or other fancy liqueur were a bit odd and also bitey), my invariable reaction to beer samples was "BLEUGH!!!" When I was older, I tried beer under what are probably the most favorable circumstances possible: a good German beer, fresh and cool, after I'd been walking for several hours on a hot summer day. At which point my reaction improved from "BLEUGH!!!" to "...mneh." I figure that there is no real point in experimenting further, though I do try a sip every few years just to confirm that yeah, still "BLEUGH!!!" (Or, on very good days, just "Bleugh!!" Which is still emphatic enough for me.)
I do like wine! But wine is often tragically expensive, as are hard liquors, and sometimes I want a drink with somewhat less alcohol by volume so I can get more liquid in with my mind-altering chemicals.
The solution? Hard cider!
Hard cider is lovely (except when people try to make it taste more like beer by adding hops to it -- and before anyone pipes up, no, hops are not the whole reason I object to beer; it's the fundamental beeriness of beer that I dislike, though the hops certainly don't help anything) and it's been experiencing a great resurgence in America over the past ten or twenty years. I first encountered hard cider as a specialty thing bought in wine-sized bottles from a cidery that was part of the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. That was circa 2005. These days, I can buy six-packs or twelve-packs of hard cider at my local supermarket. It's WONDERFUL.
I mention this because a newish development in the hard cider world is rosé ciders. I think this started as a way to ride the coattails of the slightly less newish dry rosé wine movement (which I also like a lot, FYI; I like rosé as a flavor but traditional rosés are often undrinkably sweet) but it has turned into a Thing in its own right.
I tend to drink Angry Orchard ciders because it's always a bit of gamble trying new things and also I don't like thinking in supermarkets (my goal is to buy what I need and get out before I get distracted), but Angry Orchard Rosé is often sold out on my shopping days. So I've been experimenting a bit with some other brands.
The two I've tried so far are Crispin and Beak & Skiff 1911 Established.
Angry Orchard Rosé is 5.5% alcohol by volume, and a nice dark salmony pink. I like it because it's less sweet than a lot of hard ciders, but without that sort of... hmmm... thin, scrapey edge a lot of drier ciders get? It's still quite full-bodied, which is good. I usually buy the 12oz glass bottles.
Crispin Rosé is 5% ABV, and noticeably paler than Angry Orchard. It's also significantly drier in taste, and I find that it is best drunk with one or two ice cubes in the glass. (It comes in 12oz cans, and so is best poured into a glass. Drinking cider from a metal can leads to weird undertastes.) Crispin apparently mixes pear juice in with apple juice when fermenting ciders, and their rosé also contains rose petals and hibiscus, which seems a bit fancypants to me, but hey, the ability to get a bit fancypants is a sign of a healthy industry, so.
Beak & Skiff 1911 Established Rosé is 6.7% ABV (edging toward apple wine, tbh). As with Angry Orchard, it's a very full-bodied drink -- just enough so, I think, to counter the relative sweetness -- still less sweet than a properly sweet hard cider, but even so. It comes in 16oz cans and is consequently a bit dangerous, due to both the increased ABV and the increased portion size.
In conclusion, the Angry Orchard and Crispin rosé hard ciders are best for accompanying meals, while the 1911 Established rosé hard cider is best for drinking on a hot summer afternoon.
But they are all delicious. :)
(Also, it's annoying to have to keep copypasting an é character from a Word document, since I can't seem to type one in Chrome. BLEUGH!) If you want to comment on this post, you can do so over here on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)
I don't like beer.
I never have, and I am pretty sure I never will.
When Nick and I were kids, our parents used to let us try tiny sips of whatever alcoholic beverage they were drinking with dinner -- basically, we got a clean teaspoon from the kitchen and they'd measure out a spoonful as a sample -- and while I thought red and white wines were a bit odd (and Mom's occasional Black Russian and Dad's occasional brandy or other fancy liqueur were a bit odd and also bitey), my invariable reaction to beer samples was "BLEUGH!!!" When I was older, I tried beer under what are probably the most favorable circumstances possible: a good German beer, fresh and cool, after I'd been walking for several hours on a hot summer day. At which point my reaction improved from "BLEUGH!!!" to "...mneh." I figure that there is no real point in experimenting further, though I do try a sip every few years just to confirm that yeah, still "BLEUGH!!!" (Or, on very good days, just "Bleugh!!" Which is still emphatic enough for me.)
I do like wine! But wine is often tragically expensive, as are hard liquors, and sometimes I want a drink with somewhat less alcohol by volume so I can get more liquid in with my mind-altering chemicals.
The solution? Hard cider!
Hard cider is lovely (except when people try to make it taste more like beer by adding hops to it -- and before anyone pipes up, no, hops are not the whole reason I object to beer; it's the fundamental beeriness of beer that I dislike, though the hops certainly don't help anything) and it's been experiencing a great resurgence in America over the past ten or twenty years. I first encountered hard cider as a specialty thing bought in wine-sized bottles from a cidery that was part of the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. That was circa 2005. These days, I can buy six-packs or twelve-packs of hard cider at my local supermarket. It's WONDERFUL.
I mention this because a newish development in the hard cider world is rosé ciders. I think this started as a way to ride the coattails of the slightly less newish dry rosé wine movement (which I also like a lot, FYI; I like rosé as a flavor but traditional rosés are often undrinkably sweet) but it has turned into a Thing in its own right.
I tend to drink Angry Orchard ciders because it's always a bit of gamble trying new things and also I don't like thinking in supermarkets (my goal is to buy what I need and get out before I get distracted), but Angry Orchard Rosé is often sold out on my shopping days. So I've been experimenting a bit with some other brands.
The two I've tried so far are Crispin and Beak & Skiff 1911 Established.
Angry Orchard Rosé is 5.5% alcohol by volume, and a nice dark salmony pink. I like it because it's less sweet than a lot of hard ciders, but without that sort of... hmmm... thin, scrapey edge a lot of drier ciders get? It's still quite full-bodied, which is good. I usually buy the 12oz glass bottles.
Crispin Rosé is 5% ABV, and noticeably paler than Angry Orchard. It's also significantly drier in taste, and I find that it is best drunk with one or two ice cubes in the glass. (It comes in 12oz cans, and so is best poured into a glass. Drinking cider from a metal can leads to weird undertastes.) Crispin apparently mixes pear juice in with apple juice when fermenting ciders, and their rosé also contains rose petals and hibiscus, which seems a bit fancypants to me, but hey, the ability to get a bit fancypants is a sign of a healthy industry, so.
Beak & Skiff 1911 Established Rosé is 6.7% ABV (edging toward apple wine, tbh). As with Angry Orchard, it's a very full-bodied drink -- just enough so, I think, to counter the relative sweetness -- still less sweet than a properly sweet hard cider, but even so. It comes in 16oz cans and is consequently a bit dangerous, due to both the increased ABV and the increased portion size.
In conclusion, the Angry Orchard and Crispin rosé hard ciders are best for accompanying meals, while the 1911 Established rosé hard cider is best for drinking on a hot summer afternoon.
But they are all delicious. :)
(Also, it's annoying to have to keep copypasting an é character from a Word document, since I can't seem to type one in Chrome. BLEUGH!) If you want to comment on this post, you can do so over here on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)