Author: UnitedStatesofCider

Cider Review: Eve’s Cidery BECKHORN HOLLOW DRY CIDER: Cider52

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Trained&PrunedAppleTree

Cider: BECKHORN HOLLOW DRY CIDER

Maker: Eve’s Cidery   Origin:  Van Etten, New York

website: www.evescidery.com

ABV: 8%   Bottle: 750 ml

Makers Style/Bottle Notes: “Naturally sparkling cider, fermented in this bottle”.

Fruit: Apple  Cider Maker:  Autumn Stoscheck

Our Tasting Notes: First glass, drinking at about 52 degrees.

In The Glass:  Clear, pale, white-gold with a small, steady bead that settles to no visible bubble. 

Aroma: Apple peel, marzipan, honey, raw apple, baked apple, grassy, powdered sugar, citrus peel and spice.

Taste: Tart, sweet, slightly spirituous and warming, with stone fruit, dried apricot, and anise & fennel.

Overall Impressions: Refreshing with pleasing tart acidity, balanced by sweet, sour, and subtle bitter notes. Intend to taste this cider again if we can find – it’s a special blend – we discovered ours at Eve’s Cidery’s New York GrowNYC Greenmarket stall at Union Square. This cider is currently not listed on Eve’s Cidery’s website.

BONUS MIXOLOGY TIP: Eve’s Cidery Beckhorn Hollow Dry Cider with a splash of Eden Ice Cider Orleans Bitter is delicious and tremendously refreshing. Makes an easy apéritif or the start of an interesting cocktail.

Watch an informative video about Eve’s Cidery’s orcharding practices: Orcharding with Autumn from Eve’s Cidery on Vimeo.

Eve’s Cidery: www.evescidery.com

Find Eve’s Cidery’s stall at the GrowNYC Union Square Greenmarket www.grownyc.org:  Friday Map & Saturday Map.

Eden Ice Ciders: www.edenicecider.com

33 Mugs Of Cider: Handy Tasting Review Pocket Journals from 33 Books Co.

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Our Barstool Review – Cider Tasting On The Go Tool Kit (just add pencil).

Small, graphically pleasing, and easy to use pocket tasting notebooks from 33books.com.

We’re road-testing these handy little pocket tasting review journals: 33 Mugs of Cider & 33 Pieces of Cheese. The 33 Books Co. line currently also includes pocket guides for: Wine, Whiskey, Beer, Hot Sauce, Chocolate, Coffee & Cigars, with several others in the works.

They are indeed “powerful, yet pocket-sized”, eco-friendly, and include a dash of real cider in the printing ink!

Cider-drinkers, tasting rooms, bottle shops & taprooms – do consider this line of tasting journal books from 33books.com.

33_MUGS_CIDER_COVER CIDER_SPREAD

Links:

www.33books.com

Or jump right to the 33 Mugs of Cider

What We’re Reading: Pomona’s Harvest by H. Frederic Janson

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Pomonas Harvest

Pomona’s Harvest: An Illustrated Chronicle of Antiquarian Fruit Literature by H. Frederic Janson, Timber Press, 1996.

From Timber Press:

“An intriguing history of books about fruit from antiquity to the Industrial Revolution, including many beautiful engravings from key works. The relationship of pomology to social history and the history of ideas is explored, and there is a bibliography describing more than 600 fruit-related sources.”

This is an extremely valuable resource for anyone interested in early pomological texts, and pomological illustration.

Currently available as a print-on-demand paperback from these online retailers: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s.

Oh, Ithaca! A Very Moist City. 1921.

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cropped-observations.jpg

The Cornell Daily Sun

Volume XLII, Number 4, 24 September 1921

MANUFACTURERS OF CIDER TOLD TO GET PERMITS

Federal Inspector Lays Down Law to Makers of the Beverage.

ITHACA VERY MOIST CITY

Official Claims More Liquor Here Than in Other Towns of Same Size.

REGULATIONS ON VINEGAR

Cannot Be Manufactured Without Having Bonds and Taking Legal Steps.

“There Is more liquor in Ithaca than in any other city of its size in New York State, according to a statement made by the federal director,” declared Jay Carpenter when he returned yesterday afternoon from a short trip to Syracuse. Mr. Carpenter, who was accompanied by E. J. Holmes, said that they had received instructions from the “district prohibition agent that neither they nor any other cider manufacturers in Tompkins county would be permitted to make any more cider unless they first obtained a federal permit and then gave a guarantee that the cider would never become sour. The official also informed his visitors that the federal agents have Ithaca in mind for another visit in the near future. It Is understood the interest of the federal enforcement bureau was drawn to Ithaca due to the large sales of hard cider which have been made in this city. Mr. Holmes and Mr. Carpenter, both of whom manufacture clder on an extensive scale, were cited to appear before the federal director in ‘Syracuse on Thursday. They were ‘ Turned that they had no right to manufacture cider without a permit and that if they obtain a permit they must absolutely guarantee that the cider would not turn sour. Mr. Carpenter maintained that, although his cider is pasteurized before it is sold, he cannot guarantee it will not become sour. The federal director informed the Itathacans that they could obtain permission to manufacture vinegar by filing a $2,000 bond and taking other necessary legal steps.

Windfalls: Found Apple Poems, A Selection.

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4a21388vLOC 
 
– – –
 
Api Panache
 
 
(Panachee).
 
Yellowish green,
 
 
round-ish, small,
 
indifferent;
 
 
October to December ;
 
 
more curious than useful.
 
– – –
 
Bedfordshire Foundling
 
 
(Cambridge Pippin). –
 
Yellow, roundish, oblong, large, kitchen,
 
 
first-rate ;  
 
 
November to March ;
 
 
very handsome, large and ex-cellent.
 
—
 
Bennet.
 
 
Greenish red, ovate,
 
 
middle-sized,
 
 
cider ;
 
 
November to December ;
 
 
a bitter-sweet. 
 
 
—
 
 
 

The Gardener”s Monthly Volume.

The Apple

It’s Culture, Uses, and History

1847

by George William Johnson & R. Errington

via googlebooks

Wassail Traditions: The 5 Key Elements.

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The Wassailing

Wassail In 5 Easy Steps.

The 5 Key Elements of Orchard Wassail As Outlined by NACM:

“The rite involves five main elements: gathering around an apple tree, singing the Wassailing song, pouring cider over the tree’s roots, loud noises and a toast.”

Rackham-Winter Trees

1 – Gather Around The Apple Tree.

2 – Sing Wassail Song(s) (There are several traditional songs & many variations).

3 – Pour Cider Over The Tree’s Roots (and place cider-toast in branches).

4 – Make Loud Noises (suggested implements: pots, pans, rattles, musicians, fireworks).

5 – TOAST! Salute the orchard, the apple, and the past & future harvest. (With cider, a Wassail bowl, or punch of your own devising).

Whether in the orchard, city, town, or on the farm, we encourage you to take these elements and discover/explore and create a Wassail event of your own.

Mark your calendars now, and start making plans for Wassail 2015.

NACM Wassail information  at cideruk.com

Rackham Lady's Apple

– Not near an orchard? Seek out local parks, or friendly neighbors with pome fruit trees, sites of trees & orchards of yesteryear, or devise a suitable stand-in, an elegant bowl of apples – or a spray crabapple branches, etc.

– As North American Wassailers we will continue to explore local & regional wassail culture and hope to uncover indigenous tunes & rituals, and share our discoveries for 2015.

Note: Repurposing New Year’s Eve noise-makers is a handy & thrifty way to get your Wassail noise-making kit started.

Images from A Dish of Apples by Eden Phillpotts, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, 1921. View or download at Internet Archive archive.org.

Come All Ye Cider Drinkers And Join In The Wassail!

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When is Wassail? We suggest observing North American Wassail celebrations from January 5th to  January 17th, 2014.*

Wassail is an informal collaborative effort of interested cider-drinkers in North America (and beyond).

Goals for the 2014 Wassail: Explore Old & New World Wassail Traditions, Salute The Orchard, Honor The Apple and Celebrate With Cider!

How Can You Wassail? It’s Easy! Enjoy cider and a wassail bowl with friends, visit an orchard, cidermaker or local cider-serving establishment and toast the orchard & the apple, or host a Wassail event of your own.

Let us know if you’re planning an event – we’ll post it on the Wassail 2014 page.

Share your Wassailing plans and pictures. Post, tweet, tumble and instagram The Wassail!

* We’re considering Wassailing all the way through January. Why not?!

 

Wassail Day 1. We Salute Ye Olde Quince Trees.

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Wassail Day 1. We Salute Ye Olde Quince Trees.

January 5th, 2014

The Plan: A visit to The Cloisters Museum to Wassail the 4 quince trees that live in the Bonnefont Cloister.

Capital detail Cruxa Cloister

The Wassail Implements: An empty soda can re-filled with dried beans – a bit of tape over the top to secure said beans, and a small travel-size plastic cosmetics bottle filled with 2 oz. of Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandy. Old World, New World Wassail To Go DIY Pocket Kit.*

The Cloisters Museum botanical collection includes pollarded crab apple trees, espaliered pears, exotic potted citrus fruits, and the famed quinces. Snowy conditions made it impossible to access the courtyards where the crab apples and quince reside, we could only view them through the frost-steamed windows of the Cruxa & Bonnefont Cloisters. We wished them a quiet Good Health and Good Fortune and vowed to return when the gardens were accessible in Spring.

A gallery talk, led by a knowledgeable and genial guide, focused on details of medieval life in the winter months, examining the seasonal feasting rituals and agricultural tasks that occupied the waking hours of medieval folk, including the varied wassailing traditions observed in the manor hall, monastery and village.

Pollarded crab apple trees Cruxa Cloister

Pollarded crab apple trees in Cruxa Cloister

Read about the fascinating “medieval technique of hard pruning, known as pollarding” in this article, Woodsman, Pollard That Tree.

*repurposed New Years noisemakers are a perfect addition to the DIY-Wassail To Go Kit.

Wassail Day 1. Fortifying with Pear Brandy. Olmsted’s Sidecar Cocktail.

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Wassail Day 1. Fortifying with Pear Brandy. Olmsted’s Sidecar Cocktail.

January 5, 2014.

The Plan: Locate and Wassail the four famous and beloved quince trees inside The Cloisters Museum at Fort Tryon Park.

As the site of the quince cloister garden IS in a museum – we reasoned our Wassail activities would need to be discrete, if not completely covert. The park was covered with snow, the air was frosty, and we decided a pre-Wassail ‘warming’ beverage to fortify ourselves was in order.

The New Leaf Restaurant & Bar, located in a 1930’s era rustic deco-medieval structure originally built as a concession stand for Fort Tryon Park, proved the perfect spot to enjoy a surprisingly tasty brunch and a Wassail-appropriate cocktail to launch the festivities.

Sidecar

The Cocktail: Olmstead’s Sidecar

Ingredients: Koval Organic Ginger Liqueur, pear cognac, and lemon.

“Olmsted’s Sidecar is made with Koval organic ginger liqueur (produced by a craft distillery in Chicago and hand bottled), pear cognac and lemon. Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the landscape architect who planned Fort Tryon Park, which was completed in 1935. He is the son of the designer of Central Park.”

New Leaf Restaurant & Bar newleafrestaurant.com

“New Leaf is an enterprise of the non-profit New York Restoration Project (NYRP). All net proceeds support NYRP’s mission of creating a greener, more sustainable NYC. Learn more at www.nyrp.org.”

KOVAL Distillery www.koval-distillery.com

The Pagan Rite WASSAIL! Brown, Bradshaw and World’s Best Ciders.

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In their extremely useful guide World’s Best Ciders: Taste, Tradition and Terroir, Pete Brown and Bill Bradshaw devote a few pages to explore Wassail traditions and celebrations. (The UK cover -pictured- even features the image of a torch-lit wassail).

WBC UK cover

According to Brown & Bradshaw:

“Like all the best traditions, the ritual of wassail is rooted in the past but allows every community to imposes it’s own stamp. It’s growing in popularity because it is an unmediated, unbranded entertainment that links us back to the land and the passing of the seasons.”

Celebrate Wassail: Grab a copy of World’s Best Ciders, pour a glass of cider or mug of wassail, and explore Wassail traditions past and present.

For more of Bill Bradshaw’s Wassail imagery visit IAMCIDER: iamcider.blogspot.com

Sterling Publishing www.sterlingpublishing.com