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Cider Review: Breezy Hill Orchard Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider: Cider52

April 11, 2013June 12, 2013UnitedStatesofCider1 Comment

Cider: BREEZY HILL ORCHARD HUDSON VALLEY FARMHOUSE CIDER

Maker: Breezy Hill Orchard and Cider Mill

Origin: Staatsburg, New York

ABV: 4.5% ABV Bottle: 2 litre growler, screw cap

Maker’s Style Notes: Produced by Elizabeth Ryan of Breezy Hill Orchard. Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider is fresh, unfiltered, unsulphited, authentic artisan farmhouse cider. It has a shelf life of 2-4 weeks and must be kept refrigerated. Slightly effervescent…a rare opportunity to enjoy a truly authentic beverage.

Fruit: Apples.

Tasting Notes – In The Glass: Opaque golden amber. Effervescent with mostly tiny bubbles. The primary flavors are all fruit but of various types: Pear, Tropical Fruit, Banana, Citrus, Culinary Apple. Vegetal and floral notes. Grass and Vanilla. Medium body with a silky mouthfeel. Sweetness balanced by salinity. Acid and bitterness are present but in low levels.

Rustic and easy drinking like a Saison.

Our Pairings – The Tasting Lab: Drank solo (before breakfast!) – but mused on cured meats, bitter greens, fudgey blue cheeses and best pairing of all – Maple Bacon Donuts. This one makes us think of our colonial forebearers. Surely Ben (Franklin) quaffed a beverage like this before bustling off to invent something extremely useful.

Red Flannel Hash (hash with beets) just begs to be paired with breakfast cider – channel your inner lumberjack.

Overall Impressions: This IS Breakfast Cider. Of course discerning cider drinkers may certainly find other times of day to enjoy this most wholesome and refreshing drink.

Tasting was over a period of days and the cider is so fresh and alive that each day it offered a different profile and was SO lively. Sweet, silky, astringent, slightly effervescent, and bursting with all kinds of apple cider goodness. We love this cider. High marks for transporting qualities.

If we were having Breezy Hill Orchard’s Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider with donuts for breakfast we might try something like:

Dynamo Donut Maple Glazed Bacon Apple Donuts – AND they make a Quince Crumb Donut.

EVERYDAY is Bacon Donut Day.

Donut Plant‘s Ginger Donut – Cake or Yeast.

For further reading while enjoying your Breakfast Cider:

Donut Planet: the History of the Donut by Michael Krondl at Savuer.com

Cider Review: Cider52: Harvest Moon Cidery Heritage Hops Hard Cider with Hops

April 10, 2013June 12, 2013UnitedStatesofCiderLeave a comment

Cider: HARVEST MOON CIDERY HERITAGE HOPS HARD CIDER with Hops

Maker: Harvest Moon Cidery

Origin: Critz Farms, Cazenovia, New York

website: harvestmooncidery.com

ABV: 6.75% Bottle: 22 oz bottle, crown cap

Style Notes: Hopped hard cider. Made from fresh sweet cider, with champagne yeasts, lightly carbonated.

Fruit: Apples.

Makers Bottle Notes: “Our Heritage Hops Cider is a tribute to the early hop growing history of Madison County, dating back to the mid 1800’s. Using a strain of locally grown hops, propagated from those originally grown nearby, we “dry hop” the cider after fermentation. It is aged for several months, then lightly carbonated”.

Tasting Notes: In The Glass: Clear, bright, pale straw. Initially lots of large bubbles, some legs, settles into a tiny mousse ring. Piquant, slightly pungent, winey, Sauvignon Blanc, steel, hoppy, herbaceous, asparagus, green pepper. Tannic, slightly bitter bite from the hops, medium long finish, somewhat drying.

Our Pairings – The Tasting Lab: Liddabit Sweets Sweet Potato and Black Pepper Caramels. Cider enhances the caramel’s flavors and the caramels intensify the bitter crisp acidity of the hoppy cider.

Cheesemonger’s Notes: Any bloomy rind goats milk (Humboldt Fog, Coupole, Valencay) will pair exceptionally well with the bright flavors in this cider. Spicy Blues such as Valdeon or Blaue Geiss would also be lively companions.

Overall Impressions Refreshing flavors of fresh cut grass, minerals, green pepper, nettles and of course hops. If you love American IPAs this is a cider for you.

Note: Harvest Moon Cidery, Critz Farms “plans to establish a new orchard dedicated specifically to growing cider apples. A mix of European cider apple trees and other dessert apple trees will be planted in the spring of 2014.”

If you have tasting notes to add please leave a comment.

Cider Review: Cider52: West County Cider Redfield

April 1, 2013June 12, 2013UnitedStatesofCider2 Comments

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Cider: WEST COUNTRY CIDER REDFIELD

Maker: West County Cider

Origin: Colrain, Massachusetts website: www.westcountycider.com

ABV: 5.9 % Bottle: 750 ml. clear bottle, champagne cork

Style Notes: Small batch varietal hard cider, made with Redfield apples and Golden Delicious apples.

Fruit: Apple

Makers Fruit Notes: Bottle Notes: The Redfield is a rare, red-fleshed American apple, both tart and tannic. It makes a cider of vibrant color and fruit. Mid-dry. 2011 harvest 350 cases. From fresh pressed apples, contains sulfites. 75% Redfield, Apex Orchards, Shelburne, Mass. 25% Golden Delicious, Wheelview Orchard, Shelburne, MA.

About the Apple: From Vintage Virginia Apples “REDFIELD is a highly unusual cross between Wolf River and Niedzwetzskayana Red Crab. The fruit is medium to large, waxy-pink to red. The deep-red flesh is slightly dry, making it a superb baking apple that also produces an exceptional jelly, blood red cider, or vinegar. It is high in pectin, but is not for fresh eating, and has a short storage life. Extremely hardy tree is disease and pest free. Heavy annual bearer. Highly ornamental with bronze leaves and red blossoms. Ripens in October. Zones 3-4. Developed at the New York Station, 1938″.

Tasting Notes – In The Glass: Clear bright lively shine. Pale rose – light copper in (clear) bottle and glass. Light mousse ring, slight legs/tears. Aroma of red fruit, berries, hints of licorice, confectionary, culinary apple, sugar, honey, fresh apple fruit, red apple skins, hint of balsa wood, grass, anise. Winey and full of tannins.

Our Pairings – The Tasting Lab: This cider drinks well on it’s own but we wouldn’t hesitate to serve it alongside Lamb, Duck, or any citrus or berry based desserts.

Cheesemonger’s Notes: Aged cheeses with a hint of sweetness and intensity will compliment the fruit and anise notes of the cider. Try Midnight Moon (aged goats milk Gouda) or Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (by Jasper Hill).

Overall Impressions: Oh so pretty in the glass, if there were beauty contests for cider Redfield would be a top contender! It’s not lacking in personality either- pleasing acidity, crisp, slightly tannic, yet juicy. Semi dry with a very fleeting sweetness and a tad bit of salinity. Drinks like a wine- the Pinot of cider.

Note: Here is a cider that uses 25% Golden Delicious apples to great effect.

Cider Review: Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie 2011: Cider52

February 9, 2013April 11, 2014UnitedStatesofCider6 Comments

Cider: ETIENNE DUPONT CIDRE BOUCHE´ BRUT DE NORMANDIE 2011

Maker: Domaine Dupont

Origin: Normandy, France website: www.calvados-dupont.com

Importer: B. United International, Inc. website: www.bunitedint.com

ABV: 5.5% Bottle: 750 ml, champagne cork

Style Notes: Unfiltered, unpasteurized Normandy style cider.

Fruit: Apples

Makers Fruit Notes: “Domaine Dupont uses no less than 13 different varieties of cider apple, all perfectly adapted to the Pays d’Auge terroir. Terroir consists of nutrient poor clay and marl soil, perfect for giving small fruit. The aromatic intensity is thereby increased and the ratio of skin to pulp helps to favour the extraction of tannins.”

Tasting Notes – In The Glass: Glowing soft slightly opaque amber. Yeasty, hints of leather, orange citrus, spice, vanilla, and apple custard. Frothy effervescent cream soda, Orangina quality. Smells of the orchard and barnyard.

Parings Suggestions & Flavor Compliments: Traditional buckwheat savory crêpe, a galette (David Lebovitz has a recipe here), perhaps with ham and Gruyère, maybe something a bit mushroomy and earthy. Try with a fruit and cheese, or classic tart tatin.

Our Pairings – The Tasting Lab: Paired with braise of turkey sausage, savoy cabbage and roasted root vegetables, and whole grain cranberry and citrus applesauce bread. Tartness of cranberry and the caramelized roasted roots paired well with the sweet, tart, frothy cider.

Cheesemonger’s Notes: On the softer side, the richness and truffle essence of Fromage de Meaux will balance the fruit and effervescence of the cider. Nutty aged cheeses such as Comte, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, or Cabot Clothbound Cheddar with its butterscotch undertones, will all be excellent mates as well.

Note: Domaine Dupont labels each bottling with vintage year.

Overall Impressions: Rustic, earthy, effervescent, slightly sweet, hints of leather, and lovely in the glass.

If you have tasting notes to add please leave a comment.

Cider52: Breezy Hill, Farnum Hill, Foggy Ridge, West County, and Duche de Longueville Muscadet de Dieppe Cidre Bouche

February 8, 2013September 11, 2013UnitedStatesofCiderLeave a comment

Cider52: A Cider A Week. The plan: 52 weeks, 52 cider tastings, pairings and postings.

For a current list of ciders reviewed so far, and links to reviews see: List of Cider Reviews 2013: Cider 52

February 2013 ciders to be reviewed:

Breezy Hill Orchard’s Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider

Farnum Hill Kingston Black Cider Reserve

Foggy Ridge Cider Serious Cider

Foggy Ridge Cider First Fruit

West County Cider Reine De Pomme

Duché de Longueville, Cidre Bouche de Cru, Muscadet de Dieppe, Normandie

Tasting notes and pairings to follow.

Cider Review: Harvest Moon Cidery Four Screw Hard Cider with Maple Syrup: Cider52

February 5, 2013March 25, 2014UnitedStatesofCider2 Comments

Trained&PrunedAppleTree

Cider: HARVEST MOON CIDERY FOUR SCREW HARD CIDER with Maple Syrup

Maker: Harvest Moon Cidery Origin: Critz Farms, Cazenovia, New York

website: harvestmooncidery.com

ABV: 6.25% Bottle: 22 oz bottle, crown cap

Style Notes: Dessert apples, champagne yeasts, maple syrup added.

Fruit: Apples.

Makers Fruit Notes: “Our hard cider is crafted from a special blend of sweet and tart dessert apples pressed on our 1890′s rack and cloth Four Screw Press.”

Tasting Notes: In The Glass: Bright, clear, light gold. Big bubbles. Winey, culinary apple, hint of lime zest. Maple provides a light candied sugar flavor. Sweet, tart, balanced, with a slight warming finish.

Parings Suggestions & Flavor Compliments:

Our Pairings – The Tasting Lab: We tried Harvest Moon Cidery Four Screw with Belgian ginger cookies and gingerbread caramels. Tasty. Four Screw’s subtle nutty notes suggest it would pair well with roasted and caramelized foods, bitter greens, roast fruit.

Cheesemonger’s Notes: Any cheese with a nutty, caramel profile, some crunch, and a bit of age would pair well with Four Screw.

Overall Impressions: This cider was a surprise, “with maple syrup” suggested a sugar bomb and darker color. The maple gave the cider just a hint of candied sweetness that balanced the tartness and acidity. Thanks Maple Syrup!

Note: According to their website Harvest Moon Cidery, Critz Farms “plans to establish a new orchard dedicated specifically to growing cider apples. A mix of European cider apple trees and other dessert apple trees will be planted in the spring of 2014”.

If you have tasting notes to add please leave a comment.