This week I was fortunate in that a friend, Joe, visited from California and brought me a few ciders from Tieton Ciderworks of Tieton, WA–which is about 30 minutes away from Yakima. The first one I tried is the Apricot Cider–a semi-dry hard apple cider made with–you guessed [...]

This is the best cider I’ve had by Crispin…significantly better than the Crispin Natural that I reviewed previously. The difference is pretty stark–while both are crisp, clean, and come across as relatively dry, Browns Lane is woody, earthy, and bitter by comparison…but in [...]

I discovered Blue Mountain Cider Company‘s products recently at Scrumpy’s Hard Cider Bar in Fort Collins, Colorado, and overall I’m liking their products.  Their Dry Creek semi-dry is particularly noteworthy, being remarkably champagne-like, refreshing, and festive. Like Dry [...]

Overview: Today, I’m happy to share with you a rarity in American hard cider—at least in Colorado—a hard cider from a small-batch, artisanal cidery in Cedaredge, Colorado, which distributes only locally, through farmers markets, and to four different liquor stores on the Colorado front [...]

Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider is an import from the United Kingdom produced by the Samuel Smith Brewery of Yorkshire, which has produced some excellent, traditional English beers and was founded in 1758. It’s a great example of a traditional English cider—relatively dry, with some [...]

Overview: Ace Joker Hard Cider is made by California Cider Company of Sonoma, California, and is that company’s driest offering, at 9g of sugar in a 12-oz bottle. Tasting Notes: Joker is drinkable, but I have to say I’m disappointed in it—it’s reasonably dry and refreshing but [...]

Overview: Glider Cider is a hard cider made by Colorado Cider Company of Denver, Colorado. It’s a relatively dry, natural cider whose ingredient list is all of two entries long: yeast and apple juice. Like the other Colorado Cider products, it is sulfited, however (this is generally done [...]

Overview: Pearsnickity is a Perry (fermented pear juice) made by Colorado Cider Company of Denver, CO, a relatively new company in Colorado which produces a number of hard cider and related beverages. It is relatively mild, at 6% alcohol by volume, and, as you might imagine, is fruity and [...]

  Like JK Scrumpy’s Northern Neighbor, its Orchard Gate Gold cider has a crisp, tannic snap that I love. It doesn’t have the intense wild apple character that Northern Neighbor does, but it’s definitely chock full of cider apples. This would be an almost flawless example of [...]

Well, I’ve ruined my cider review strategy already. I had been planning on working my way up through reviews of some of the run-of-the-mill, commercial ciders before moving on to what I consider to be the main event: artisanal ciders made in a localized fashion with quality cider apples of [...]