JK Scrumpy’s Winterruption is a spiced, unfiltered hard cider of the common 6.9% abv strength–any higher and the tax rate on the cidermaker increases, hence why so many ciders sit right below the 7% boundary.

As its namesake indicates, it’s definitely a beverage for winter holidays, laced as it is with cinnamon, vanilla, and a touch of maple syrup…not sessionable, but imparts some relatively subtle spice notes and a tiny bit of lingering heat from the cinnamon. Thankfully, they didn’t over-spice this cider like I’ve seen all too frequently with that other seasonal favorite–and brewing quagmire of potential doom–the pumpkin beer. But I digress.

Like other JK Scrumpy ciders–such as Orchard Gate Gold and Northern Neighbor–Winterruption packs a ton of sweetness. But, whereas the others bring enough bitterness (Orchard Gate Gold) or wild apple character (Northern Neighbor) to the mix to at least partially offset that sweetness, in Winterruption the cloying combination of syrupy, maple-boosted sweetness and dessert-like spice notes serves to mask the apple flavors and acidity that would otherwise help to balance things out. As a result, the sweetness started out as desirable (ooh, dessert-y and spicy!) but quickly became too much as I tried to work my way through a pint of it. Perhaps it should be consumed in smaller quantities…

Higher abv would actually help in this case, since at the end of the day this is a warming beverage for sipping, not a cider for quaffing…in fact, if you’re going to take an apple beverage this far down the spicy winter warmer route, I feel that, if you have access to the materials, you might as well go all out and make a big, gnarly, 10-15%-ish New England style cider with raisins and maple and then age it in an oak barrel (perhaps a rum barrel in this case) for a while, or blend Calvados with apple juice and spices and barrel age that to make yourself a wintery Pommeaux.

By the way, if you want to learn more about Pommeaux or Calvados, this epic tome by Charles Neal is a wealth of information on the subject. I just picked up a copy, whereupon I also realized that, at 766 pages of hardback heft, it doubles as a weapon…

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