Some of you may remember my post about a non-commercial community cider operation that I visited last year. If you don’t, check it out–it was an amazing experience for me and a great opportunity to see people coming together to do something they love. That’s why I’m so sad [...]

Cherry Daze is a semi-sweet hard cider from Big B’s Hard Cider of Hotchkiss, CO. Made from organic apple juice produced onsite at their own orchards, the crisp apple character of this cider is also accompanied by ample amounts of tart Montmorency [...]

I’m tempted to say that John Chapman–Johnny Appleseed–would be turning over in his grave if he knew about the quality of the commercial cider that now bears his name, but to be honest, I have no idea how good or bad the cider he had in life was. But one thing I do know: Johnny [...]

The Bad Apple is a strong (10.5% abv!), oaked, honey-fortified cider from Two Towns Ciderhouse. Highly carbonated, fairly dark, with a crabby bite and some oak complexity, Bad Apple certainly is bolder than many of the dry, west-coast ciders I’ve [...]

This September, I had the good fortune to attend a cider pressing hosted by two brothers in Longmont, CO, who have assembled their own, rather ingenious, cider pressing operation. Complete with all the gear and organization needed to efficiently press hundreds of gallons of juice, this [...]

First up, my apologies for the long hiatus…I’ve been quite busy of late on the work and personal front. But time and cider (or was that time and tide) wait for no man, and so here we are. Again. Once more into the breach. Two Rivers Gravenstein may be the U.S’s [current] answer to [...]

  I thought it might be interesting to periodically profile an ingredient often used in cider and/or mead and the incarnations it can take. Guess we’ll find out if that impulse is [...]

Despite having what, at first blush–if you’re wired like me–seems to be a dirty name, this cider is a gem. A rather large gem, truth be told, in an all-too-convenient, 3-liter bag-in-box package…as my companions, Dick and Diane Dunn, and I discovered over the course of [...]

Bite Hard Apple Cider is the cider Smith & Forge secretly wants to be but falls short of. Dry, crisp, quite tart, and clean, Bite Hard packs a bitter bite that reminds me a bit of a milder version of Wickson by Wandering Aengus, with a bitterness that more closely resembles a hard, [...]

L’Hermitiére is a sparkling Norman cider that in my mind sits roughly halfway between  Clos Normand and Etienne DuPont on a few [...]