The Cider Guy

With Nearly 170 Entries Across 14 Categories, the Fifth Annual Portland International Cider Cup Embodies the Northwest’s Blossoming Cider Revival

On the morning of April 9, 2017, contestants in the Portland’s annual Bridge to Brews race ran or jogged by the Widmer Brothers Brewery, unaware that inside a very different competition was brewing to showcase the best of the best in one of the nation’s cider epicenters.

Widmer, which also makes Square Mile Cider, was the site of the fifth annual Portland International Cider Cup, a regional cider competition for cideries within the geographic boundary supported by the Northwest Cider Association.

Map of member cideries in the Northwest Cider Association.

Founded in 2013 by Nat West of Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider, Abram Goldman-Armstrong of Cider Riot!, Dave White of Whitewood Cider, Nick Gunn of Benchgraft Cider Consulting, and Mark Crowder of Rain Barrel Ciderworks, PICC 2017 received a record 168 unique ciders vying for a medal in one of 14 categories that included Modern Dry Cider, Heritage Sweet Cider, Spiced/Herbed Cider, Wood/Oaked Cider, and Northwest-invented Hopped Cider.

I’ve run the Bridge to Brews 10K three times, and while jogging over the Willamette River on a traffic-free Fremont Bridge is amazing, the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at how more than 40 regional cider, beer, and wine experts rate regional ciders couldn’t be missed.

Cider pours at Portland International Cider Cup 2017. Photo: Sean Connolly

I was on the scene as a volunteer steward, which meant serving blind tastings to a table of judges rating one particular cider category. I drew—picked, actually, pardon the pun—the Spiced/Herbed category, which had 16 entries evaluated by judges whose experience ranged from a head cidermaker to a national cider ambassador, a food, beer, cider, and wine freelance writer, and an area beer expert and blogger.  

The eclectic background of the 44 judges was intentional, according to Emily Ritchie, Executive Director of the Northwest Cider Association, which now manages PICC on behalf of its 80+ members.

More than 40 judges evaluated nearly 170 ciders across 14 different categories. Photo: Sean Connolly

“We wanted to make sure we had more women [judges] this year,” says, Ritchie. “We also want a wide variety of palates, so we invite people … including wine cellarists, chefs, professional cheese and coffee judges, beermongers, and of course cidermakers.”

Blind tasting is also a critical part of the judging process in order to eliminate bias, even though some of the judges are damned good at sussing out cider profiles, what cideries might be behind the elixir, or a certain cider makers’ style. The Northwest cider scene is, despite its growth curve, a close-knit community. As a steward, it was my job to not only provide the pours, but keep the cider makers and ciders I’m bringing down to the rating table anonymous.

A blind tasting sheet from PICC 2017. Photo: Sean Connolly

Watching judging in action was—for me—fascinating. I’d seen the rating sheets the judges they’re using: each cider was rated within its specific category on appearance, aroma, taste, body and finish, and the judges’ general impressions of the drink.

Jana Ensign-Daisy-Ensign of Finnriver Farm and Cidery is one of the judges I work with. A lover of all things fermented with an enviable ‘National Cider Ambassador’ job title, Daisy-Ensign views judging cider as a ‘dream opportunity.’

PICC judges evaluating a cider’s appearance. Photo: Sean Connolly

“Knowing how much care goes into crafting each cider that arrives anonymously at the table,” she says, “it is with great weight and consideration that we, as judges, gaze upon, smell, sip, and savor each iteration of fermented apples striving to appreciate the intent of each cidermaker. We consider both merits and flaws to appraise the drink as a whole. How a cider aligns with the definition of the category in which it is entered for competition is a guiding factor.”

For instance, entries in the Spiced/Herbed cider category at the table I stewarded were evaluated for balance between aroma and flavor and the herbs or spices used in the crafting. The ciders’ fundamental apple flavor, meanwhile, shouldn’t be masked or overpowered by the ingredients. For entries in this category using eclectic flavor enhancers like lemongrass, ginger, tamarind, or even jalapeno and habanero peppers, achieving boldness and balance can be tricky.

Entries in the 14 different PICC 2017 cider categories. Photo credit: Carolyn Winkler, Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider

The background of the stewards and other event managers and organizers I worked with throughout the day was varied and impressive as the judges’ and the cider entries. Stewards David and Glynnis, both bartenders, are a cider-loving couple who are networking for new job opportunities. Eric is a beer and cider lover here for the scene—and the samples we occasionally get to enjoy ourselves. Helen – my colleague and boss, is Portland Cider Company’s media and marketing maven. Lisa works for NW Cider Brokers, which helps small cideries build their brand and broaden their market reach. I can relate to all of them in little ways, and they’re interesting, fun people.

Back in Cider Central—the name I’ve given the upstairs room where the stewards keep the ciders organized and pour tasting flights, we’re guided by Ritchie, who pinch hits everywhere throughout the day, Crowder, the Master of Cider Ceremony who crunched rating numbers for hours, can recall virtually every rule, entry, their category, and whose modern dry cider served as the judges’ taste calibration cider, and Carolyn Winkler, Reverend Nat’s Events Manager and the Chief PICC Competition Coordinator.

Glynnis and Dave, two volunteer cider stewards, pouring samples in preparation for judging. Photo: Sean Connolly

This was not only Carolyn’s second year in a row very capably managing PICC, it was her second day in a row organizing a major cider event. The day before Winkler, worked the Third Annual Hopped Cider Fest for 12 hours, and as I watch her bring up crate after crate of tasting glassware and handle myriad other details large and small, I’m reminded of an Energizer Bunny who traded in his drum for tasting flights.

Throughout the day, we talked in rhythm with the steady cadence of stewards filling cider flights, entering and leaving Cider Central to bring samples down to the judging area. I learned about Crowder’s plan to launch his own commercial cidery in the near future somewhere in Eastern Oregon, how Winkler juggles home-schooling her children with work, got details of my colleague Helen’s upcoming trip to explore cider markets in Colorado. We took (very) small samples of certain ciders that are eye-catching or have interesting descriptions, paying close attention to giving the judges just the right amount of cider to sample so everyone stays sharp. We laughed over Monty Python skits (hear what floats on water at minute 0:58), finicky judges, and the unfortunate baby spider that crawled into and met its end in a sample cup. [The judge demanded a re-pour].

An array of ciders judged during PICC 2017. Photo: Sean Connolly

PICC may not be as large as the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition, which is now in its 12th year, but for Ritchie and organizers Goldman-Armstrong and Crowder, PICC is all about branding Pacific Northwest ciders within what I call the New American Cider Movement. Entering a competition is a good way for a cidery to get feedback on new releases and get reference for where they sit in a roomful of judges, Ritchie says. It’s also an opportunity for the Northwest cider-making community to encourage its members to produce high-quality, even “flawless cider.”

For Crowder, who helped create PICC, it’s a great way to watch the continued evolution of not only the Northwest cider scene, but the evolution of cider drinkers’ tastes, too. “I think the biggest take-away from that is that as consumers palates evolve with cider, more dry ciders are becoming available--and hopefully successful--on the market,” Crowder says. “[The] modern and heritage dry [category entries] both doubled in size this year, he notes, “also, fruit and spiced/herbed ciders have all seen a sizable increase in entries.”

Cider sample cups. Photo credit: Carolyn Winkler/Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider.

By 4pm, Gold and Silver awards have been awarded in each category, and the Gold medalist ciders were being poured for a smaller, select panel of head judges from the category tables that have assembled to select the Best in Show entry. Another commitment means I have to, reluctantly, leave PICC 2017 before the judging is complete. But that’s ok: the winning entries are going to be kept secret until June 15, 2017 at the 2017 Portland International Cider Cup Awards Party anyway.

As much as I dislike the phrase “everyone’s a winner,” one of the take-away messages I got as a PICC 2017 steward is that now, at this moment in the New American Cider Movement, there’s a concerted effort by the Northwest’s cideries and cider makers to collectively stay on their A-game.  For the winners, there will, of course, be bragging rights and the ability to showcase the award in marketing their product.

Cider flights at PICC 2017. Photo: Sean Connolly

But for the Northwest’s cider community as a whole, PICC is about more than who wins. Emily Ritchie sums it up this way: “We're creating a brand of Northwest-made cider right now and we want this region to be known for excellent products. The competition encourages better and better cider!”

For those of us that love cider and its myriad, eminently quaffable varieties, that’s a concept that can’t be beat.

Cider Rite of Spring 2017 included 31 Northwest cidermakers and featured 100 ciders unique ciders. Photo: Sean Connolly

Saturday, March 24, 2017--It’s 8:50 am, and we are unloading scores of cider-filled sixth barrels in preparation for Cider Rite of Spring, which starts in about three hours.  I’m one of about a dozen or so people in the vanguard at the Evergreen, this year’s event location, working on set-up. The mood is purposeful and jovial—it seems most everyone in this tight-knit regional cider industry knows one another—yet there’s also the slight tension that comes from knowing the clock is ticking with lots still to do.

As a Portland-based cider disciple, this will be my third tour of the Northwest’s largest springtime, local-cideries-only cider festival—and I only missed last year’s event because I was out of town.  This time I’m volunteering, because I want a window into an event Sip NW Magazine in 2015 called the Best Northwest Cider Festival swings from planning into execution.

The 2017 fourth annual Cider Rite of Spring, a six-hour affair presented by the Northwest Cider Association and presented by Square Mile Cider, is going to be big. Thirty-one Oregon and Washington cideries will be present and pouring about 100 ciders, plus six additional, limited pours in the upstairs VIP lounge. 

Association Executive Director Emily Ritchie has promoted Cider Rite on Portland’s KATU-2 News, and the Pomme Boots Society, an industry organization for women in the cider industry, has leveraged its marking and outreach panache to spread the word, too. Schilling Cider Company’s Regional Operations Manager and Pomme Boots co-founder Jennie Dorsey at one point informs those working the room that at least 500 tickets have already been sold, with more expected once the doors open.

In addition to General Admission tickets, 2017 Cider Rite of Spring offered a throughout-the-event VIP Lounge experience with exclusive pourings. Photo: Sean Connolly  

Over the next couple of hours from nine to noon, representatives from the Oregon and Washington cideries file into the hall, check in, set up their jockey boxes and pouring stations and unfurl company banners. As the main hall morphs to its event-ready state, it’s hard not to get caught up in energy that radiates from a collective of people and businesses at one of the epicenters of what I call the New American Cider Movement.  Cider, early America’s alcoholic beverage of choice, is seeing a coast-to-coast revival, and the Pacific Northwest is one of the trailblazing regions.

Cider barrels at the Evergreen.  Photo: Sean Connolly

After the kegs are sorted and sent to the cideries’ assigned tables, I spend the couple of hours with a Portland Cider Company colleague cataloging and organizing the bottles and cans that’ll go on sale in the festival’s Cider shop. It’s where I’ll be stationed from noon to 3pm, and we expect sales to be brisk. I get a quick orientation on how to use Square and run transactions. We set up the display table so festivalgoers can get a gander at what’s on sale.

 The lineup—and collective craft invested in the making and marketing of ciders and manifested across 100 cans and bottles of varying shapes, sizes, and styles, is impressive. I cannot resist a picture, but have to suppress the urge to start quaffing cider until my shift is over.

Cider Rite of Spring 2017’s Cider Store offered nearly 100 unique ciders for sale, plenty for all kinds of tastes.

Before the doors open, I manage to get a few quick tastes and brief ‘hellos’ to a couple of cidermakers I’ve met at previous Cider Rites like Kevin Van Reenen of Pear Up Cider and Laura Cherry of Dragon’s Head Cider or that are new to Cider Rite of Spring and are pouring ciders I haven’t yet tasted, like Mike and Nate Thierfelder of Portland-based Woodbox Cider Company and Jeff Bennett, co-creator Tumalo Cider Company in Bend, Oregon. I’m struck by the realization that behind every table is the story of people who not only share my passion for cider, but also have elevated it as makers and the investment of their life’s work.

And then before we know it, it’s time for the doors to open. And apparently a line has formed that stretches around the block.

The line to enter Cider Rite of Spring 2017 at some points stretched around the block. Around 900 people attended the fourth annual cider-tasting event. Photo: NW Cider Association. 

The next few hours are a blur. The hall fills with a hum of festivalgoers and tasters, and stays filled. What starts as a trickle of people visiting the Cider Shop wanting extra drink tickets becomes a steady, undulating stream of customers ranging in age from their early 20s to 70s who want more tickets, or to take one or half a dozen different ciders home.

Early crowd favorites emerge at check-out: Alter Ego’s The Guardian Angel Blueberry Pomegranate; Bauman’s Peach Raspberry; Locust Cider’s Smoked Blueberry; Portland Cider Company’s Sangria; Schilling’s Pineapple Passionfruit;  Seattle Cider Company’s Gin Botanical; Woodbox’s Double Barrel Whiskey Barrel Ice Cider. People’s cider tastes are truly as eclectic as the cross-section of Portlanders who showed up today and the cideries filling glass after tasting glass.

Ciders for Sale at 2017 Cider Rite of Spring. Photo: Sean Connolly

But really, everything we have behind the table’s selling, a good sign. I fill orders and event tote bags briskly, occasionally eye the cheeseburger someone brought earlier as a snack that I don’t have time to munch on.  When time allows I make small talk with the buyers, asking them their favorite pours of the day. Unsurprisingly, favorites broadly run the range of ciders on tap. 

Just before my shift ends, I’m asked to substitute in at the Locust Cider table so their server can take a much-needed break. I’m glad I have my OLCC Server’s Permit so I can legally pour. I recently began working part time as a Brand Ambassador for Portland Cider Company, and enjoy interacting with people that are either new to cider or steeped in the craft. In between steady requests for Locust’s Smoked Blueberry, Chili Pineapple, and Vanilla Bean ciders, I chat briefly with a representative from McMenamin’s, and am surprised to learn that their Edgefield Winery has been producing cider since 1992.

I return to the Cider Store to see—somewhat to my relief—that a new crew is handling the transactions ably and don’t need me. My shift’s over: now it’s time to sample some of the ciders myself.

Cider Rite of Spring 2017 drew a large—and enthusiastic—number of Northwest cider aficionados. Photo: Kolin Leishman, NW Cider Brokers

Midway through the event, and the Evergreen’s hall is still packed. It takes crowd gymnastics make way to the tasting tables. I return to the Woodbox and Tumalo table, taste a Pippin Dry and Prickly Passionfruit , one of three samples each cidery is offering, respectively. Both are excellent, and proof that relative newcomers into the cider industry are arriving not only with great product out right of the gate, but with offerings that’ll sustain the Northwest’s reputation of one of the most diverse, innovative, and successful cider meccas in the country.

As I’m tasting, a man approaches and asks if he can snap a shot of four cider bottles and a 2017 Cider Rite of Spring tasting glass in front of a cedar-framed jockey box. The image is artful and the photographer moves with precision, so I ask what he’s going to do with the picture.

Turns out he is Steven Shomler, a former corporate banker who’s followed his passion and re-emerged as an active writer, radio host, and culinary storyteller. It’s quickly evident that not only has Shomler established a storytelling niche in the New American Cider Movement – as well as the local beer scene and Portland culinary movement – he’s dedicated his life to his love of craft in the same way so many of the cideries and people working at Cider Rite have.

Screenshot from the Portland Beer Podcast’s 3/20/17 feature on Cider Rite of Spring 2017. Photo: Steven Shomler. 

For the last hour of Cider Rite I head to tables stations with cideries that are relatively or completely new to me: Steelhead Cider out of Lake Chelan, Washington, Salem’s 1859 Cider Co., Baird and Dewar in Dayton, Oregon, Eugene, Oregon’s  Elk Horn Brewery,  https://www.redtankcider.com out of Bend, Oregon, who’s Pumpkin Pie cider is spicily delicious.  In the quest for completely new, I reluctantly bypass offerings from ‘more established’ cideries—which in this business remarkably often only means established in the past 4-5 years.

Over and over again as I talk to makers and marketers, the same storyline emerges, albeit with slightly different details. It’s the story of people with a passion for their craft , a sense of place, and a belief in the integrity of Northwest fruit and the creative cider-making process. Of striving and sometimes struggling, sometimes completely reinventing themselves and their carers along their cidermaking journey. And, ultimately, finding deep satisfaction through living life on their own terms and embracing the organic, sometimes messy nature of an industry that embraces the cycle of the seasons. And of course, making something that people love to drink.

 At Cider Rite of Spring, even the good-natured, yet sometimes passionate Portland-Seattle rivalry takes a backseat to showcasing Washington and Oregon cidermakers. Photo: Sean Connolly

As the taps close down at 5:45 and the hall finally begins to clear, I feel a brief sensation of melancholy with the realization that Cider Rite of Spring 2017 is coming to an end. Like spring itself, the event was colorful, bustling, frenetic, and seemed (for me) to come to an end quickly.

 But for the event organizers and volunteers beginning the break-down process, it’s not completely over until the hall is cleared. As I leave the Evergreen the realization hits that what I think is a long day is even longer and harder for others.  It fits, my perception of the cider industry, too: people work hard, make time for fun, but there’s not a lot of time to rest on one’s laurels. Things, and trends, move fast.

Cider Rite of Spring is hosted by the NW Cider Association, a trade organization that connects cider aficionados with cideries and cider makers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. Photo: Sean Connolly 

I recall watching throughout the day as Dorsey, Jana Daisy-Ensign of Finnriver and Gemma Schmit of Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider—also Pomme Boots co-founders and Cider Rite 2017 organizers—and Carolyn Winkler (also with Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider) were seemingly everywhere, coordinating logistics with the cidery representatives and VIPs, greeting event-goers, checking in with and providing volunteers like me affirmation and thanks. Their professionalism, energy—and effort—vastly eclipsed mine. I see Deron Davenport, Sam Rico, and Helen Lewis, Portland Cider Company colleagues that were here this morning even before I arrived and still here as I leave, still working.

It’s an ethos of hard work and energy that makes us cider aficionados who live in the Northwest, the region where dry-hopped cider was invented, very, very lucky. And despite our rainy, cold winter, apple and pear trees are beginning to blossom. Cider Rite of Spring 2017 was a reminder that warmer, brighter days are ahead.  And no matter what your cider preference is, there’s something you tasted today, or tomorrow, that’ll be worth raising a glass.

Sean Connolly is a cider enthusiast who’s much better at writing, talking up, and drinking cider then he is making it. He recently passed Level 1 of the the U.S. Association of Cider Maker’s Certification Program, and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Spring officially springing and cherry blossoms in the air gave birth to an idea. It’s a great time to pay homage to the pairing of cherries and hard ciders in the Pacific Northwest. Our region is blessed with an abundance of quality apples and cherries, so it’s no surprise our local cider-makers decided to combine two great tastes that taste great together. 

Each day or so over the next week I’m going to profile a different cherry cider concoction and share some thoughts. So without further ado...

Day 1: Hard Pom-Cherry  Atlas Cider Co., Bend, OR. 5.8% ABV

Sean’s Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars (average Untapped rating 3.7) 

The Sum-Up: Persephone would have wanted to drink this cider all the way back to Hades to drown her sorrows, if only she could have food and drink in the underworld. One of four flagship Atlas ciders produced by cider maker/owners Dan and Samantha McCoy, Pom-Cherry starts with a forward cherry flavor, but from then on it’s all pomegranate from middle to finish. The color is a lovely plum-wine hue, and you don’t have to sniff hard for notes of the fruit rumored to be the Garden of Eden’s apple (another trivia note: Wikipedia notes that pomegranate is derived from medieval Latin for ‘seeded apple.’). 

Taste wise Pom Cherry is an intensely tart experience coupled with a velvety mouthfeel; it would make a wonderful spring/summer cocktail ingredient (think Campari with more fruit sweetness). While I found myself wishing for a bit more apple expression for a skosh more balance, Hard Pom-Cherry Cider’s triumvirate of pomegranates, cherries, and apples will allow cider newcomers (and others) to bring their palates to the other end of the Angry Orchard sweet spectrum. It’s also a reminder of warmer days ahead, and the creativity that makes the New American Cider Movement so interesting. Atlas has more than shrugged.  

Color: Red-orange to deep amber. Coppery. 

Clarity: Clear as a Central Oregon sunny spring day. 

Carbonation: Petillant (Moderate carbonation) 

Aroma: Slightly herbal, but intensely pomegranate. 

Taste: Dry. tannic, and quite astringent. 

Balance: A little sweet on the forward, progressively tarter towards the finish

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

Two weeks ago at the end of September I hit the road for Hood River, Oregon.  In addition to some great breweries, the ‘Wind Surfing Capital of the World” also has something cider fans can appreciate: nearby Hood River Valley annually produces nearly 3,700 tons of Newtown Pippins.

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

The Newtown, also known as the Abermarle Pippin, is an American original.  Its origins date back to colonial times, and its heirloom quality makes for some fine ciders (think Reverend Nat’s Revelation Newtown Pippin (Amen!) or Original Sin’s Newtown Pippin Single Heirloom Varietal (Wicked good)).

Naturally I couldn’t resist picking some up for my own for an attempt at a Newtown Pippin single varietal cider to be made later.  But I digress…

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

The Hood River Valley is home to Fox Tail Cider, a relatively new cidery established by Bob Fox and Justin Cardwell (the head Cider Maker). While Fox Tail opened in 2013, the roots of its orchards go back to the late 1800s when German immigrant August Paasch originally planted apple trees for export back to Europe (and apparently made his own hard cider to the delight of locals).

Image copyright: Fox Tail Cider 

The cidery is located along the Valley’s Fruit Loop, next to Smiley’s Red Barn (where one can score the aforementioned Pippins), and there are up to 10 ciders to taste in Fox Tail’s taproom. But since I had a hike up to Angel’s Rest Trail planned afterwards, I decided to stick to five.

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

The Ginger Haven was the first up, and my favorite (but then, what redhead wouldn’t like a cider named ‘Ginger Haven’?) It clocked in at a 6.2% ABV, and had a very nice ginger bite, nice blonde color, a balanced dryness, and floral notes that were peachy (literally). I liked it enough to fill a growler with this seasonal offering, which sadly, like summer, is gone for now. My Untapped Rating: 3.5

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

Sir Issac, one of Fox Tail’s flagship ciders, was next. It’s a pleasing gold color with a green apple tartness that lingers like a late summer afternoon. Like Ginger Haven, it’s got a 6.2% ABV rate. My tasting notes have it rated decent, as in, ‘it won’t knock your socks off,’ but it’s definitely quaffable.  My Untapped Rating: 3.0

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

I got quite stuck --in a good way--on Brierberry for the third sample. This semi-dry cider has a 6.3% ABV and leaves you with no doubt that tart, jammy ciders done well can be just what the doctor ordered for summer afternoons. Brierberry has a great rose blush color that’s balanced with apple blossom notes. It was my second favorite, and one I would bring to a summer cookout for cider novitiates. My Untapped Rating: 3.25

 Docklands was next. At 6.9% ABV, it was kicking up the kick a notch. Fox Tail calls Docklands an ‘Irish style cider, and double-ferments it. The result is a respectable drink that to me had definite grassy notes and a farmhouse, scrumpy-style flavor. My only (mild) complaint about Docklands is that, unlike Ginger Haven and Brierberry, it had an abrupt finish. Kind of like my command of the lyrics to “Danny Boy.” My Untapped Rating: 3.0

Image Credit: Sean Connolly

I wrapped up my tasting with the IHC, or Imperial Hopped Cider. Like Docklands it’s 6.9% ABV. A dash of hop flavor and aroma was easy to get in every sip, but IHC left me wanting more apple notes and finish for balance. I think with a little more apple, over time, IHC could muscle into the list of must-taste dry-hopped ciders. My Untapped Rating: 3.0

The take-away: I like Fox Tail’s eclecticism and the fact that they’ve established what I hope will be one of several flagship Gorge cidery destinations. Fox Tail embodies the New American Cider Movement (you heard that catch-phrase here first, folks) that honors old world taste while showcasing American innovation by as pairing apple blends and single varietals with interesting fruits and veggies (think boysenberries, raspberries, plums, rhubarb).  I still haven’t tried their full lineup, and based on Justin Cardwell’s constantly changing array of seasonals, more trips to the tasting room might be in order. Taproom host Paige Munyan is friendly and helpful, too; don’t be afraid to ask questions. And the Taproom has seating both inside and out, for those Oregon days when sitting surrounded by orchards seems just the thing. 

Image Credit: Outside Patio of Fox Tail (lysmekah, Aug 2014)

 I’m looking forward to seeing their ciders further evolve in complexity and become more widely available (for the moment outside the taproom they’re mainly available in Western Washington and Central/North Central Oregon).

But until then, Fox Tail is a great excuse to take a road trip and visit Hood River. As if you needed one anyway, right?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way." Charles Dickens: A Tale Of Two Cities (1859)

So it is with #Cider, or #HardCider, because while the industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds, Most Americans still don’t get hard cider. Figuratively in many cases: despite being one of America’s first and one could argue most patriotic of Colonial-era drinks, it still pales in consumption quantity to beer. 

And also, unfortunately, literally: outside of a few cider bastions like the Pacific Northwest, Upper Midwest states like Minnesota and Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, or New York, quality craft cider that is not made by Woodchuck or Smith and Forge is hard to come by. (I SHOULD give props to the folks at Smith and Forge, though for having a great interactive timeline on some historical cider events, most real, some subject to interpretation.)

But for those of us fortunate enough to live in cider Meccas like Oregon, getting access to quality ciders made by 21st Century cider revolutionaries like Apple Outlaw and Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider is far easier than a 18th century Gallic aristocrat trying to survive the French Revolution. 

I recently stopped by Reverend Nat’s Taproom -- established with help from Kickstarter campaign donations -- and was lucky enough to try two fantastic ciders currently on tap: Reverend Nat’s Revival Mountain Rose and Apple Outlaw’s Ginger Bite. The former is made from an apple variety grown only in Oregon’s Hood River Valley; the latter recently won Gold at the Third Annual Portland International Cider Cup. 

Let’s break down what makes these ciders worth tasting: 

#1 Revelation Mountain Rose: 

ABV: 6.4%. Single varietal. Special stuff inside: Mountain Rose apples, grown only in Oregon by Hood River Organics

Where to find it: Reverend Nat’s Public Taproom

Bubble Meter: High

Aroma and Berry/Fruit taste: Oregon strawberries

Acidity: Nice and tart, with great balance. 

Taste: Dry, but not tannic. 

Quick summary: According to Gemma at Reverend Nat’s, the Mountain Rose is a top-seller at the taproom. Maybe it’s because Oregonians and out-of-town visitors needed a break from the heat, or maybe it’s because this cider has a remarkable balance and fruit forwardness--and ok, a linger-on-the-middle and back palate finish, too--that makes it eminently quaffable on overcast and brutally hot summer days alike. Or maybe it’s because, like so many of Reverend Nat’s unique cider recipes, Mountain Rose is liquid magic courtesy of a hard-to-find apple varietal with incredible color, aroma, and taste. Find--and drink-- Revelation Mountain Rose while it lasts: like a Pacific Northwest summer, it sparkles, has jammy notes that would please Phish, and will probably be gone before we want it to. Until next year, that is. 

#2 Apple Outlaw’s Ginger Bite 

ABV: 6.0%. Blended apples. Peruvian Yellow Ginger. 

Where to find it: Reverend Nat’s Public Taproom, Portland Cider House Bushwhacker Cider 

Bubble Meter: Medium

Aroma: Wildflowers. And ginger, baby...

Acidity: Nice and complex, accentuated by the ginger.

Taste: Dry, with a back-of-the-throat mild ginger burn/finish Canada Dry wishes they could bottle. 

This is a new blog about cider. Just what the world needed, right? 

No, scratch that. It’s a blog that’s about a transformative journey with cider. MY journey with cider. How it started, what I’ve learned so far, what I’m learning now, where I’m going in my own life with this new drink that has me excited and fascinated. 

Like any journey, it has a beginning; a humble one. And a history. And storylines. With heroes and characters and triumphs and stumbles along the way. Comedy. Tragedy. Occasional absurdity, much of which will be provided by yours truly.  And it’s a journey that’s really just beginning. Follow along, if you will...

But the story of my connection with cider isn’t mine alone; it’s the story of how people across the United States are rediscovering cider, too. Our European cousins are probably chuckling at us upstart Americans: we’re singing the praises of a beverage that’s been a mainstay of English, French, and Spanish drinking culture for centuries. But the cool thing is, they’re helping, too. Because they know that cider is a beverage that knows no borders. And that is best shared with others. 

I find myself wondering: why does cider matter now--why are people noticing it NOW? And hell, why did it take me so long to find cider? Or...what if cider found me? If you haven’t read Michael Pollen’s mind bending ‘The Botany of Desire,’ (or seen the PBS special) read it and it’s unique twist on the relationships between plants and humans. Especially apples, cider and American history, and the things you never knew about John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed. 

Whatever the reason -- and I look forward to exploring those reasons and writing about them -- there’s something marvelous about ‘discovering’ something that really has a rich and deep legacy. It makes me appreciate the craft, the people that make it it their life and livelihood, the centuries of trial and error, human ingenuity, sharing knowledge, and of course our deep connection to the earth, the seasons, planting, harvest, and food. 

And feeling good, right? Isn’t that what cider drinking is all about, to feel good? (but not too good) To quote the inimitable Robert Frost in “In a Glass of Cider,” ‘I'd catch another bubble if I waited. The thing was to get now and then elated.’ By the way, you can find more fun cider quotes at Bramblewood Cider’s website, including a choice one from the inimitable Ozzy Osbourne. 

Before getting too far along on this writing path it seems wrong not to give a nod to some really informative pieces about cider and cider making. Chris Legault’s excellent blog, A Brief Cider History, is one, so is Claude Jolicoeur’s The New Cider Maker’s Handbook, an exhaustive guide to cider, cider making, and apples. Most of the really good information in this post is a result of research and writing by done by other people, like  I’m looking forward to sharing their work, and want to express my thanks in advance for letting me learn from them stand on their shoulders. 

Like any journey, the first steps in creating this blog--and to write, record, document, learn, share--are the hardest and scariest. It’s taken some courage and more time than it should have even to set this blog up. But here we go. 

Because like cider’s humble beginnings apple buds in the orchard, actually earlier: when the first seeds are first sown, it’s time to let these ideas that have lain dormant in my head germinate.  I’m hoping that over time with patience, diligence, experimentation, and just having fun, this will blossom into something quaffable, something worth sharing, and definitely worth imbibing. 

Cheers,