Cider Adventures
Stella and Scrumpy
In case you’re wondering what’s up, I've decided to move my cider adventures over here at Medium. It’s away from Facebook, so certain of my friends won’t be overwhelmed by cider jealousy. Okay, that’s not exactly true. Apparently I was annoying some people with my alcoholic endeavors. So, I’m moving out. I’ll still post links in Facebook (and now Twitter), but the body of content will be here. It should also be noted that, if you don’t know me, you should be aware that I’m not a professional cider critic or anything. For a long time, I’ve been trying to find SOME type of beer that I liked. It just wasn’t happening. Maybe there is still some brew out there for me, but I think I might just not like the taste of hops. I was not, however, to be dissuaded from finding that casual drink that I could enjoy with friends over the weekend. In waltzed cider. Okay, it didn’t waltz in. It’s liquid…in a bottle (or can). It doesn’t waltz. BUT…I might be able to waltz after a couple ciders.
Anyway.
After getting my hands on some pretty standard Woodchuck, I wasn't completely sold, but I knew that I could theoretically love hard cider. I love fresh cider and wasn’t clearly disgusted by the Woodchuck in the same way that I generally have been with most beers (also please note that my beer experience has generally been with your standard grocery store brands as well as a few IPAs here and there). It took a few years, but recently hard ciders have really been taking off in popularity which means that the availability and visibility of more and more brands and types have increased. So, I began sampling. I actually started with Redd’s Apple Ale. It’s obviously not a cider, but it was a step toward developing my palatte. I started looking at more fruit beers and other things. I’m not going to go through the whole process, but it’s led to me scouring the internet, talking with friends, digging through package stores, and becoming knowledgeable about different types of alcohols and how they relate to cider. I’ve also become much more conscientious and purposeful about how and when I drink. All that to get to this past weekend, and it’s cider adventures.
Okay — I don’t know about you, but for me it’s been a long week. As I like to say, it’s been a long week — not a bad one. Even so, when my friend Kate texted to see if I wanted to go out to dinner Friday night, it took me about 5 seconds to reply, “Yes!” Tyson was going to the racetrack with Mike, and I just wanted to do something that wasn’t work. So, she and I ended up going to Dakota’s Steakhouse where I’d never been. Of course, it was Friday night and the entire dining room was full, so we ended up sitting in the bar which is perfectly fine with me. The waitress came to get our drink order, and I asked if they had any ciders. You may or may not have experienced this. She led with a look that basically said, “I’m not sure if you have two heads or not, but it sure looks that way right now.” I repeated my request and she recovered by saying that they did have Redd’s Apple Ale (it’s NOT a cider…sheesh) and “oh yeah, we do have Stella Cidre.” Well, I’d not had Stella Cidre prior to this because of several reviews that I’d read and the fact that I didn’t want to spend good money on a four-pack of bottles if I was just going to be purchasing a mediocre product. I order the Stella Cidre. “It’s just one glass,” I figured. Good choice.
Okay, the reviews weren’t wrong. The Stella Cidre is nothing particularly special. It’s a little too sweet for it’s own good. But for a drink paired with BBQ ribs, it was just about perfect. It doesn’t hurt that it’s served in a Stella Cidre glass which is admittedly a bit sexy if a little pretentious. I’m still not sure if I’d spend money on a four-pack, but it was a good choice for sitting at the bar and an even better choice for sitting on the patio listening to music and talking to some guys about kids, spouses, and George Carlin. Yup, that happened. Thank you Stella Cidre.
It was a good night. I ended up having TWO cidres which was supposed to be my quota for the entire weekend. The lies we tell ourselves. Kate and I had made plans to go to Jungle Jim’s the next day. The boys were golfing. The kids were vegging. It was a great opportunity to participate in one of my other favorite gastronomic hobbies — car sushi. Jungle Jim’s has one of the most extensive beer/wine/liquor/other sections I’ve ever seen. It also has an onsite sushi bar. Yum. My plan was to look for some specific ciders and also see if I could find a Korean raspberry wine or Bokbunja Ju. Well, I did get some weird looks over the bokbunja ju (or bokbunjajoo), and I wasn’t able to find all of the exact ciders I was looking for, but I did come away with some gems and some hopeful gems.
One of the ciders that I’d been looking for was JK Scrumpy produced by the Almar Orchard in Michigan. This has been billed as a very simple, organic cider that says it’s made from two things — apple juice and yeast. Many ciders contain sulfites. This isn’t one of them. I’m not entirely sure what “scrumpy” means, but it seems totally appropriate for this cider. I purchased the farmhouse cider which is a rich cider that has lots of apple and bread notes. I described it to Kate as a cider with cider added back into after the fermentation process. I’m not sure if that’s actually the case, but there was definitely a big presence of apple juice in it. It’s unfortunate that this wasn’t available in small bottles than the 22 oz. one I purchased. I’m also not sure that I can recommend it at this point. I think that I might have gotten a cold weather cider on a warm weather night.
I have A LOT of other things to try in the refrigerator but they’ll have to wait for another weekend. Back to my two ciders a weekend — next weekend.
