Journey into Sonoma
Into the bourbon barrel and back again
The best way to describe this day is to just not. Monday, you have defeated me. Of course, not everything fell apart, but enough did to just tick me off. So, I ended up coming home early from work and NOT doing the work that I’d planned to do upon entering the house. Too many people. Too much noise. Too many reasons to NOT say, “Get the heck out of here and leave me alone.” Like…that’s terrible behavior, and I don’t really want to estrange these people that I love. So, I decided, “Let’s do something productive…like drink cider.” Oh, I know. It sounds self-serving. Because it is. But even so, I made a point to select the cider that I really wasn’t sure about. I’d already opened it previously just to get a sip, but now I was determined to not only finish it, but also decide whether or not I liked it and why or why not.
Here he is. This cider is definitely a “he.” The Anvil by Sonoma Cider is a bourbon cider. Their website says, “You can age subtly in bourbon barrels…but with Anvil…we tossed nuance aside and added a healthy measure of our proprietary barrel-proof bourbon flavor.” It should also be added that the first line of the company’s description of this cider is “We…love bourbon.”
Full disclosure — I've never had bourbon, so this was a double education.
As I said, I’d opened this bottle previously for a sip. Two sips to be exact. I wasn’t sold after the first one. This is definitely a different animal. But, I went back for the second one. I still wasn’t sold, but there was something there. I gotta say, this cider reminded me of that guy that annoys the living crap out of you initially until you realize that he’s just about all you think about. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. I knew I needed to get to know this cider a little better before I wrote it off.
So, I sat down with it, a decent glass (yeah, I prefer to drink my cider from a glass even if I’m pouring from a can), and some cheddar jalapeno Cheetos. Don’t judge me. They’re like a palette cleanser/reset (or they might just be awesomely delicious — you decide).
I’m not sure how you drink cider, but I think that if you’re going to drink something, you have to be able to trust it. If I can’t roll something around in my mouth, it’s not worth my time. The first real drink needs to be just that. It needs to be fully experienced and tested all the way down to your stomach and back up through your nose. I know. It sounds weird, but hear me out. You start by smelling it. You’ve probably seen wine drinkers do this and thought they were beyond pretentious, but it’s a real thing. You need to smell it and think about the layers of scents.
With the Anvil (as I shall heretofore refer to “him”), there is an undeniable scent of aged liquor. I remember sniffing the cork from a bottle of Gran Patron Burdeos. Of course the Anvil doesn’t smell like tequila, but it’s a similar musky, woody scent. It’s not unpleasant but it’s definitely not what you’d expect if you were just thinking “apple.” And it’s not subtle. The producers got that right. It’s a definite liquor scent (which is a little sexy if one must admit, but one mustn’t).
So, you’ve got the scent. I suspect this what is generally referred to as the bouquet, but I don’t want to use that term too tightly because there are several bouquets in my estimation. We’ll get there in a minute.
Now, you need to take a drink — but don’t swallow. This isn’t over yet. This is where the trust part comes in. You need to let the cider hit every part of your tongue as well as the back of your throat. There are different taste receptors on different parts of your tongue and it’s important to engage them all. Also, the back of your throat leads not only to your stomach but also to your nose. This is how you’re going to get to experience another aspect of the bouquet.
While you may anticipate a heavy liquor taste based on the initial scent of the Anvil, once it’s on the tongue, it’s very smooth and here’s where a real sense of the apple comes in. This is fairly dry, but you can also taste apple juice. I’m not sure if they add some in after the fermentation process, but it’s definitely there — not overly sweet, not cloying, but present.
Then you get the bourbon again, but it’s at the back of your throat and up in your sinuses. I have to say, this was very pleasant, and it only intensifies after swallowing. It sat very warmly in my stomach and was accompanied by a strong but pleasant woody liquor scent through the sinuses.
All in all, I enjoyed the Anvil. For those who care about those things, this is organic as well as gluten and sulfite free. It lists itself as 6% alcohol but acts a little more stout. It will most likely appeal to the more experienced cider drinker, but may also encourage novice drinkers to experiment a little. While I wouldn’t recommend this as an “everyday” cider, it’s definitely on my list of winners based on it’s interesting and complex character.
It’s that guy that’s annoying that you realize you can’t stop thinking about and then realize you have to or you’re going to flunk out of college. Save it for special occasions.
