WINE AND DRINKS

20/07/2012 by Natasha M with the help of ratebeer website

Best Ciders of the World

What is Cider?
Made from fermented apple juice, cider comes in a number of varieties. English cider is dry, with fruity, tannic qualities and low carbonation. This can be found cask-conditioned in England. Normandy is another major cider-producing region, with a sweeter, more effervescent, very complex style. Ciders produced elsewhere are often sweet, simple beverages for mass consumption, though there are some good English-style ciders in North America and Norman-style ciders in Quebec.

Cidre Dupont Réserve 
Domaine Familial Louis Dupont
Victot-Pontfol, France

This natural cider has matured six months in oak casks which had previously contained calvados and has been bottled at the domaine dupont 14430 Victot-Pontfol France.

Yellow in colour with no head, light alcohol lacing. A little cider vinegar in the aroma, oak, wood, earth, good sweetness, apples. The flavour is sweet, lots of apples, oak, green apples, caramel. Smooth mouthfeel, medium/light body, mild carbonation. Finishes long, sweet, apple skins.

Sea Cider Rumrunner (2006 - Newfoundland Screech Rum) 
Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse
Central Saanich, British Columbia

Home-grown heritage apples, including Winesaps and Gravensteins, were hand pressed using our traditional rack and cloth press, slowly fermented with Champagne yeast then aged in rum barrels. Notes of brown sugar and spice give complexity to this semi-dry sparkling cider.

Amber pour with no discernable head. apple, woody, brown sugar aroma nice apple flavour, woody spiced rum as well. Very drinkable and the alc is not noticable at all.

Archibald Orchards Spiced Winter Apple 
Archibald Orchards and Estate Winery
Bowmanville, Ontario

Poured a nice copper orange liquid, slick and slow on the glass leaves creeping legs. McIntosh skins, dry and a bit earthy.. just a bit. Lightly spiced thankfully. Pretty much smells like apple crisp. Pretty tasty and once again thankfully underspiced. Tart apples, light spice, plenty of tang and acidity. Thick and slick and leaves a solid mouth coating. The warmer the better. Lingerings sweetness and acidity finish off most the sips after the half way point of the bottle.

Etienne Dupont Organic Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie 
Domaine Familial Louis Dupont
Victot-Pontfol, France

Poured cloudy medium golden with a quickly-fizzling white head. The aroma picked up tangy Calvados and oak, with a little age evident.. dank, earthy undertones. The flavor found tangy apple skins and prickly carbonation throughout.. meatier apple and oak on the middle.. grainy, tart finish. Medium-bodied and very fizzy on the palate.

J.K.’s Solstice Hard Cider 
Almar Orchards
Flushing, Michigan

As the sun arcs low in the mid day sky, this year’s harvest is slowly fermenting in its winter slumber. Everyone here at the Orchard enjoys a few halcyon days to remember the hard work in the last year’s harvest. We look forward to next year’s crop of apples. To warm ourselves in the cold northern solstice we enjoy our winter cider. Lightly spiced with ethically traded cinnamon, vanilla and a wee drop of syrup from our old Maple trees on our farm. Enjoy this wonderful cider cool or gently warmed, savor a tipple to reflect on your last year and bountiful new year beginning.

Nose is full of fresh apple juice and a hint of cinnamon with some alcohol in the background. Poured a light tan color with some small bubbles forming around the glass. Taste was incredibly delectable with sweet, rich apple flavor followed by a mild cinnamon spice and a masked but present hint of vanilla. It reminded me of apple sauce with cinnamon. Excellent cider that would go over well at the Christmas get-together.

Flag Hill Farm Vermont Sparkling Hard Cyder 
Flag Hill Farm
Vershire, Vermont

Sparkling Hard Cyder makes a festive addition to any party and is the perfect compliment to fine foods and desserts. Hand crafted in The Old French Champagne Style or "Methode Champenoise", our cyder is transformed from a dry still wine to a magnificent sparkling elixir. The finished product is outfitted with an authentic champagne cork and adorned with a traditional wire hood. Aged two years before bottling; then aged for another year in a handsome Champagne bottle and finished with an authentic champagne cork and wire hood. Excellent tiny bubbles.

The cork comes off with a loud "pop". A little bit of foaming, but luckily I’ve got a glass nearby. Pours a clear golden yellow with lots of small carbonation bubbles constantly racing to the top. Looks great in a Hill Farmstead tasting glass. The aroma of brett, spice and a touch of alcohol rise up from the glass. Sweet and dry with a nice earthiness to it. Also picking out some barrel notes on nose with a hint of vinegar. The taste follows the nose with some earthy dry brett that balances out the cider sweetness. A hint of spice with dry apple and a bit of peel. Wood tannin and light cider vinegar acidity. Mouthfeel is spritzy, little bit of foam, dry, some warming alcohol and a light sourness/tartness. Great stuff.

Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie 
Domaine Familial Louis Dupont
Victot-Pontfol, France

Unfiltered, unpasterized cider

On bottle from Vinmonpolet Stovner. Golden color, some immediate foam- then flattens out. Good fruit/ apple intensity . Good carbonation, soft bubbles. Long aftertaste Well balanced and enjoyable

Cidrerie Léo Boutin Pomelle 
Cidrerie Léo Boutin
Mont-St-Gregoire, Quebec

Apple mistelle digestive with 16% alcohol. This amber product is sweet. It strongly summons the bouquet of oven apples. Concoct innovative desserts by blending in a few milliliters. To be served cold between 4 and 6 C.

Pours a crisp golden yellow hue, no haze, some legs on swirl with no head. Not a remarkable color. Aromas are crisp apples, sweet and dry, mixing with a touch of honey, syrup, faint spice, and dryness. Nice apple presence, but not overly sweet. Initial is thicker, sticking to the palate well moving into sweet apples, touches of honey, a bit syrupy, with some mellow vanilla, no real spice. Middle lingers a bit, losing a bit of focus, some lingering sweet syrupy apples lose a true apple pronounced flavor, a touch of heat ABV. Finish is lingering crisp apples and swqeet sugary elements. Aroma is great, flavor is nice.

Crispin Stagger Lee 
Crispin Cider Company (Tenth and Blake Beer Co.)
Minneapolis, Minnesota             

Boom, Boom. A big, bold swaggering cider, blended to the edge of dangerous. An American original. An authentic American rock ‘n roll cider.
Blended 3 times, using apple-wines aged in American rye whiskey barrels – Colfax Classic apple-wine plus a “Forbidden Fruit” experimental wit-style yeast fermentation. Final blend with unfiltered fresh-pressed Gravenstein apple juice.
ABV: 6.9%
Poured Appearance: Whiskey Cloudy. Slightly opaque.
Color: Rich golden orange.
Aroma: Mild moonshine Tennessee woods, soft spicy rye whiskey, ripe apple.
Flavor: Dry, subtly spicy rye whiskey, butterscotch, faint banana & ripe apple with mild apple-skin tannins. Full bodied sexy finish.

            

Final Blend: 63% fermented apple-wine, 23% Gravenstein fresh-pressed apple juice.
Unfiltered & blended from apple-wine straight from the rye whiskey barrels. Give a solid, firm bottoms-up tilt and swirl to disperse sediment evenly to best enjoy whiskey aromas and unique bouquet. Best enjoyed at cellar temperature, 50/55F, with or without 1 or 2 ice cubes.
Stagger Lee is most certainly worthy of aging in your cellar.           

Hazy yellow color, thin white head. Huge aroma of booze. Smells like rum! Hint of apple and loads of oak. Some Saké aromas as it warms. Flavors of apple juice, rye spice, whiskey aged oak, and barrel aged whiskey. Spicy tingle on the palate. Nice fresh apple character. Very well developed juice. Long lingering flavor of whiskey long after the juice has been long gone. HUGE WHISKEY character. A bit of burn in the end. Smooth, clean. Very special and worth every penny.

Etienne Dupont Cidre Cuvee Colette 
Domaine Familial Louis Dupont
Victot-Pontfol, France

Variety of apples: 80% of bitter-sweet apples (Mettais, Binet Rouge and Frequin) and 20% of acid apples (Judaines and Petit Jaune) Pressing density: 1065 Fermentation takes place in Inox tank. Wild yeasts are used and fermentation is controlled mainly by settlement extraction. After the traditional fermentation in a barrel, it is the bottle itself that, thanks to a secondary fermentation, the “prise de mousse” takes place. This natural phenomenon requires careful and patient attention to each bottle. During the aging period “sur lattes”, the bottles are rotated daily, manually, gradually from the horizontal to the vertical position, in order that the sediment will accumulate in the neck of the bottle, to await removal. At the time of “degorgement”, the neck of the bottle is frozen and, enclosed in ice, the sediment is then removed.

Pours a clear pale yellow color with a small fast disappearing white head. Hasa fruity spicy apple aroma. Fruity slightly spicy tart apple flavor. Has a fruity spicy apple finish.

Verger du Minot Crémant de Glace 
Verger du Minot
Hemmingford, Quebec

A pleasing selection of ice cider and our acclaimed Crémant de pomme.

Pours a clear gold with small bits of a white head on the fringe. Best smelling cider I’ve smelled in a long time, smells of warm homemade applesauce, has a bit of the caramel acidity of ice cider. Beautiful. Medium bodied, velvety but with just the smallest hint of carbonation, sort of microcarbonation, very fine. Sweet apples, a touch of acidity, light with lingering apple sugar. Quite beautiful. Delicious.

Woodchuck Private Reserve Barrel Select Cider 
Vermont Hard Cider Company, LLC
Middlebury, Vermont

Woodchuck Private Reserve Barrel Select is our ultra-limited cider crafted in small batches for a rare taste of sweet, crisp apple cider combined with smoky, dry bourbon flavors. Aged in genuine white oak Kentucky bourbon barrels, this copper-hued gem pairs excellently with cheese, pork roast and chocolate cake. Served best at 50 degrees, Barrel Select is truly an exclusive joy to relish.

Pours a clear golden pale colored cider, with a fast dissipating off-white head that leaves behind some bubble ring. Aroma of sweet apple, cinnamon, a hint of creme tartar, and a hint of bubblegum. Taste is medium bodied, with flavors of sweet golden apples, cinnamon, a hint of coconut, caraway and powdered herbs. Finish is semi-sweet with a balanced apple and spice aftertaste. One of Woodchuck’s best offerings.

Woodchuck Private Reserve Belgian White 
Vermont Hard Cider Company, LLC
Middlebury, Vermont

A handcrafted treasure, the ultra-limited edition Private Reserve Belgian White, is crafted with a classic Belgian beer yeast. Cloudy, with a rich golden hue, it presents a delicate aroma and taste, with coriander and orange notes. It pares excellently with seafood fare, mixed greens or sharp cheeses. Join the select few who get an exclusive taste of the fruits of our labor.

Serving: Draft. An interesting mix of styles here. There is sort of an apply Belgian Wit nose to it. The flavor is a mix of Granny Smith apples, yeast, and orange peel. Perhaps a bit heavier on the palate than most ciders. Off dry finish. Interesting take but I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Cidre Dupont Réserve Récolte 
Domaine Familial Louis Dupont
Victot-Pontfol, France

Fut De Calvados

Pours light yellow, with a full head quickly dissolving. Very bubbly, but still a feeling of moderate carbonation when tasting. Aroma is very fruity, with almost brett-like notes, as well as grapes, earth, barrel and white wine. Flavour is sweet of apples and some tropical notes of mango, pineapple and flowers, as well as grapes and a vinous oakiness.

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