Category: Cider

Rebel Jack Hard Cider

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Maker: Rebel Jack, Dexter, Michigan, USAwp-1465347138957.jpg

Style: Dry, bottle-conditioned hard apple cider.

ABV: 13%

Purchased for $16 (Holiday Market)

Appearance: Slightly cloudy medium gold. Effervescent.

Nose: Pineapple, unidentifiable spice, yeast, tannin, gouda cheese.

Palate: Medium dry, medium mouthfeel. A little brett, a little tannin. Fades to cheap moldy swiss cheese.

Finish: Bitter, musky finish. Fades to candle wax.

Parting words: This one started OK and finished awful. The website recommends that it be chilled and that does improve it but once that wears off, it’s very difficult to drink. I think they’re going for a Norman style dry cider here, but either this bottle is contaminated or they need to keep trying. For $16, this needs to be more than a work in progress. Rebel Jack Hard Cider is not recommended. They seem to have started with meads, hopefully those are better.

Chaos Cider Sweet Peach

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Maker: Verterra Winery, Leland, Michigan, USA20160510_184300-1.jpg

Style: Apple-Peach cider

ABV: 6.5%

Purchased for $13 (Michigan By the Bottle Tasting Room, Royal Oak)

Appearance: Bright gold. Very little carbonation noticeable.

Nose: Canned peaches, sweetened apple sauce.

Palate: Fresh white peaches, Golden Delicious apples, minerals, lemon thyme.

Finish: Semi dry with a tart tingle on the tongue.

Parting words: This is the third Chaos cider I’ve reviewed. Like the other fruit flavored ciders in the line, the unfermented apple cider is combined with a fruit wine base and then fermented together. That process makes it less of a flavored cider than a compound fruit wine.

It was not as sweet and sticky as I expected, but it still has enough weight to hold up to club soda and ice. Cherry Blush is more complex and frankly better than this, but Sweet Blush is still worth a try if you’re in the mood for some light patio drinking. Sweet Peach is recommended.

Cherry Blush Hard Cider

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Maker: Chaos Cider/Verterra Winery, Leland, Michigan, USA20160308_175236-1.jpg

Style: Cherry flavored apple cider.

ABV: 6.5%

Purchased for $13/750 ml (Michigan by the Bottle Tasting Room, Royal Oak). Growlers available at the winery for $20, with $16 refills.

Appearance: Dark pink with light bubbles.

Nose: Fresh cut Golden Delicious apples, cherry jello salad.

Palate: Effervescent and semi-sweet. Apple juice, cherry cola, fruit salad juice (with cherries of course), slice of Granny Smith.

Finish: Crisp, dry and quick.

Parting words: I reviewed the Just Apple from Chaos Cider (Verterra Winery by day) back in the fall and I liked it. I like this too. According to a phone conversation with the owner, Cherry Blush starts as cider, then is fermented with a “cherry wine base” (unfermented I assume). This is not a case of adding cherry juice or flavoring to a finished cider. The more complex method shows in the excellent balance here. This isn’t fruit covering up subpar cider, it’s a harmonious blend of cherry and apple. I like it before, during or after a meal. Chaos Cherry Blush is recommended.

¿querry?, 2013

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Maker: Bonny Doon, King City, California, USA2016-02-16-18.01.30.jpg.jpeg

Style: Pear/apple/quince cider (62%/36%/2%)

ABV: 6.9%

Purchased for $12

Appearance: Light gold

Nose: Canned Bartlett pears, apple juice from concentrate, leather, fresh fig. As it warms, a faint varnish aroma emerges.

Palate: Tart up front, then the pear and what I assume are tannic quince flavors take over. Some apple juice in the background.

Finish: Tannic, then tart. Long-lasting.

Parting words: Bonny Doon is best known for their cigare volant wine series. Those have weird, UFO-themed packaging, but are serious, delicious wines. Here the weirdness is all in the bottle, not on it. Querry is simultaneously very tart and very tannic but with enough sweetness to keep it drinkable. It’s too extreme to be a go-to, but as an occasional cider or something to share with adventurous friends it works. Pretty food friendly too. 2013 is the current release. A sparkling 2011 is also listed on the Bonny Doon website. Querry is recommended.

Beard Bender

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Maker: Blake’s Hard Cider, Armada (ar-MAY-duh), Michigan, USA20160202_121545.jpg

Style: Dry cider

ABV: 6.5%

Purchased for $10/6 pack (cans)

Appearance: At first pour has a big, fizzy, soda pop head. Light gold and slightly cloudy.

Nose: Homemade applesauce, medium sweet aroma.

Palate: Semi-dry. A little apple character and minerality. Tannin on the back end.

Finish: Tannic and bone dry. Apple core, fresh picked apple, gravel dust. Progressively less apple and more dryness as one moves throught nose, palate and finish.

Parting words: I reviewed Blake’s (semi-) sweet cider Flannel Mouth a couple weeks ago. It was fine as an entry level cider or something for the casual drinker. Beard Bender is drier but still very accessible. Drinkers who are used to sweet corporate ciders might be taken off guard a little, but by the time they finish it, they’ll love it.

Beard Bender is an ideal table cider as well. It works best with the sort of cuisine that naturally pairs with dry white or pink wines, but no need to get picky. I had it with a porterhouse steak once and it still did very well. Not as well as a big dry red wine or a porter, it still did well. $10 is a solid price, too. Beard Bender is recommended.

Blake’s Flannel Mouth Hard Cider

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Maker: Blake’s, Armada, Michigan, USA2016-01-19-10.54.28.jpg.jpeg

Style: Semi-sweet apple cider

ABV: 6.5%

Price: $10/6 pack of cans

Appearance: Pale gold with a fizzy but short-lived head.

Nose: Apple juice, fresh off the tree apples, gravel, citrus blossom.

Palate: Semi-sweet and slightly effervescent. Light and easy drinking with good apple flavor and some structure-providing tannin.

Finish: Sweetness with some minerals in the background.

Parting words: Blake’s, like Uncle John’s, is an cidery and an agricultural attraction like Uncle John’s. Blake’s is closer to Detroit, though, just twenty-five miles north of Sterling Heights, Michigan in Macomb county, one of the three counties in the metro area. They produce a line of ciders including the dry Beard Bender, spiced El Chavo, hopped Catawampus, farmhouse Cider Dayze and sweet Flannel Mouth. They also produce a line of seasonal ciders and limited editions.

Flannel Mouth is a pretty good entry-level cider. It’s pretty sweet, so it may not be one to serve to those who think cider is too sweet, but for the casual cider drinkers or the ci-curious it’s a good choice. Acessible, but with depth. $10 for a six pack isn’t cheap but it isn’t bananas either. Flannel Mouth is recommended.

Bon Chrétien: An American Perry, 2013

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Maker: Vander Mill, Spring Lake, Michigan, USAwpid-2015-11-10-21.22.43.jpg.jpeg

Style: Bartlett pear perry (pear cider).

ABV: 6.8%

Purchased for $11/750 ml (Holiday Market)

Appearance: Bright gold and effervescent. Even some crystals near the bottom.

Nose: Canned pears, apple juice, flint.

Palate: Fizzy and medium bodied. Fresh cut ripe pear, but without the sweetness. Semi-dry, with some mineral water on the back end.

Finish: Crisp and clean at first, but the pear creeps back to linger for a nice long time.

Parting words: Vander Mill is not a Johnny-come-lately winery or agricultural attraction that has decided to turn to cider to fill out its portfolio. It is about cider and has been since its beginning in 2006. As far as I can tell, this is their only perry. The name is from the original 15th century (my favorite century) French name for Bartlett pears. It’s a part of their Heritage series of specialty ciders in 750 ml bottles. The others in that series are the all heritage variety Chapman’s Blend (named for John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, early American apple evangelist and eccentric), Chapman’s Oak (self-explanatory) and Too Gold, a blend of three golden heirloom varieties.

I think this is the first perry I’ve reviewed since the blog started, so I don’t have much to compare it with, but this is a delicious product. It has all the flavor of a good, ripe Bartlett pear, but has an elegant dryness that takes it beyond what I expected. That and it’s great price makes this an easy buy. Bon Chrétien is highly recommended.

Totally Roasted

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Maker: Vander Mill, Spring Lake, Michigan, USAwpid-2015-10-26-12.18.27.jpg.jpeg

Style: Cider with pecans, vanilla and cinnamon (sugar added).

ABV: 6.9%

Purchased for $11/4 pint cans (Holiday Market)

Appearance: Pale gold with a little effervescence.

Nose: Toffee apples, toasted pecans.

Palate: Still effervescent. Light and semi-sweet. Candy apple with nuts, but never sticky or cloying.

Finish: Crisp and clean with a lingering nuttiness.

Parting words: This is the third Vander Mill cider I’ve reviewed and they’ve all been good. This one is no exception. It’s flavorful without being obnoxiously so. What keeps the flavor in check is a solid dry cider base. It’s so well balanced that it even drinks well with a meal, not just after one. I had it with everything from Pierogis and Kielbasa to rum-soused halibut and it held up well. The price is fair for an artisanal cider of this quality. I like the pint cans too. Vander Mill’s Totally Roasted is recommended.

Chaos Just Apple Hard Cider

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Maker: Verterra Winery, Leland, Michigan, USAwpid-20151020_180725-1.jpg

Style: Semi-dry

ABV: 6.5%

Purchased for $13/750 ml (Michigan by the Bottle Tasting Room, Royal Oak). Growlers available at the winery for $20, with $16 refills.

Appearance: Light gold.

Nose: Cut apple, light corn syrup, Pinot Gris wine.

Palate: Effervescent and medium bodied. Semi-dry. Mineral water, apple cider, underripe pear.

Finish: Crisp and clean with a lingering murmur of minerality and crisp apple.

Parting words: The next big thing in Michigan wine is cider. After two brutal winters in a row that have left many wineries scrambling for grapes, many have turned to apples to supplement their wine portfolios. Verterra in Leland, on the Leelanau peninsula, is one of those.

Verterra’s ciders were given the name of the winery’s successful Chaos series. Just Apple is Chaos’ flagship and the only unblended (or unflavored) cider in the fleet. As such, it seemed like a good place to start. I was not disappointed.

Calling it great might be an overstatement, but it is quite good. Just Apple does an excellent job of balancing the dryness one expects in a fine cider with the sweetness and apple character beloved by the masses. Goes with just about anything one can put on a plate. The price isn’t too bad either, especially the growler price at the winery, but the MBTBTR price is a perfectly fair. It tastes like a $13 bottle of cider should taste. Chaos Ciders Just Apple is recommended.

Uncle John’s Hard Cider: Apple

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Maker: Uncle John’s Fruit House, St. John, Michigan, USAwpid-2015-08-11-15.19.18.jpg.jpeg

Style: Semi-dry hard apple cider.

ABV: 6.5%

Note: Old can design pictured.

Appearance: Light gold with lots of bubbles, but a short lived, bubbly head.

Nose: Gravel, apple juice, aged late harvest Riesling.

Palate: Light bodied and semi-dry. Mildly tart apples, mineral water. Effervescent.

Finish: A touch of tartness on the front end, but then long and dry with a little sweetness just to hold it together.

Parting words: Uncle John’s empire is located about twenty-five miles north of Lansing, our proud state capital. It’s an agricultural attraction. U-pick blueberries, a market featuring asparagus, sweet corn, strawberries, sweet cherries, peaches, apples and probably more (all seasonal of course). They also have doughnuts, caramel apples, unfermented cider by the glass (mulled or unmulled), pies, jam, apple butter and just about everything else one would expect.

They also have a winery. They mostly make fruit wines, but they do offer a red blend (Merlot-led), a white blend (Chardonnay, Vignoles, Pinot Gris, Riesling), Concord, a few styles of mead and hard cider. Cider is what they’re best known for, and with good reason. They do a very good job. They make a very full line of different apple cider styles and flavors, perry and even a fortified apple wine. They have a still, too and make an apple brandy. If you’re into wasting high quality produce by turning it into a colorless, flavorless beverage, they also make an apple vodka that should be right up your alley.

At any rate, this Draught Hard Cider (now simply labeled “apple” on their new, snappy-looking white cans) is their flagship hard cider. I like it a lot. It’s dry enough to enjoy anytime but has enough sweetness to keep it from tasting like Perrier with an apple slice. It’s well balanced and I like it a lot. I can’t wait to explore some more and, better yet, take a short road trip to see the whole operation in person some time!

Uncle John’s Hard Apple Cider is highly recommended.