Friday, March 27, 2015

Cider in the Spring?

When Chris mentioned he'd seen an advertisement for a March Cider Festival, I was surprised.  Cider is one of those things that belongs in the fall.  At least in my mind.  But after this event, it might be making the transition to spring.


We had an absolute blast trying all the different ciders and tasting yummy treats from the food vendors on site.  If you love cider, we found some great New York brands for you to give a whirl.


We started our tasting tour in the corner of the room that housed 1911 Hard Cider.  I had never tried blueberry or raspberry ciders, but quickly found that both were very tasty.  These two definitely got us off to the perfect start!


I knew I wouldn't be a fan of the Bourbon Barrel Bad Seed collection.  And I was right.  It had far too strong of a bourbon flavor for me.  I like my cider to be on the sweeter side.  Chris thought this was was ok though.  I was just excited to see they use barrels from KY!!


While I wasn't too excited about the brand name of this one, the pear flavor was fantastic! And apple was great as well.  This brand turned out to be our favorite new find of the night!


Not far behind was Harvest Moon.  They served three samples on tap. It was so cold and beyond tasty.  I loved the Raspberry and Cherry, but both were a little too sweet for Chris' taste.  He preferred the Four Screw flavor which had a little more kick to it with maple syrup used as a sweetener.


McKenzie's is hands down my favorite brand of cider.  I knew that before we came to the tasting, but it was great to see a familiar product amongst all the new!  I hadn't tried Black Cherry before and quickly became a big fan.  Seasonal Reserve has a bit of a pumpkin/spice kick to it.  Both are quite enjoyable.


The next two - Hazlitt's Cider Tree and Yankee Folly Cider - intrigued us because they came packaged in more of a wine bottle style.  Both had a crisp apple taste proving quite good.


And finally, we ended the night with Doc's.  SO good.  Chris mentioned that he'd seen it before, but this was my first encounter.  Pear and Apple for the win here!


Do you like cider?  What is your favorite flavor?  Brand?

Andrea :)

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