Drink your fruit: Ashmead's Kernel Cider

The depth of my ignorance about hard cider is as great as my astonishment when I learned that the magnificent Ashmead's Kernel is used to make something to drink.

Ashmead's is a superb and complex desert apple eaten out of hand, a treat of first rank.

Like most other variety-named ciders from Stormalong, this one is a blend. 

Single varietals are rare and, to be honest, probably hard to make with good balance overall, though I am sure they can be interesting ways to experience the character of a particular apple.

Nonetheless, above is Dr. Ashmead's kernel itself, posing with the draught and can.  (Why a "kernel?" We wouldn't use that word like that today.)

The pour makes a loose little bit of a head that melts away quickly. The cider is a golden straw color that smells like cinnamon and apple crumble.

Skoal

This pretty liquid is astringent, dry, and holding just a hint of tannic funk and some honest-to-gosh apple. If you are used to sweet soda-pop ciders, this one may rock your world.

Compared to Stormalong's Esopus Spitzenburg, Ashmead's seems a little more acidic, which just brings these flavors bit further to the front. 

It is nonetheless smooth and easy to enjoy.

This one weighs in at 6.9 percent alcohol, according to the can.

This is my favorite kind of cider. I am eating it with a chicken dinner and the drink seems like the perfect companion.

Ashmead's Kernel gold

From Stormalong's website: "distinctive, tangy apple flavor with crisp acidity."

Apple marketers these days use "tangy" to mean essentially nothing, but for cider the word has actual meaning as those tannins dance with the sweeter stuff to do their magic.

Heritage

Ashmead’s is just one of many varieties pressed into service here. Others are Knobbed Russet, Roxbury Russet, Calville Blanc, Baldwin, and Dabinett. 

These are all heritage varieties, many of them hundreds of years old. Dabinett is a famous cider apple and the only one I have never tasted (in the flesh).

I am having fun with this (and I hope you are too), but I cannot lay claim to taste buds or vocabulary for cider to match the ones I use when eating apples out of hand.

La carte

• Ashmead's Kernel, le boisson
• Ashmead's Kernel, la pomme

Also in the series

• Esopus Spitzenberg cider
• Winesap cider
• Yarlington Mill cider