Adam's Apples

This review is missing an apple.  ¶  My other tastings of ciders in the Rare Apple Series from cider maker Stormalong feature photos of beverage and nameplate fruit.  ¶  Alas, I lack a Yarlington Mill apple to include in the family group. Indeed, I have never tasted that variety.  ¶  The cider pours a lovely orange-tinted gold that is pleasantly effervescent. There are fruit and tannins in the nose and mouth.  ¶ 

Stormalong, the Massachusetts cider maker, names each in its Rare Apple Series after one of the apples used to make the drink. My idea to photograph the named apple with the cider is more playful than anything else, especially since most of these are blends of perhaps a half dozen different varieties. Today's beverage, however, is a single varietal, one hundred percent Stayman Winesap . And that is a Stayman posing with the family group.  Let's quaff.

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. 

Cider is not my usual beat. Nor will it be. Nonetheless I enjoy and occasionally write about hard apple cider here.  Stormalong, a Massachusetts-based cidery, offers a dry glass I've enjoyed in the past, though it is a little skimpy somehow on character. When I found a four-pack sampler of their heritage ciders at farmers market back in November, I felt I had to try them.

April may be the cruelest month , but this particular June feels like the stingiest. Of course there can be no fresh local fruit this month, but the southern hemisphere had a harvest not too long ago. Where are those apples? Not in supermarkets.

The gang of hard-cider bloggers is having so much fun I had to write at least one cider review of my own. Besides, I do get thirsty. Bampkins pours pale straw from a 22-ounce bottle. In some light the cider in the glass has silvery green highlights. There are aromas of apples, cheese, and apple vinegar. This cider is very dry and mildly astringent, fruity-sour with just a little funk. Carbonation adds punch, but the absence of sugar makes this a subtle drink. These flavors are clear and refreshing, with a clean finish mixed with the tiniest bit of beer sour. We enjoyed ours with a chicken dinner.

Cider is a profoundly social drink that has made a home on the lightest of the social media, Twitter. You don't need a Twitter account to check out the party.

Craft apple cider—hard, with a kick—is experiencing a renaissance in North America. Modern sensibilities and techniques have engendered what may just be American cider's golden age, its biggest comeback since Prohibition. This explosion of drinkable fruit has engendered a growing cohort of cider blogs. Indeed there are more blogs about cider than apples. Most are less than two years old. These bloggers join cider aficionados from Britain and beyond who’ve put a few more pints under their belts. Join me for a taste of web-based cider news and reviews.

In the U.S., "cider" is sweet cider; fermented cider is called hard cider.

Bon Apetite's Andrew Knowlton sampled 50 American hard ciders and picks four tasty favorites. Cider used to be at least as big a deal here as in the United Kingdom but never recovered from Prohibition. Today in the States the word "cider" refers to the sweet unfermented version as it comes from the cider press. I've enjoyed some French ciders (and poiré (perry), pressed from pears), but have been underwhelmed by domestic brews. Of course, it helps to know what to drink. These are welcome signposts to new-world cider, from Oregon to Michigan to New York to New Hampshire.

Here's what you do: Get a couple of half-gallons of sweet apple cider in season, from an orchard that presses its own. Put one of 'em in the back of your freezer and forget about it. The plastic jug will swell and, chances are, stuff will melt and re-freeze over it. Don't worry, it's still good. Wait until a summer heat wave and thaw.

In season, Bolton Orchards ( map ) presses this elegant varietal sweet cider from the Golden Russet. This clear amber liquid is surely filtered, althou h the label only notes that the cider is UV pasteurized and has a little preservative added. There is absolutely no residue, and the cider is as transparent as filtered apple juice. This cider's flavor and aroma are both sweet, light, and with strong pear notes. Had someone told me this was pear juice I'd have believed it. Compared to regular pressed cider, GR cider is lighter and milder, as its appearance suggest. Like other cider, however, it is best served cold to mute an intense sweetness that would otherwise cloy.

Back in November I froze a half gallon of fresh apple cider from Red Apple Farm in Phillipston. When I buy something tasty and special that keeps well, I never know when to eat or drink it. So I thawed this cider out this week because it's my birthday. (Was, actually.) Cider keeps very well frozen and this is delicious. I don't drink enough cider to be able to spout off about it the way I do about whole apples, but I found it sweet without being cloying the way some cider can be. Whatever they made it out of had something to balance all that sugar, because cider is sweet. Indeed there were hints of citrus and melon swimming about in the rich cider taste. This treat is very welcome this time of year, with local apples still a good six weeks off and high season not until September.

Phil's, in hilly Harvard Massachusetts ( map ), is one of my favorite places for unpasteurized cider. Just some apple trees on a hillside, and a shed with a cider press, Phil's is the anti - Shelburne Farm (or Honey Pot Hill, or other orchard that sweetens its offerings with hay rides, a moon bounce, a corn maze, donuts, or Morris dancers). No one was home when I stopped by midweek, but the orchard was open for business on the honor system. The bare-bones approach is appealing and means that on sunny October weekends a trip to Phil's will dodge the mobs of families. Kids who do come by on weekends can help operate the cider press, which is not motorized.