Wonderful Cider Event on Thursday

If you have even a passing interest in this cider phenomenon that has been on a slow boil for the past few years, I strongly encourage you to come down to Reverend Nat's this Thursday for what is going to be a spectacular evening. The headline event is the book launch for Cider Made Simple, but in fact, it's going to be a full-immersion cider experience, tickling your brain as well as your senses.

I'll begin by talking about the book and giving an overview of cider's terrain, including European archetypes as well as modern American expressions. I will be aided in this endeavor by four of the best cider-makers in America who will be in-house with their ciders as examples of this terrain:

• Kevin Zielinski of EZ Orchards, who will have a traditional French-style cidre for us to try.
• Abram Goldman-Armstrong of Cider Riot!, who will have an English-style cider.
• Silas Bleakley of Rack and Cloth, who will be bringing an example of what I call a "modernist" American-style cider in Cider Made Simple.
• And of course, the host, Nat West, who will have more than one example of what I call "experimental" ciders in the book.

During the program, these four gents will describe their ciders and discuss American cider-making. It should be an incredibly enlightening evening, and having this kind of expertise on hand, along with this range of ciders, is extremely rare. Whether or not you want to buy a copy of the book, do yourself a favor and come on by for some great cider and cider discussion.

Cider Saturday: Achievements in Natural Fermentation

Ten days ago, Cider Riot made its debut.  That's Abram Goldman-Armstrong's new project and, full disclosure, I ponied up $25 for the Kickstarter to help him launch the cidery.  The main event was Everybody Pogo, a dessert-fruit hopped cider that will constitute the largest portion of Cider Riot's sales.  (Though Abram is no doubt more excited about 1763, made with tannic cider fruit, and Burncider, which if memory serves, will be to cider what The Mutt is to fresh hop ales.)  Ciders made with eating apples don't have a ton of complexity, but Everybody Pogo is quite nice.  It's got a rocky, mineral quality and a nicely dry finish.  Abram used Goldings to hop it, hoping to draw out a fruitiness that other citrus-hop ciders don't have.  American Goldings can sometimes tend toward citrus anyway, but these add a lovely marmalade note.

But what really caught my attention was the undercard, a ciderkin made in collaboration with Reverend Nat's.  Ciderkins are are just cool to begin with--a historical curiosity in which the pomace (pressed apple pulp) is rehydrated and pressed again to create a low-alcohol cider, akin to small beer.  But the really cool thing was this: they fermented it naturally.

In my wanderings across Europe, every traditional cider maker I spoke to in England, France, and Spain let their cider ferment on its own.  No yeast, no fussing with the temperature: press and go.  Americans are just loath to do this.  I asked Abram about it because I know he is so committed to making ciders with the character of West County ciders.  He gave me an answer I've gotten used to hearing: it just seems a little dangerous. 

And maybe it is; I am not a cider-maker.  But you can't argue with results.  That ciderkin was absolutely vivid with flavors and aromas.  In fact, it smelled almost exactly like the Basque ciders we slurped for four days around Astigarraga.  The flavor wasn't quite as fecund and tart--probably because the yeast had less stuff to work with--but it was strongly reminiscent of the Basques.  There was a bit more spice and earthiness and it had less body and a lighter presentation--natch--but otherwise it seemed very closely related.

It was actually made at Reverend Nat's, so I sent Nat West an email about how they made it.

This batch was made from White Oak fruit [note: this is the fruit that will go into Cider Riot's 1763]. Abe pressed the apples over about two days then delivered the spent pulp to me. It was all English and French bittersweets and bittersharps, maybe seven varieties. I transferred the pulp to a big plastic macrobin and watered it down until it looked something like freshly ground apple pulp, stirring it a lot. Then I dropped a sheet of plastic on top of it and put it in our cooler for about 36 hours. Then we pressed it again. Wild ferment, no sulfites anywhere along the way. Sitting on the pulp helped release pectin and tannins. And some fermentation happened while in the macrobin. It was really smokey bacon shortly after fermentation, the most I've ever smelled, but it went away almost completely after a month in aging. 

Abe came over and we tasted it to consider adding anything like sugar, AJC, fresh juice or citrus and he didn't like any of our additions so we just carbed and kegged it.

Sounds easy-peasy.  Natural fermentation doesn't require a ton of work, but it does deliver a ton of flavor.  Nat and Abram are two of the young vanguard of cider-makers who are really pushing to make high-quality, artisanal cider (which is in some cases traditional, some cases not).  There was very little of that ciderkin available, and it's all gone now.  But the experiment was a thumping success, and I hope we can expect to see more in the future.  (Indeed, Nat's will have a different ciderkin made with cider fruit, cold-pressed coffee, and orange zest called "John Adams's Breakfast Tankard"* out very soon.)

Kudos to them both--

______________
*John Adams extolled the healthful value of cider and began every morning with a tankard of same.

A Grab Bag of Tasty Treats

Catching up on the news.  With alacrity, now...

1. Cider Riot launches.
During my first extended conversation with Abram Goldman-Armstrong years back, I learned that he was a child of Yamhill County and its abundant fruit.  In the years since he was a kid, Abram has traveled the world and been associated with the Timbers and beer (his Twitter handle is @BeerAbe), but he recently launched a project that feels like a homecoming--a small Portland-based cidery.  He's actually been making cider since high school, working with both wild seedling apples from home as well as cider apples from the White Oak orchard (a cidery that closed in 2005).  Last night, he shared small-batch versions of the ciders he plans to make this fall, including a crisp, slightly tannic draft cider called Burncider (his cidery is located just off Burnside), a hopped cider called Everybody Pogo, and a rich, tannic cider called 1763--the year of the famous cider riots in England.  (Auspiciously, that happens to be exactly 250 years ago.)

The Northwest is one of the leaders in the national cider revival, but a lot of the products are made with sweet desert apples, the kind made for eating.  Cider apples, though--bittersweet, bittersharp, and sharp--are "the heart and soul of a proper cider."  Abe uses "proper cider" a lot, and he plans to make his dry, in the English fashion.  As a taste of what he hopes to one day make, Abe broke out the last of a blended cider with '07 and '09 vintages made largely with Kingston Black apples.  It was one of the best I've ever tasted--complex with deep tannins, a bit of French-cheesy funk and rustic English skin character.

Abram has a modest Kickstarter going, and if you're at all interested in cider, this is a good project to back.

2. Beer cocktails by Jacob Grier
While we're talking Kickstarters, let me direct your attention to a prospective book by Jacob Grier called Cocktails on Tap.  This project has grown out of the "Brewing up Cocktails" events Jacob hosted with Ezra Johnson-Greenough and Yetta Vorobik.  (You'll recall my amazement over one of their early offerings, the sublime hot scotchy.)  It's going to be an impressive book when completed; Jacob's working with photographer David Reamer, designer Melissa Delzio, and publisher Ellee Thalheimer (whom you'll remember from Hop in the Saddle).

Twenty bucks is like a pre-order on the book, so go check out the Kickstarter.

3. Portland Monthly's beer issue.
I don't totally get the business model for Portland Monthly, but I gather it involves these monthly best-of cover stories (best doctors, best neighborhoods, etc).  This month beer gets the spotlight, and I have to say, hiring Christian DeBenedetti to select the fifty best Oregon beers was a very good move.  No two people on the planet would choose the same fifty, but DeBenedetti's fifty are really tight.  I had to work very hard to come up with even minor quibbles.  If you have friends transitioning into beer-fandom, tell them to pick up a copy and use the list as a guide.  They could do infinitely worse.