Cider Saturday: Make Your Own

Rack and Cloth, washed by the last sun of summer.

This past weekend, I made my way down the Gorge on what seems now like an impossibly warm, sunny day for some cider-sampling and juice-buying.  In a leisurely afternoon, you can easily begin your day at Fox-Tail, where I recommend especially Docklands (one of the nicer ciders in Oregon) and Apfelwein.  I expect you'll find fouler weather than I did, but never mind--their tasting room is cozy.  About a mile down the road, you can stop in at the Gorge White House, where they specialize in pear juice (with both a nice perry and an apple-pear cider).  The White House has a food truck with great burgers, so it's also a good lunch stop.

But the place I really want to direct you, especially over the next month, is Draper Girls Farm--about eight miles down past Fox-Tail (driving away from Hood River).  Theresa Draper has nine acres of apple trees, and has planted some nice heirloom cultivars like Spitzenburg, Black Twig, Gravenstein, Harrison, Northern Spy, Winter Banana, and others (and she's recently planted classics like Yarlington Mill and Kingston Black).  She presses the apples herself and makes a rough blend (depending on what's ripe) that includes acid varieties and then sells the juice, unpasteurized, by the gallon.  I picked up three gallons, brought it home, dumped it in the carboy, and this is what's going on now:

I have no idea whether it will be tasty or not, but I love the idea that juice will just ferment itself.  (After some dangerously warm temps the first couple days, the juice has settled down to the mid-fifties.  I may yet be making vinegar, but we'll see.)  If you are feeling less adventuresome, you could always just pitch yeast.  I gotta tell you, pouring three gallons of juice into a carboy and adding a fermentation lock is a whole lot easier than brewing.

I'll let you know how it's coming.

Update.  I was out raking leaves and found the yeast activity evolving.  I have no idea whether this is good or bad, but it sure is exotic.  Have a look.

Cider Saturday: The Gorge Flows With Cider

I have been pointing the nose of my Toyota east and shooting down the Gorge the last couple weeks.  That's the newest hotspot for Oregon cider, although most of the cideries are so new very few people have heard of them.  Over the next few weeks or months, I'll be giving them the full Cider Saturday treatment, but for now, here's a picture essay and a thumbnail description of each cidery.  In the meantime, you can organize a tour for yourself if you wish.  All the cideries mentioned here have regular hours and welcome the public.  Click the links for details.

1.  Gorge Cyder House

Stefan Guemperlein operates the tiniest cidery from the back of his Ovino store in Hood River.  A German who recalls drinking cider in Bavaria in his youth, it was actually his love of Italian wines that brought him to the apple.  Now he makes naturally-fermented cider, slow-aged to rich complexity.



2.  Foxtail

You want cider?  The orchardist Bob Fox and his cider-making partner Justin Cardwell have cider--eight varieties when I visited.  Many include fruits gathered elsewhere on the farm (the best-seller is a peach cider, Fuzzy Haven), but I like the English-style dry, Docklands.  Stop into their really nice taproom just north of Hood River to sample.


3.  Rack and Cloth

I think Mosier is about to go on the cider map--it's about five miles east of Hood River, and it's where you find Rack and Cloth.  They have a cool little tasting-room/restaurant, and you can get not only their cider there, but food made from the produce of their farm.  Right now supplies are in very short supply, so visit early.  Silas has parceled out one five-gallon keg for each day they're open until the new cider is in, and when it's gone, you have to drink beer.  (Horrors!)  By the way the sheep on the far right is PommePomme, the cidery's mascot.



4.  Draper Girls

At the moment, Theresa Draper only makes sweet cider--that is, pre-fermented.  She is edging toward a cidery and tasting room to showcase the nine acres of heirloom fruit she grows, but that's down the line.  But here's the thing: that sweet cider is unpasteurized.  That means if you want to ferment it out yourself, with the Drapers' own Parkdale yeast, all you need is a carboy.  In October, I'm definitely making a trek out to pick up my five gallons.


5.  Hood Valley

Hood Valley is located across the street from Solera Brewing in downtown Parkdale.  Cider maker Brian Perkey has a long history in brewing, and brings his experience to the endeavor of producing a high-quality off-dry draft cider--the equivalent of a good session ale.  Both he and his ciders are enormously effervescent, and chatting with him is as fun as drinking his product.