Why cider tours of the NW this month? Well, they are in the news (see HERE for taxes and HERE for breweries making cider) + I visited one on my recent trip.
With the MLS 2016 season now underway and the Timbers of Portland attempting to defend their championship crown, it felt right to start with avowed Timber fan and Cidermaker/Owner Abram Goldman-Armstrong and his Cider Riot.
I like this one quote about cider, he says that it “challenges me, it inspires me, and there’s nothing quite like the dry tannic flavor of a well made cider.”
Here is what I would like to try:
Burncider® Dry Draught Cider 6.8% abv – Silver Medal winner in the Portland International Cider Cup 2014 – Inspired by the pub draught ciders of the English West Country, Burncider blends Oregon-grown traditional English cider apples, tart wild apples and dessert apples from Hood River. Just like Portland’s Old Main Drag™, this cider has a rich history and flavorful character.
Everybody Pogo™ Hoppy Cider 6.7% abv- A refreshingly dry cider that’s got hops. Our roughcut tribute to football terraces and punk rock shows, dry and quenching with a hint of sweet apple flavor, as organically grown Goldings hops do the pogo dance across your taste buds. A distinctly Oregonian product, Everybody Pogo mates Hood River apples and Willamette Valley hops. Unfiltered and lightly carbonated.
Never Give an Inch™ Oregon Blackberry Cider 6.9% abv – A testament to determination, hard work, and downright cussedness, Never Give an Inch celebrates the spirit of Oregon. Invasive Himalaya blackberries run riot across the fencelines and fields all across western Oregon. Fire, chemical poisons, machetes, bulldozers, even goats can only beat back their inevitable advance, as they attempt to take over every square inch of cleared land. Luckily their fruits are delicious, juicy, and plentiful, spawning the phrase “as Cascadian as blackberry pie.”In Never Give an Inch, Oregon blackberries and blackcurrants combine with Hood River and Yakima-grown apples create a tart dry cider with a fruity aroma.
Black Bloc series is our Bogman’s Cranberry Brettanomyces cider – Bogman’s is a blend of over twenty different cider and dessert apple varieties aged for a year on natural brettanomyces from the orchard where the apples were grown. Oregon cranberries were added to add a touch of acidity to balance the flavors of the brett. The cider was then allowed to bottle condition for nine months, to achieve a smooth round carbonation. It’s been a long road from the initial pressing in 2013 to your glass in 2015, so savor the complexity of this Black Bloc cider before it vanishes.
