Drink Matron

Category: Booze of the Week – Hard Cider

  • Guest Post: Erik Nabler of Liquor Locusts reviews Hornsby’s “Crisp” Apple Cider

    In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. As Tennyson, or somebody, so wisely said. However, in the fall, it turns to thoughts of drink. For, as the days get shorter, moods get darker, what is there to console us but the sweet kiss of C2H5OH. In other words, drink sustains us through the dark of winter.

    And to hold on to what we can of the summer and the fall, what better to drink than Apple Cider. Not the zero proof alcohol of our youth (although I am reminded of the best apple cider ever during my childhood where it had, unbeknownst to Mom, fermented-dang I was a happy kid for a bit) but the hard cider of our bitter, older years.

    So, when the Drink Matron kindly allowed me to put up a review of hard cider, I had to think hard about what to review. I thought at first of Blackthorn Dry, my favorite widely available cider. Then, as I was driving home, I realized that I did not have a bottle of it in the house, I did not want to stop at too many stores on the way home, so I am reviewing Hornsby’s Crisp Apple Cider. Sometimes you review what is there.

    So, what we find with Hornsby’s first off, is that it is priced right. On sale, in California, you can often find it for $6.99 per sixer, sometimes less. Good price for cider. The cider itself is decent. It is sweet, with a pronounced apple flavor, and simple. There is no complexity here, nor is it dry, which I tend to like. It is good in hot weather, and decent in cold. It has just a bit of “snap” to it, which can justify the “crisp” title as opposed to the Hornsby Amber. This is a cider that would go very well with cheddar cheese, or could be superb with a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, if that is how you roll.

    As my better half so rightly put it – This is a really good juice box with kick.

    To summarize, this is very drinkable for the price. If you want a different experience, get the dry Blackthorn, but that is for another review, perhaps tomorrow.

    Erik Nabler is a blogger who writes about booze at Liquorlocusts.com. As noted, he dispenses “Cynicism, bitterness, and drink. ” Self medication has become a way of life for him and his 52 cats. Please visit the site any time and make pity comments. Erik loves pith.

  • Drinkmatron Labs: Hard Cider

    When it comes to homebrewing, the absolute easiest thing you can make is hard cider.  In this day and age where apple cider is readily available from apple orchards all over (or from a grocery store if you have to), you can get a batch fermenting in 5 minutes.  A lot of apple orchards sell freshly pressed apple cider without any preservatives added and ideally this is the cider you want to use.

    The preservatives added to juice is called potassium sorbate, and its only job in the world is to prevent yeast from reproducing.  Just in case any wild yeast makes its way into your cider, it won’t ferment so quickly and the cider will “last” longer.  It can’t stop the yeast from fermenting the sugars in the cider, it just stops them from being able to multiply.

    So you want to avoid cider with preservatives.  If you don’t live anywhere near an orchard that sells preservative-free cider, fear not, because you can still make it work.  You just need more yeast. The orchard I went to only sold cider with preservatives so I had to go this route.

    To make cider, you need:

    * Cider
    * Yeast (any brewing yeast, you can find it at your local home brew store or most Co-Ops)

    Put the cider in some kind of container that you can ferment it in.  The jug it came in will work fine as long as you can put together some sort of airlock system in it to prevent contaminants from getting in and the bottle from getting pressurized.  Add the yeast to the cider.  Wait for several months.  If you want it carbonated, mix a little table sugar in with the cider and place in pressurized bottles (like old pop bottles).

    If you’re like me and are using cider with potassium sorbate, you need more than just a packet of yeast.  Since it won’t multiply, you need to start with all the yeast possible.  I used three packets of champagne yeast.  On top of that, I made a yeast starter using some briess dry malt extract and yeast nutrient to get the yeast amped up and ready to ferment my cider.

    Now it’s just a waiting game for some tasty, tasty hard cider.

    ** Note: In Co-Op’s and grocery stores you will find a product called “Brewer’s Yeast.”  This is not what you want to use, this is dead yeast that won’t activate or ferment.