Hard Cider

More and more these days I've been seeing "hard cider" in the stores. Then my husband and a few friends decided to hit the Kansas City Craft Beer Festival.

Almost everything was delicious!

Almost . . .

We won't go naming names here because there's different strokes for different folks and all but my face almost froze like this!

But they did have hard ciders there! I didn't know that hard ciders are apple and other fruit juices that they add alcohol producing yeasts to! So it's sort of like beer or even wine. A natural product!

The ciders were light, bubbly, slightly sweet, fruity and wonderfully refreshing on a HOT day. Perfectly delicious! Supposedly they have them on tap in a lot of pubs in England. I need a passport.

I've tried a few examples since then and they're all pretty good. They tend to cost $7-$8 for a six pack though to try something for the first time. A six pack is practically a commitment after all!

But a 22 oz. bottle is easy. Plus its cheap. Under $4.

I got really excited when I found this one in the specialty beer aisle.

Isn't it pretty? This is an "amber" cider. In my limited experience the "amber" ciders are sweeter than the "crisp" ciders.

It smells like apples! Beautiful fresh apples! The flavor is very similar to fresh unpastuerized apple cider. The kind you used to be able to get at apple orchards during apple festivals in the fall. You know before the USDA, FDA, and other government agencies all decided that unpastuerized cider was going to KILL US ALL!

There's a sweet fruitiness. The hint of acid you have in any good fresh fruit. Then there's that bit of bitterness that apple peel adds to an apple.

But watch out! It doesn't taste like there is any alcohol in it at all. It's absolutely smooth. At 5% this is at the same alcohol level as . . . a Budweiser, Coors, Dos Equis, Michelob. It's stronger than a Boulevard Wheat, Bud light, or Coors light!

So some day if you're in the mood for something sweet and light. Or if you're having a beer tasting and want to make your sweet wine drinking friends feel included whip out a Woodchuck Amber style hard cider.