Review of William Tell Apple Mango Muscat Cider from Cider Brothers, out of Lodi California.  Here is a nice writeup Cider Brothers did on the cider industry, and here is an article on them from Cidercraft Magazine.  This is one of the ciders in Cider Brothers’ new line of flavored canned William Tell ciders.  They started with only William Tell Dry Hard Apple with Pinot Grigio and Pacific Coast Cider Hard Apple Cider.  Now the William Tell line also includes this one, Strawberry, and Cherry.

>>This is a review of a sample can provided to Cider Says by Cider Brothers.  Although I will take care to treat it the same as any other review, there is always the potential for bias as I received it for free.  The only consideration I knowingly made was pushing this up in my cider review cue.  I love free stuff, especially cider!  Want your cider or cider-related product reviewed here?  Contact me.<<

Cider:  William Tell Apple Mango Muscat Cider
Cidery:  Cider Brothers
Cidery Location:  Lodi CA
ABV:  6.0%
How Supplied:  four pack of 16oz cans
Style:  American commercial cider made from dessert apples, with mango concentrate and muscat wine (moscato)

  

Availability:  National distribution (although the bottled William Tell Dry Hard Apple with Pinot Grigio and Pacific Coast Cider Hard Apple Cider are probably more commonly seen).  We get both of those in the Seattle area, but I haven’t seen these canned William Tell ciders yet.

Apple Varieties:  Primarily granny smith, with some golden russet, gala, fuji, and red delicious (sourced from Washington).

Cider Description:  Cider never tasted like this crisp, new creation: our unique blend of hand crafted hard apple cider, delicately floral Muscat wine and lush, tropical mango. Crack open a can today for instant sunshine and a perfect pouring partner!  Pairings: Spicy treats, well seasoned meats and almost any tasty sweets!

Cidery Description:  From early morning through late afternoon, we bring a winemaker’s approach to producing small batches of handcrafted hard apple ciders. It starts with cold fermenting small lots of fresh apple juice to capture the delicate flavors and complex balance that makes this Mother Nature’s most refreshing adult beverage. The result is our refreshing, lightly carbonated artisan cider, produced at our Lodi winery.

The cider brothers are Michael and Paul Scotto.  The Scotto family has been in the wine industry for five generations, and Scotto Cellars is among the 30 largest wineries in California.  They used their wine background when starting to make cider, and by mistake developed a method they call “frost fermentation”.  They put the fresh apple juice into the refrigerated fermenter, as they would do for Chardonnay.  They next morning there was a layer of ice on the inside edges and top of the tank.  They remove the ice (water) and the result was a sweeter cider with more concentrated and rich flavor.  This is more labor and time intensive, but they feel the result is worth it.  (it reminds me of the process for ice cider)

Price:  n/a (runs ~$3 / can)
Where Bought:  n/a
Where Drank:  home
How Found:  n/a

First Impression:  Light straw yellow.  Low carbonation upon pouring.  Smells sweet and fruity, with lots of mango and some apple, tropical fruit, and honey.

Tasting Notes:  Semi-sweet to sweet.  Low tartness and acidity.  No bitterness, sourness, funk, or tannins.  Medium bodied.  The flavor is quite mango-forward, with some muscat grape, honey, tropical fruit, stone fruit, honey, and green apple notes.  Moderate length finish.  Moderate apple influence.  High sessionability.

My Opinion:  I really liked the mango.  This was nice, but I think I would have liked less sweetness (it has 17 grams of sugar per 12oz) and higher carbonation.  I imagine this will sell great though, as sweet and flavorful ciders do well.

Most Similar to:  I haven’t had any ciders with mango oddly enough (I think its a great cider flavor).  2 Towns made one with muscat grapes though, Cidre Moscato.

Closing Notes:   Enjoyable.  Definitely easy to drink and nice for spring & summer.  I look forward to trying the other four sample cans of William Tell varieties they sent!  As a side note, I think the Cider Brothers vs. William Tell vs. Pacific Coast Cider thing can be a bit confusing for consumers…I didn’t really get it at first that William Tell and Pacific Coast Cider are both ciders from Cider Brothers, and now the William Tell line has multiple ciders (and I’ve seen the same confusion online).

Have you tried Cider Brothers William Tell?  What did you think?