Review of Wildcide’s Wild Mule, a moscow-mule inspired cider with lime, ginger, and cane juice syrup.  It is my first time trying anything from this cidery.  They also offer an original / flagship cider simply called “Wildcide”.

 

>>This is a review of a sample bottle provided to Cider Says by Wildcide.  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:  Wildcide Wild Mule
Cidery:  Aurum Cider Co. (Gordon Biersch)
Cidery Location:  San Jose CA
ABV:  5.2%
How Supplied:  six pack of 12oz bottles
Style:  American cider from dessert apples, with ginger, lime, and cane juice syrup

 

 

Availability:  newly-released, year-round in California, Hawaii, and Nevada

Cider Description:  If you LOVE Moscow Mules, you will LOVE WILDMULE. It’s CRAFTED from our ALL-NATURAL hard cider, pure cane sugar syrup and the FRESH juice of limes and Peruvian Ginger. POP the TOP and ENJOY a perfect Mule; no mess, no shopping list, and no food pairing necessary! This sweet and spicy libation stands alone.

Cidery Description:  What is Wildcide? It is a hard cider from the fresh-pressed juice of Fuji, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Red Delicious apples!

Price:  n/a (retails for $11.99 / six pack)
Where Bought:  n/a
Where Drank:  home
How Found:  the cidery contacted me

First Impression:  Hazy dark lemonade hue.  Low carbonation.  Smells sweet, of spicy ginger and tart lime.

Tasting Notes:  Semi-sweet to semi-dry.  Medium bodied.  Moderate tartness and acidity.  No bitterness, tannins, sourness, or funk.  The flavor was rather straightforward, of granny smith apple juice, ginger, and lime.  Long finish with a spicy ginger bite.  Moderate ginger intensity, which remained in the mouth (not at the back of the throat like it can sometimes).  Moderate flavor intensity and sessionability.  Low apple flavor and complexity.

My Opinion:  I’m not a fan of ginger, so this isn’t to my personal preferences.  I found it refreshing and very fresh-tasting.  I imagine this will be appealing for folks who like ginger more than I do though, as it has some nice unique flavor and remains mid-level perceived sweetness.  The lime seemed to help cut some of the ginger’s spiciness, and the ginger and lime seemed balanced.

Most Similar to:  I’ve had a number of ginger ciders, but nothing cocktail-style like this with lime and so unfiltered.  The style of it reminded me a bit of Elemental’s “Margarita” cider, with jalapeno, lime, and cilantro.

Random Fact:  Wildcide flash-pasteurizes their ciders, so they avoid needing to add sulfites (which most ciders contain).

Closing Notes:  If you enjoy ginger-infused ciders, moscow mule cocktails, ginger beer, and the like, you may find this appealing.  I think it would be nice with a shot of tequila or vodka in it too!

Have you tried Wildcide Wild Mule?  What did you think?