Review of Portland Cider’s Pumpkin Spice, a seasonal spiced cider (no pumpkin, just pie spices).  It is my first time trying this, although I have had their Passion Fruit, Pearfect Perry, Kinda Dry, Hop’Rageous, London Dry Gin, Apple, Crooked Cock Scrumpy, Strawperry, Pineapple, Sangria, Mojito, Cranberry, and Concord Grape.

>>This is a review of a sample bottle provided to Cider Says by Portland Cider.  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:  Pumpkin Spice
Cidery: Portland Cider
Cidery Location:  Portland OR
ABV:  5.5%
How Supplied:  22oz bottles (and draft)
Style:  craft cider from dessert apples with pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg)

  

Availability:  seasonally, in fall (Sept-Nov), in Oregon and Washington

Cider Description:  Take the flavors of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Allspice, and Ginger, blend them in just the right proportions, and you get our Pumpkin Spice cider. Full of all the spices of your favorite pumpkin pie, this cider is a delicious tribute to the flavors of autumn.  A familiar Fall spice blend blended to pair perfectly with a classic American semi-sweet apple cider made with 100% Northwest apples.

Cidery Description:  Portland Cider Company was started in October 2012 by an Oregonian and a family of British expats with the mission of bringing cider, handcrafted in the English tradition, to the Northwest. It has two taproom locations: Portland Cider House at 3638 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97214; and Portland Cider Co. Taproom & Cidery at 8925 SE Jannsen Rd, Bldg. F, Clackamas, OR 97015.

Price:  unknown
Where Bought:  n/a
Where Drank:  home
How Found:  it showed up

First Impression:  Medium straw yellow hue.  Very low carbonation.  Smells of sweet apple juice and spice.

Tasting Notes:  Semi-dry.  Light to medium bodied.  Moderate tartness.  Low acidity.  No bitterness, sourness, tannins, or funk.  Notes of tart apple, pie spices, and citrus.  Moderate length finish with a hint of ginger.  Low apple flavor and complexity.  Moderate flavor intensity and sessionability.  Low to moderate spice level.

My Opinion:  I liked it.  Definitely drier than expected based on the style and the scent.  It also interestingly seemed to have more of a fresh tart apple flavor than the baked apple flavor which I more often pick up with spiced ciders, although maybe that is more of a perceived thing?  Spiced cider isn’t my favorite, but my husband enjoys it, and was especially a fan of this one, due to it being on the drier side.

Most Similar to:  Elemental Seasonal Spiced Apple

Closing Notes:  I always find it interesting when products are labeled as “pumpkin spice”, as I think pumpkin + spice, when the convention is just referring to the spices that go with pumpkin pie.  There are a handful of ciders that actually add pumpkin though, like Tieton Smoked Pumpkin, Woodchuck Pumpkin, Doc’s Pumpkin, Locust Pumpkin, and 2 Towns Hollow Jack.

Have you tried spiced cider?  What did you think?