Doc’s Draft Sour Cherry Cider

Review of Doc’s Draft Sour Cherry. It is my second time trying this cider, but the first time was part of a cherry cider tasting, so I just shared notes, not a full review. I’ve also tried Doc’s Raspberry and Pumpkin ciders.

Cider: Sour Cherry
Cidery: Doc’s Draft (Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery)
Cidery Location: Warwick NY
ABV: 6.0%
How Supplied: 22oz bottles (and draft)
Style: American craft cider from dessert apples, with cherries

Availability: semi wide release, seasonal, May 15 to July 15

Description: A unique, hand-crafted cherry hard cider. Made from pressed NY state apples and fresh cherries.

Price: $8.50
Where Bought: Full Throttle Bottles in Seattle WA
Where Drank: home
How Found: a cherry cider tasting with local cider friends

First Impression: Bright red-brown hue. Low carbonation. Mild real cherry scent.

Tasting Notes: Semi-sweet. Medium bodied. Moderate tartness. Moderate to high acidity. No bitterness, sourness, funk, or tannins. The flavor is just of juicy real cherries. Moderate length finish, mostly lingering tartness. No apple flavor. Moderate to high flavor intensity. Low complexity. Moderate sessionability.

My Opinion: I really enjoyed this. Very flavorful, of real cherries (some ciders come across a bit medicinal cherry), but not too sweet (although I would have liked it just a smidge drier).

Closing Notes: This is probably my favorite cherry cider, and I’ve tried a lot of them (at least 28; see here).

Have you tried Doc’s Sour Cherry? What did you think?

My Favorite Ciders of 2016

December 30, 2016February 3, 2019 cidersays 2 Towns, AEppelTreow, Alpenfire, Angry Orchard, Aspall, Bertolinos, Celt, Christian Drouin, Cidergeist, Cidrerie du Vulcain, Dan Armor, Doc's, Dunkertons, Dupont, E.Z. Orchards, Eden, EZ Orchards, Farnum Hill, favorite ciders, Gowans, Honeywood, Jester & Judge, Longdrop, One Tree, Rev Nat's, review, Schilling, Sea Cider, Sheppy's, Thatchers, Wandering Aengus 2016, cider, cider review, cider tasting, hard cider, tasting notes

What an awesome year 2016 was in the cider world! Cider Says has now been up for a year and a half. Like other cider bloggers, I thought it would be fun to make a list of my favorite ciders of 2016. See here for my list from 2015. To make it a bit different and easier, I put them into categories instead of trying to do a top ten list or similar.

Note that I wouldn’t try to make a list of the best ciders, just those I enjoyed, as it would be an impossible task to try every cider out there and be impartial. My only criteria for this list is that I drank the cider in 2016.

Multi pack: Reverend Nat’s Revival – This one is complex for being made from dessert apples, with lots of unique flavor just from the yeast varieties used. Celt – I always keep this easy drinking apple & yeast forward French cider in the house as its convenient & affordable. Thatchers Green Goblin – For how commercial it is, I ended up really enjoying this sweeter simple English cider.

Canned: One Tree Crisp Apple – I don’t usually go for plain flagship ciders, but this one had some nice unfiltered apple juice flavor without being over the top sweet. Cidergeist Semi Dry – This reminded me of French cider; too bad it isn’t available locally. Long Drop Vanilla Honey – Awesome honeycomb flavor.

French: Dan Armor Cuvée Spéciale Cidre Brut – A $5 selection from Trader Joe’s which doesn’t disappoint and has some great apple forward sparkling goodness. Christian Drouin Pays d’ Auge – I loved the bittersweet apple flavor, and that the funk remained mild.

English: Aspall Imperial – Rich flavor, high ABV, and a low price tag. Dunkertons Dry (awesomely tannic) and Black Fox (nice fruity twist on an English cider), which I hope to find locally now that they are distributed in the U.S.

Italian: Bertolinos – My first Italian cider, which I found to be simple but tasty, and budget friendly too.

Swiss: Cidrerie du Vulcain Transparente – My first Swiss cider, which reminded me of French cider, in between the typical Brittany & Normandy styles.

Canadian: Sea Cider Ruby Rose – This fruity high ABV cider is made with rhubarb and rose hips, making it a unique summer sipper.

Fruity: Doc’s Draft Sour Cherry – A cherry cider is difficult to pull off without tasting medicinal, but the flavor is spot-on with this one. Jester & Judge Pineapple Express – Although simple, this cider has some awesome pineapple flavor, a nice frothy texture, and a hint of lime.

Rosé: Eden Imperial 11 Rosé – This drier cider with red currant is high ABV and amazingly fruity. Alpenfire Glow – This sweeter cider is made from rare red fleshed apples and also amazingly fruity, with a high flavor intensity.

Limited Release: Angry Orchard & Eden collaboration, Understood in Motion: 01 – This cider is only available at Angry Orchard’s Walden NY cider house, and was made from Vermont heirloom apples, barrel aged, and mixed with some ice cider; awesome!

Hopped: 2 Towns Hop & Stalk – I wouldn’t call myself a fan of either rhubarb or hops, but for whatever reason I really enjoyed this cider; the flavors really complimented each other and created a unique and surprisingly complex cider (I’m also a sucker for Imperial / high ABV ciders).

High ABV: Alpenfire Smoke – This 16% ABV sipping cider has an amazing complexity, with rich oaky smokey flavor. If I had to name just one favorite cider, this would probably be it, although its not an everyday sort of cider. I hope it gets released again soon, as I’m down to only one bottle!

Oaked: Sheppy’s Oak Matured – I love the strong oak flavor in this cider; as a bonus, it is budget friendly too.

Barrel Aged: Reverend Nat’s Whiskey Barrel Aged Golden Russet with Black Currant – This was my favorite cider from Cider Summit Seattle 2016, with awesome berry, oak, and whiskey flavor.

Sparkling: AEppelTreow Appely Doux – This methode champenoise cider has a wonderful texture & flavor, and would be a great champagne alternative.

Perry: EZ Orchards Poire – I’m not a huge Perry fan, but those I do like tend towards the French Poire style; this one has a creamy texture and complex fruitiness.

Pommeau: Etienne Dupont Pommeau – This is their Cidre Bouche aged in Calvados barrels with Calvados added, and is flavorful, rich, and complex. Wandering Aengus Pommeau – Milder in flavor than some other Pommeaus, but still rich and complex.

Ice Cider: Eden Heirloom Blend Apple Brandy Barrel Aged – I’ve enjoyed all of Eden’s ice ciders, but this is my favorite, as it had the added depth from barrel aging in addition to all the rich complexity of their typical ice cider.

Great Value: Schilling King’s Shilling – I’ve picked up a 22oz bottle of this for as low as $4 (and as high as $7), which is a steal for a tasty barrel aged brandy infused cider.

Wine-like: Honeywood Winery Hard Apple Cider – Quite different than I was expecting, but I liked it; this one reminded me of dessert wine with the white grape notes, higher ABV, and sweetness.

Draft-only: Wandering Aengus Bittersweet – An amazingly rich and tannic cider made from bittersweet apple juice from Poverty Lane Orchards (Farnum Hill); wild fermented but it wasn’t funky.

Unexpected: Gowans 1876 Heirloom – This cider almost seemed to good to be true, as it was so full flavored and apple forward.

Well, there you have it, a list of 32 of my favorite ciders from 2016. They have a lot in common–most are rich and full-flavored. Still, it seems like so many great ciders didn’t make the cut, which is unfortunate.

What are your favorite ciders?

Cherry Cider Tasting

November 11, 2016November 6, 2016 cidersays Anthem, Doc's, Finnriver, Greenwood, Griffin Cider Works, Julian, Rev Nat's, review, Woodchuck Cherry, cherry cider, cider, cider review, cider tasting, hard cider, tasting notes

There was recently a cherry cider tasting at my house (thanks Sarah, Merce, Kevin, and Si from Cider Log for sharing all the ciders!). I took a few tasting notes.

With all of these I didn’t pick up any flavor besides cherry, and maybe a bit of green apple or citrus. The apple flavor was also none to mild.

Woodchuck (Middlebury VT) Sour Cherry (6.9% ABV): This was part of their Cellar Series (since discontinued) and hasn’t been sold since July 2014, but this bottle held up better flavor-wise than the bottle I had that I opened a year ago (review here). Semi-sweet to sweet. Mild to moderate slightly cherry flavor. Still. Medium bodied. Mild tartness. Moderate acidity. Not bad.

Anthem (Salem OR) Cherry (6.2% ABV): This is sold year round and now also available in cans. Semi-dry. Mild cherry flavor. Low carbonation. Light bodied. Moderate tartness. High acidity. Mild apple flavor. I didn’t find it flavorful enough.

Julian (Julian CA) Cherry Bomb (6.99% ABV): This is sold year round. Semi-sweet to sweet. Moderate real cherry flavor. Low carbonation. Medium bodied. Moderate tartness. Moderate acidity. I liked it.

Reverend Nat’s (Portland OR) Sacrilege Sour Cherry (6.5% ABV): This is a seasonal release. Semi-dry to semi-sweet. Moderate cherry flavor, slightly sour. Low carbonation. Medium bodied. Moderate tartness. Moderate acidity. I thought it was pretty average; I’d prefer no sourness.

Finnriver (Chimacum WA) Chimacum Kriek (6.0% ABV): This sour cherry cider is part of their Crew Selection series, a limited release in May 2016. Semi-dry. Mild to moderate cherry flavor, moderately sour. Still. Medium to full bodied. Moderate tartness. Moderate acidity. I didn’t care for this at all, due to the sourness.

Griffin Cider Works (Westlake OH) Strong Woman (6.5% ABV): This is an English-style cider finished with cherry, sold March thru October, whose proceeds go towards fighting breast cancer. Semi-sweet. Moderate cherry flavor. Low carbonation. Medium bodied. Moderate tartness. Moderate acidity. Mild tannins. I thought it was pretty average. There was an additional flavor in this that none of us could identify. The tannins were unique.

Doc’s Draft (Warwick NY) Sour Cherry (6.0% ABV): This is sold year round. Semi-sweet. Moderate to strong real cherry flavor. Low carbonation. Medium bodied. Mild tartness. Moderate acidity. I really liked it.

Greenwood Cider (Seattle WA) Cherry (unknown ABV): This appears to be draft only. Semi-dry to semi-sweet. Mild weird cherry flavor. Low carbonation. Light bodied. Low tartness. Moderate acidity. I thought this one was a bit strange, but ok.

Between the six of us at the tasting, the clear winner of the evening was from Doc’s. Unfortunately this variety isn’t sold in Washington in bottles, but can be found in Oregon, or sometimes on draft here. My second favorite was from Julian. What both of these had in common was they were a bit sweeter, more intense cherry flavor, and more “real” flavor (not medicinal). The least favorites were the Anthem, Greenwood, and Griffin varieties.

Schilling Cider House Visit 6 Tasting Notes

November 23, 2015November 21, 2015 cidersays Ace, Apple Outlaw, Carlton, Cider Riot, Doc's, Finnriver, Liberty, Rev Nat's, review, Snowdrift, Tieton, Whitewood cider, cider flight, cider review, cider tasting, hard cider, Schilling, Schilling Cider House, seattle

Yes, I made yet another trip to the Schilling Cider House! Check out my past posts here. This time it was for a Sidra event, but that is one type of cider I’m just not into, so I sampled some non-Sidra selections from of the tap list (and some bottles). The Cider Log crew was there, and brought an awesome spread of Spanish treats–thanks for sharing!

I started with a flight of six, as usual.

Tieton Cider Works Cranberry, 6.9% ABV: Semi-dry to semi-sweet. Very tart! Lots of cranberry flavor. More tart than the Finnriver cranberry cider I tried at the same time (see below). A bit astringent. I’m a bit over cranberry (I used to like it more), so I prefer most of Tieton’s other ciders to this one. This is a new release for them, and its also available bottled.

Doc’s Draft Pumpkin, 5.0% ABV: Sweet. Lots of pumpkin pie spices with a bit of earthiness & pumpkin flavor. Full bodied. Unlike many pumpkin ciders & beers, this one uses actual pumpkin. I’m not a pumpkin or spice fan, so needless to say I didn’t really enjoy this cider (I tried it more out of curiosity). The folks who blind tasted it for this article were much bigger fans though, giving it the highest score of 23 pumpkin ciders & beers! This is a yearly seasonal release for Doc’s, and also available bottled. This was my second time trying Doc’s, but neither were flavors I’m a fan of…hopefully I get a chance to try something I have a better shot of actually enjoying soon (I’ve been eyeing their Sour Cherry, but alas it isn’t sold in the Seattle area, so I may need to make a trip down to Portland OR or order online).

Reverend Nat’s (and Cider Riot!) Ciderkin, 3.2% ABV: Dry. Ginger! Moderate tartness, astringency, and acidity. Slightly funky. Ciderkin is a lower alcohol content cider traditionally made from the pommace (apple skin and pulp leftover after pressing apples into juice). This one however is quite different than the version of ciderkin I had awhile back from Argus (tasting notes here). The ginger (although admittedly mild) was overwhelming for my palate as I’m just not a fan of it. My favorite cider from Rev Nat’s so far is their Revival. They’ve released this Ciderkin cider a few times, but it doesn’t appear to be available bottled.

Liberty Ciderworks Gravenstein, 8.0% ABV: Dry. Moderate sourness, tartness, astringency, tannins, and acidity. Almost no carbonation. Very mild on the nose. Although this was a Gravenstein single varietal, I picked up a lot of crabapple notes…it reminds me of their Crabenstein, which used Gravenstein and Crabapples, although not quite as harsh. So far I prefer their Manchurian Crabapple, English Style, and Stonewall to this one. This cider is also available bottled.

Finnriver Cranberry Rosehip, 6.5% ABV: Semi-sweet. Moderate tartness. Lots of cranberry flavor. I didn’t really pick up any herbal (rosehip) flavor, but I imagine it mellowed the cranberry a bit, especially drinking it side by side to the Tieton variety. I liked this one better than the Tieton Cranberry, probably as it isn’t as tart. However, my favorite “cranberry” cider so far is probably a tie for this and Schilling’s Mischief Maker (cranberry-pomegranate). Cranberry Rosehip is part of Finnriver’s Elijah Swan Seasonal Botanical line, which is also available bottled, and includes some of my favorites such as Honey Meadow and Lavender Black Currant.

Apple Outlaw Blackberry Bounty, 5.5% ABV: Semi-dry. Very mild berry flavor. Mild tartness. This seems to be another one of the drier and milder flavored berry ciders coming out. This one was pretty average in my book. It is also available bottled. This was my first time trying their regular line of ciders (although I tried their Oaked Sweet Dark Cherry at Cider Summit Seattle 2015, which appeared to be a special draft release).

I also had a sip of Whitewood Red Cap. It was a bit weird…dry and almost Sidra-ish with some sourness and quite mild flavored. They describe it as a Session cider, which usually indicates a low ABV and easy to drink cider, but its 6.2% ABV. Also available bottled. It reminded me some of their Summer Switchel, but without the salty & ginger notes. Both are quite different from their Kingston Black Whiskey Barrel Aged cider, which is amazing!

I mostly wanted to sample what Schilling had on tap that I hadn’t tried, despite not being too excited about the varieties. Therefore there were a few I didn’t really enjoy, so I ended up not finishing a lot of the flight. Thankfully that freed up some ability to try more ciders! Next up we sampled a couple bottles (which I don’t believe they sell at the Cider House).

Ace Space (blood orange) was another weird one. Odd hazy orange hue. Semi-dry. The nose and some of the flavor was almost medicinal/artificial (like Tang or a Vitamin C supplement), but there is definitely some blood orange flavor too. Mild tartness and sourness. I wasn’t really a fan…not sure what they were thinking with this one? This is Ace’s newest cider, a special release. I kinda had the same opinion on their last special release, Blackjack 21, which tasted like Chardonnay to me (although admittedly it was aged in Chardonnay barrels, so maybe they were going for that). Apparently I’m in the minority though as it sold well so they are releasing it again this year.

Carlton Cyderworks Sugar and Spice. Semi-sweet. I was surprised I liked this, as I usually don’t tend towards spiced cider. However, the spice was quite mild and balanced. It also wasn’t overly sweet. This is a seasonal bottled release for them, new for this year.

I also had a pint of Snowdrift Red–yum! One of my favorites. However, this batch seemed a bit more tart than previous, and with a bit less fruitiness. There can definitely be variability from batch to batch in a craft product. I like when cideries such as Snowdrift batch label their ciders, so you know whether what you buying may be slightly different. Anthem is another example of a cidery which does this, but they actually go so far as to use different apple varieties in different batches of their flagship cider (and you can look up what was used by the batch number on the bottle).

Oddly enough the Carlton Sugar and Spice was the winner of the afternoon as far as a new cider I enjoyed the most! I think it would taste really good warm (which is how I like mead, but I haven’t tried that for cider as I usually avoid spiced cider).

I definitely tried a lot of cider and had a blast, as always. Stay tuned for more Schilling Cider House tasting notes here at Cider Says! Have you had any good draft cider / cider flights recently?

Schilling Cider House Visit 4 Tasting Notes

October 19, 2015October 13, 2015 cidersays Aspall, Blue Mountain, Cockrell, Doc's, Jester & Judge, Le Brun, local, review, Schilling, Wandering Aengus, Waupoos cider, cider review, cider tasting, hard cider, Schilling Cider House, seattle

Another trip to the Schilling Cider House! I always have a blast (especially now that Sarah from Cider Log works there), and its kinda on my way home, and pretty affordable for a cider flight, so I make time for it when I can.

I had barely sat down this time when Sarah asked my opinion on the sweetness level of Cockrell’s Valley Red (raspberry) they had just tapped (as they color code the tap list by sweetness level). My vote was semi-sweet. I actually tried that one at the Seattle Cider tasting room (The Woods) awhile back. Bright cherry-pink hue. Semi-sweet. Nicely balanced tart-sweet, The raspberry comes across with a nice bite, and is easily noticeable, but not overpowering.

Then, I ordered a flight. It actually wasn’t too difficult to find 6 I hadn’t tried before, as they have 32 cider taps.

Wandering Aengus Byrd, 8.5% ABV:
Made from Wickson Crabapples and Nehou English Bittersweets, wild fermented. Semi-dry to Dry. Orangeish hue. Lots of crabbapple flavor and heavy tannins. Richer but light bodied. Slight funk. Not too much bitterness. Nice tang. Quite tasty, my favorite Wandering Aengus so far by far (usually not a big fan of them or their subsidiary Anthem). Reminds me of English cider. Apparently the name was because a bird made a nest on top of the tank, so they decided to name whatever cider they made a variation on bird.

Jester & Judge Sharp Cherry, 5.8% ABV:
First time I’ve tried Jester & Judge, although I have a bottle of their cider in the fridge to try. They are a newish cidery out of Stevenson WA. Semi-dry. Orange/pink hue. Very very mild cherry. Some tartness. Overall kinda blah. I’d call it Hint of Cherry, not Sharp Cherry lol. I guess I’m just a fan of bolder flavor. By the way, my favorite cherry cider so far is made by Washington Gold, and has a lovely bold real tart cherry flavor.

Blue Mountain Semi-Sweet, 6.3% ABV:
Second time I’ve tried Blue Mountain (only tried their Peach before). Semi-dry. Floral scent. Kinda watered down tasting / mildly flavored. Some tartness and some bitterness. Very mild tannins. Floral and citrus notes. Easy drinking and I think this would be widely appealing. Overall kinda average.

Le Brun Organic Cidre, 4% ABV:
French cidre! Semi-sweet. Nice richer flavor with mild tannins. I pick up some apple skin type flavor with this one, and its a bit larger bodied than some other French ciders I’ve had. Overall quite good, but as far as French ciders go, I prefer Dan Armor, which I found to be more flavorful. They carry this in bottles at the Schilling Cider House by the way.

Waupoos Premium, 6.5% ABV:
I’ve heard of this cidery from Ontario Canada, but hadn’t had a chance to try their cider. On the sweeter side of semi-dry. Plain yeasty apple scent. Some tartness, bitterness, and acidity, but rather mild. A rather basic cider without much flavor, but I don’t really have any complaints about it either. Well-hidden ABV.

Doc’s Raspberry on Nitro, 5.5% ABV:
I’ve been wanting to try Doc’s. Sarah recommends their Sour Cherry, but I haven’t seen it yet. This one was weird…I picked up some saltiness. Maybe from the tap line? It also unfortunately didn’t take well to the Nitro (there wasn’t any noticeable Nitro influence; typically the ciders get really foamy & smooth). Semi-sweet. Nicely balanced tart-sweet raspberry. Smelled better than it tasted though. I’ll have to give them another try.

Overall: The only ciders I truly enjoyed from my flight were the Wandering Aengus (oddly enough) and Le Brun. I kinda wished I had got a flight of the ciders I knew I liked that they had on tap, but I’m a sucker for trying new things, especially ciders, and especially when I haven’t tried anything from that cidery.

While I was there they also put together a very unique Randall using Schilling Oak Aged cider, mushrooms, walnuts, and black olives! The olives cam through most in the scent. The taste was quite earthy with some funk, and a bit chunky honestly (I got the first pour I think). It wasn’t as bad as it sounds though, although a couple sips was plenty. Looks like Friday afternoons are their typical Randall time, as the same thing happened during my previous visit.

Sarah also shared some of a bottle of Aspall Dry with me! This was the very first Aspall variety I had (at the Seattle International Beerfest; see my post here), and is quite excellent. Its an awesomely crisp apple-forward semi-dry cider. I haven’t been disappointed by any Aspall variety yet, and am looking forward to trying the bottle of Imperial I have at home.

So, all in all, obviously I highly recommend the Schilling Cider House! By the way, the Schilling Cider House has a monthly potluck. The next one is on Thursday October 22 from 5-9pm, and being called Dude…Sweet, with a theme of sweeter ciders, and asking folks to bring in sweet treats to share. There will even be a new Schilling release!

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