Eden Sparkling Semi-Dry

January 18, 2016January 16, 2016 cidersays Eden, review cider, cider review, cider tasting, Eden, hard cider, methode champenoise, Semi-Dry, sparkling, sparkling cider, Vermont

Review of Eden Ice Cider’s Sparkling Semi-Dry cider. This is made using the traditional labor-intensive methode champenoise, which makes naturally sparkling cider. I previously tried Eden’s Sparkling Dry cider, and this is described as the same cider (although made with different apple varieties) with a bit of their ice cider to add some additional sweetness (which also adds an additional 1% ABV).

I sampled this cider on New Year’s Eve, and it unfortunately turned out to be a poorly sealed bottle whose taste wasn’t as intended, and Eleanor at Eden was awesome enough to send me a sample bottle to replace it (and two ice ciders to review!). Cider from the original bottle was nearly flat, and was on the dry, funky, and sour side….the cap must have been sealed enough so it wouldn’t leak, but allowed for air transfer.

>>This is a review of a sample bottle provided to Cider Says by Eden Ice 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: Sparkling Semi-Dry
Cidery: Eden Ice Cider
Cidery Location: Newport VT
ABV: 9.5%
How Supplied: 375ml or 750ml capped champagne bottle
Style: American methode champenoise sparkling cider

Availability: At least in AK, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, IL, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, SC, VT, WA, British Columbia. Eden also offers online sales when allowed by state.

Cider Description: Eden Sparkling Ciders are made with locally grown apples. We use the same blend of traditional and heirloom apples that we use for our ice ciders, and then add classic Bittersweet cider varieties. True cider variety apples are sweeter and have much more tannin than eating apples. They are pretty awful to eat so you won’t ever find them in a grocery store. The Sparkling Dry is made with Kingston Black. The Sparkling Semi-Dry is made with Dabinett and Yarlington Mill.

The cider is fermented and aged in French oak puncheons for a year, the bottles with a secondary fermentation that is created with additional juice rather than sugar. After another 6 months each bottle is hand-disgorged in a careful process and removes the yeast but retains the vibrant natural effervescence of the in-bottle fermentation. For our Semi-Dry, we add in a little bit of our ice cider for sweetness.

Eden Sparkling ciders are full-flavored, tannic, and clean with a champagne-like mouth feel and balanced acidity. They are unfiltered and unpasteurized, with higher ABV and much less sweetness than mass marketed industrial hard ciders.

Cidery Description: Eden Orchards and Eden Ice Cider began on a trip to Montreal in 2006 when we first tasted ice cider and wondered why nobody was making it on our side of the border. We had dreamed for years of working together on a farm in the Northeast Kingdom; it was a dream that had vague outlines including an apple orchard, cider, and fermentation of some sort. That night we looked at each other and knew ice cider was it. In April 2007, we bought an abandoned dairy farm in West Charleston, Vermont and got to work. Since then we have planted over 1,000 apple trees, created 5 vintages of Eden Vermont Ice Ciders, and have introduced a new line of Orleans Apertif Ciders. Out goals are to create healthy soils and trees in our own orchard, to support out Vermont apple orchard partners who do the same, to minimize our carbon footprint, to contribute to the economic and environmental health of our employees and our Northeast Kingdom community, and most of all to make world-class unique ciders that truly reflect our Vermont terroir.

They have a tasting bar on the main floor of the Northeast Kingdom Tasting Center in downtown Newport VT. Their current product line includes at least eight ice ciders, two Aperitif ciders, and dry & semi-dry sparkling ciders. They also have a cider club where members get access to special release ciders not available to the public.

Price: n/a, but retail price of $15-$20 (750ml)
Where Bought: n/a (but originally the Schilling Cider House)
Where Drank: home
How Found: I heard about Eden on Facebook, met cidermaker Eleanor Leger at an event surrounding Cider Summit Seattle 2015 where I tried their Sparkling Dry cider, tried their Heirloom Blend cider at Cider Summit (and my husband bought me a bottle for our anniversary, reviewed here), and decided Semi-Dry would be a great New Year’s Eve cider selection.

First Impression: Honey-pumpkin light amber hue. Moderate carbonation with tiny bubbles (even before opening the bottle, with a gentle shake, I could tell it had more carbonation than the first). Smells luscious, of honey, tropical fruit, coconut, apricot, floral, and high-tannin cider apples (Dabinett and Yarlington Mill).

Tasting Notes: On the drier side of semi-dry. Moderate acidity. Mild tartness. Moderate tannins. Slight hints of bitterness, funk, and sourness. Flavor notes of tropical fruit, apricot, peach, honey, and green apple. Slight richness. Moderate carbonation with a fizzy mouthfeel. Medium bodied. Moderate apple influence. Mild oak barrel influence. Low sessionability.

My Opinion: Yum! It had a lovely flavor complexity–you could really taste the hint of ice cider in comparison to the Sparkling Dry. The ice cider added both sweetness and additional flavor (especially tropical fruit). My husband also really enjoyed it. All in all I think this cider is awesome. Its also a wonderful value, as the apple varieties are expensive, and the production method is labor-intensive.

Most Similar to: I’ve had other methode champenoise ciders such as Finnriver’s Artisan Sparkling Brut Cider, but this one was less champagne-like (more fruitiness). The tropical fruit notes also reminded me of ciders such as Eaglemount Quince and Slyboro Old Sin, except with added carbonation.

Closing Notes: Eden Ice Cider really makes some amazing ciders. I look forward to trying the Honeycrisp and Northern Spy (barrel aged) ice ciders Eleanor sent!

Have you tried Eden’s Sparkling Dry or Semi-Dry ciders? What did you think?

Eden Heirloom Blend Ice Cider

December 16, 2015December 16, 2015 cidersays Eden, review apple ice wine, cider, cider review, cider tasting, Eden, hard cider, ice cider, Vermont

Review of Eden’s Heirloom Blend Ice Cider. I tried this at Cider Summit Seattle 2015 and fell in love. The night before Cider Summit I actually got to meet the cidermaker Eleanor Leger, chat for awhile, and sample a glass of her Sparkling Dry cider, which is also awesome (notes here). My husband bought me this bottle for our anniversary; its a bit of a splurge and not something I’d normally buy.

From Eden’s website: Ice cider (also sold as apple ice wine) originated in Southern Quebec, and is a dessert wine made using apples which have been concentrated by natural winter cold. Eden harvests apples from the trees at peak ripeness, puts them in cold storage until winter, presses them into juice, then sets the juice outdoors to freeze for 6-8 weeks. The freezing & melting-off process concentrates the flavor and sugar of the apples. The juice is then fermented over several weeks or months until the cider is cold stabilized, filtered, and bottled. Ice cider is typically 8-11% ABV and 12-15% residual sugar (in contrast, typical criteria puts dry cider below 0.9%, medium at 0.9-4.0%, and sweet above 4.0% residual sugar). The final amount of ice cider is typically less than 1/4 of the original amount of pressed juice, and it takes more than 8 pounds of apples to make just one 375ml bottle of ice cider. All this substantiates the high cost of ice cider. Here are photos of the process.

Cider: Heirloom Blend Ice Cider
Cidery: Eden
Cidery Location: West Charleston VT
ABV: 10%
How Supplied: 375ml tall clear glass bottle, corked (also available in some areas in 187ml bottles)

Availability: Year round in AK, CA, CO, CT, DE, IL, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, SC, VT, WA, WA D.C., and Canada. See their list of distributors.

Cider Description: This is our flagship product, now in its sixth vintage. We’ve changed the name from ‘Calville’ to Heirloom to reflect more clearly the heritage and complexity of the the blend. In addition to MacIntosh and Empire, Russets provide full-bodied sweetness, Calville Blanc and Esopus Spitzenburg provide acidity and citrus notes for balance, and Ashmead’s Kernel provides natural tannins for structure. Serve it with artisanal cheeses, game or dessert.

Apple varieties: Empire, MacIntosh, Roxbury Russett, Calville Blanc, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Hudson’s Gem, Ashmead’s Kernel, Esopus Spitzenberg, Black Oxford, Belle de Boskoop, Reinettes

35 Brix after concentration, 10% ABV, 15% residual sugar, and 1.6% titratable acidity. No added sugar, coloring or flavoring of any kind.

They have a tasting bar on the main floor of the Northeast Kingdom Tasting Center in downtown Newport VT, and can ship ciders to 23 states (see their full page on how to buy). Their current product line includes at least four ice ciders, two Aperitif ciders, and dry & semi-dry sparkling ciders.

Price: $30
Where Bought: Special Brews in Lynnwood WA
Where Drank: home
How Found: browsing

First Impression: Rich deep amber-orange hue. Completely still (no carbonation). Smells of rich sweet ripe apples, caramelized sugar, brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and honey.

Opinion: Very sweet, but in a refined and well-crafted way. Low acidity. No to low tartness. No bitterness, sourness, or funk. Mild tannins. Very full bodied. Medium finish length. The same rich sweet ripe apples, caramelized sugar, brown sugar, caramel, vanilla, and honey notes continue to the flavor. It is a tad alcohol-forward, but still tastes less than its 10% ABV. Rich and full-flavored. I tried it cold, room temperature, and warm, and enjoyed it best when very cold. When warmer the flavors were dulled.

Most Similar to: Other high quality ice ciders. When buying an ice cider (or actually any cider), I’d recommend researching how the product is made. For example, I’ve seen an imported product that retails for only $12 (instead of $20-$30 for 375ml) made from apple juice concentrate. Its at least good to made an educated purchase. Eden was the first to make ice cider in the U.S., but now other cideries make it, including Tieton (Frost), Eve’s (Essence), Newhall Farm, Slyboro (Ice Harvest), Sheldrake Point (Ice Apple Wine) and Angry Orchard (Iceman). You can also find imported ice ciders in the U.S., including from Domaine Etienne Dupont (Givre), Domaine Pinnacle, and Neige.

Closing Notes: Amazing! I highly recommend Eden ice cider, as long as someone doesn’t mind a sweet beverage. It isn’t intended to be drunk in large quantities, but instead small sips, such as with dessert. This ice cider paired especially well with apple pie….mmmm. This bottle easily lasted me a week, including sharing it with a couple other folks, and apparently can remain open in the fridge for quite awhile (I noticed no change in taste over that week, likely as it is still, high ABV, and high residual sugar). I really want to try Eden’s barrel aged ice cider, Northern Spy, but it isn’t sold in WA yet.

Have you tried any ice cider? What did you think?

East Meets West: An Evening with Eden and Alpenfire Ciders at Burgundian Bar

September 15, 2015August 10, 2017 cidersays Alpenfire, Cider Summit, Eden, event, local, review, Washington Cider Week Alpenfire, Burgundian, cider, cider review, cider summit, cider tasting, Eden, hard cider, seattle, Washington Cider Week

Stop 2 on Thursday night brought me to the Burgundian bar in Seattle. Cidermakers from Eden Ice Cider (Newport VT) and Alpenfire Organic Hard Cider (Port Townsend WA) were on hand to chat, they were pouring ciders from each, and there were even specialty cocktails using their ciders. It started off very slow at 5pm, but that worked very well for me as I got some awesome conversations in while there were more industry folks than customers. I met Kyle from Millstone Cellars (Monkton MD); I had e-mailed with him about their Cobbler cider and he remembered me. I also met Dan from Orcas Distributing, which is one of the main cider distributors in the Seattle area. I got to see both again the next day at Cider Summit.

The special event menu is below (click to biggify). They also had a number of bottle pour ciders from Eden, Alpenfire, and more. There was unfortunately only one draft cider as they apparently had some logistical issues.

I started with a glass of Alpenfire Apocalypso, a double rum barrel aged blackberry cider. This is their Calypso cider but rum barrel aged for four instead of two months. This draft-only cider was $6 for 6oz (Calypso runs about $13 for a 500ml bottle). 6.9% ABV. Middle of the road sweetness. Berry with a touch of wood scent. Lovely berry hue. Fruity, moderately tart, with a hint of barrel influence. Very tasty! It had more complexity than your average fruity cider, which I really enjoyed. There haven’t been too many fruity ciders I’ve been impressed with, but this is one. Apocalypso is probably a tie with Spark! for my favorite Alpenfire cider so far.

I chatted with Eleanor Leger from Eden Ice Cider for quite awhile. it was awesome to learn more about Eden’s ciders, as I had seen them and was very interested, but hadn’t tried any yet. Eden’s ciders are made by husband & wife team Eleanor & Albert Leger. They specialize in and started with ice ciders, but have also branched out into aperitif and traditional ciders. In addition to offering their customers more variety, both of these products are a way for them to use the same juice as their ice ciders, from a second and third pressing (the sugar content decreases). They may actually be the only company selling cider apertifs at this time. It was interesting to hear they are even trying to find uses for the “apple water” which is left after making the cider, such as selling it to a gin distillery which would use it in place of water for added flavor.

They were the first ice cider company in the U.S. and also have their own orchard of cider apples. Ice cider by the way is a dessert wine variety which was developed in Canada, and is made from apples which have been concentrated by natural winter cold. The apples are harvested at peak ripeness then kept in cold storage. After pressing, the juice is set outdoors to freeze for 6-8 weeks, which results in a residual concentrate which is high in sugar and flavor. The concentrate is then fermented, cold stabilized, filtered, and bottled, leaving a high alcohol and high residual sugar cider. The final amount of cider is typically less than 1/4 of the original amount of juice pressed. Eleanor told me approximately 20% of their juice is used for ice cider, 7% for apertif, 8% for cider, and the remaining 65% is “apple water”.

I then tried Eden’s Oak Aged Sparkling Dry Cider, 8.5% ABV, $9 for a 6oz bottle pour (runs around $10 for a 375ml bottle). This is Eden’s first traditional cider (also available in Semi-Dry), released in 2013, and distribution was expanded outside of VT in 2014. It is naturally sparkling from bottle conditioning using juice, not sugar (Methode Champenoise, which is VERY labor intensive; here is a great explaination). This cider is crafted from traditional and heirloom apples (50% Kingston Black) grown within 200 miles of their cidery, aged in French oak puncheons (twice the size of typical barrels) for one year, then bottle conditioned for six months.. The purpose of the barrel aging in this case is to impart a more mature flavor, and it can actually increase the amount of tannins as well (vs. when a barrel from spirits is used it would also impart the flavor of the spirit, such as bourbon).

<disclaimer: these bottle label photos were taken at Whole Foods the following
day as I didn’t get a chance to ask the bartender to see the bottle>

Using such a large amount of Kingston Black apples is expensive, and Eleanor discussed the cost difference between using juice pressed from dessert apples ($2.50-4.00 / gallon) and juice pressed from cider apples ($8.00-10.00 / gallon) to make cider. The high cost is primarily due to their rarity. Hopefully in the coming years the cost will go down as availability increases, which will also increase the quality of ciders as more cidermakers use cider instead of dessert variety apples. In addition to apples from Eden’s own orchard (which has about 1,000 trees and took approximately 5 years to go from planting to first harvest), they use a lot of apples from the nearby Scott Farm on Kipling’s estate, which is an old Macintosh orchard which was top grafted with many heirloom and cider apple varieties. I also learned about Eden’s newest product addition, Imperial 11 Rose, which is an off-dry lightly sparkling 11% ABV cider made from heirloom apples and red currant. Perfect for the wine-loving cider drinker.

On to the Eden Sparkling Dry cider tasting notes: Lovely brilliant amber with tiny bubbles and a light foam ring. Definitely dry, but there was a touch of residual sweetness. Ripe apple scent and taste. Moderate amounts of acidity, tannins, and bitterness. Mild tartness. Medium bodied. High carbonation. Hints of earthiness and funk. Very well crafted and balanced. I could really taste the difference from using cider apples (vs. dessert apples) and bottle conditioning (vs. force carbonating). A perfect cider alternative to champagne. Yum!

It was a special treat to enjoy it while sitting and chatting with the cidermaker. I typically have trouble tolerating both dryness and bitterness in a cider, but both were so well balanced with the acidity, tannins, and carbonation that I found the cider enjoyable. I may have to pick up a bottle of this to have on hand; the small bottle size and reasonable cost (moreso per bottle not per ounce) are nice.

I also met Nancy Bishop and her son Philippe from Alpenfire. Ron from DrinkingCider.com and crew also showed up later!

Eleanor from Eden even brought some specialty ciders with her all the way from VT that aren’t available here in WA. I had to leave before the event was over as I had work at 6am the next day (Friday) so I was unfortunately only able to taste one, dubbed “Cinderella’s Slipper”. It was a very special variety that hasn’t been released. It was their first cider made only from (35 varieties of) apples from Eden’s own orchard. It had literally been forgotten about, sitting in a tank at Eden’s old facility for a year. I found it to be dry, still, slightly tart, highly acidic, and high in tannins. Very unique!

Here is a photo of the bartender at the Burgundian making one of the specialty cocktails by the way. They were all very pretty and involved many interesting ingredients (time consuming for the bartender when Eleanor decided to try all four lol). See the photo of the menu at the top of this post.

However, I didn’t try any, as I am pretty picky when it comes to food & drink, especially cocktails (I don’t like gin or any aged spirits for example), and none of them sounded good to me. Plus, I don’t really get the point of mixing high end cider into a cocktail; to me it would be like mixing expensive vodka with orange juice or whatever. I’d rather drink the cider on its own and get the full experience of it! I will admit I haven’t tried a cider cocktail though, and its something I want to do.

Cider cocktails seem all the rage lately around here, with Capitol Cider pouring them at Cider Summit, and Darlene Hayes even wrote a book all about them! I was lucky enough to meet Darlene Hayes at Cider Summit and chat with her for a bit (she likes my blog by the way–very cool). Check out her blog as well, All Into Cider, which has some great stories and information about cider.

Stay tuned for more Washington Cider Week posts at Cider Says. Up next are posts about Cider Summit itself (including more tasting notes on Eden and Alpenfire ciders), then the Bill Bradshaw tasting event at Capitol Cider, and Schilling Cider House (2 Towns night but also hoping for some barrel aged ciders left from the night before). I have quite a lot of photos and tasting notes to go through from Cider Summit though, so I apologize if there is a delay in the Cider Summit post/s. To give a hint, I believe the final count is 33 ciders that I tried! However, I have some other cider review posts to cue up in the meantime. Cheers!

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