lemon

Hi-Wheel Wine & Mead Co. Lavender Lemon

cidersays Hi-Wheel, not cider, review , , , , , ,

Review of Hi-Wheel Wine & Mead Company’s Lavender Lemon.  This isn’t cider, but instead a carbonated fruit wine, made from fermenting water, lemon juice, sugar, and lavender.  Its my first time trying anything from Hi-Wheel.

2016-08-20 17.21.36.jpg

Beverage:  Lavender Lemon Carbonated Fruit Wine
Company:  Hi-Wheel Wine & Mead Co.
Location:  Portland OR
ABV:  6.8%
How Supplied:  500ml bottles
Style:  American craft fruit wine made from lemon and lavender

2016-08-20 17.21.42 2016-08-20 17.21.50 2016-08-20 17.21.56

Availability:  Oregon and Washington

Product Description: This refreshing drink has the same lemon start as its cousin Ginger Lemon, but infused with lavender.

Company Description:  Hi-Wheel Wine & Mead Co. makes fizzy wines out of fruit not typically used for wine making, such as grapefruit, lemon & lime. Brewed with culinary herbs and spices, we present a growing series of session beverages with AVB around 6.8%, such as Ruby Zozzle (grapefruit), Ginger Lemon, Lavender Lemon, & Lime Habanero.

Hi-Wheel also crafts long-aged meads, with a release of Beloved Sovereign – an herbal honey wine made with Sauvie Island honey, savory spices & citrus – later this autumn. These meads are designed for intimate dinners and connections, in tasteful packaging, and run about 14% AVB.

Price:  $6.99
Where Bought:  Total Wine
Where Drank:  home
How Found:  Browsing.  I had seen them before, but only other varieties which didn’t appeal to me (I’m not a fan of grapefruit, ginger, or spicy beverages).

2016-08-20 17.22.56.jpg

First Impression:  Hazy lemonade hue.  Low carbonation upon pouring.  Smells of tart lemonade with a hint of lavender.

Tasting Notes:  Semi-sweet to semi-dry.  Medium bodied.  High tartness.  Moderate acid.  No bitterness or sourness.  Notes of only lemonade and lavender.  Moderate finish with lingering tart lemon and a hint of booze.  Moderate flavor intensity.  Very low complexity.  Very high sessionability (this was too easy to drink!).

My Opinion:  A refreshing summer sipper.  No complexity, but I liked it.  I would have preferred slightly less tartness (as well as more carbonation), but I imagine most folks will like the high tartness, and it only bothered me the first few sips.  I appreciated that it wasn’t overly sweet.  The lavender worked well and was an appropriate amount–definitely noticeable but not overpowering.  This would have been quite boring without the lavender.

Most Similar to:  Other alcoholic lemonades, such as from Crabbie’s and Big B’s.  I think I slightly prefer the Big B’s Lazy Daze (although its actually a mix of cider with lemonade, so maybe that is why).

Closing Notes:   I’m curious to try their other products.  I imagine this will sell well, as altervative alcoholic beverages are popular now (alcopop and the like).

Have you tried Hi-Wheel’s fruit wines?  What did you think?

Sea Cider Birds and the Bees

cidersays review, Sea Cider , , , , , , , ,

Review of Sea Cider’s Birds and the Bees cider.  I picked this up in Victoria B.C., a stop on our Alaska cruise.  I’ve tried a few ciders from Sea Cider (see here), but this one is part of their Canadian Invasion Series and only available in Canada.

2016-05-27 17.25.57.jpg

Cider:  Birds and the Bees
Cidery:  Sea Cider
Cidery Location:  Saanichton, British Columbia, Canada
ABV:  9.9%
How Supplied:  750ml clear glass swing-top bottle
Style:  Canadian craft cider made from dessert apples, with fireweed honey and lemon bitters

2016-05-27 17.26.07 2016-05-27 17.26.19 2016-05-27 17.26.29

Availability:  Only in British Columbia Canada

Cider Description:  The birds & the bees are a welcome sign of spring, and we thought we’d pay tribute to the pollination season with a cider in their honour. Our farm-crafted apple cider is blended with Vancouver Island fireweed honey and lemon bitters for a zesty finish buzzing with goodness. Proceeds from our Canadian Invasion Series help combat invasive plants, so raise a glass to a springtime delight!

As part of the Canadian Invasion Series, Birds and the Bees was created to continue our awareness campaign around invasive species and their impact on farming and the natural world. In addition to increasing awareness, the Canadian Invasion Series is also a way for the Sea Cider team to create fun and interesting seasonal ciders infused with local ingredients. Birds and the Bees blends our apple cider with a hefty helping of lemongrass from our farm, Vancouver Island’s fireweed honey and our own apple eau de vie to create a sweet yet sharp cider sensation. Expect aromatic notes of citrus and lemon to harmonize with the light fresh, floral aroma of fireweed honey in a union as sweet and sprightly as a May morning.

Their Canadian Invasion Series uses dessert/culinary apples to allow them to blend in cool stuff, while their Heirloom Series is “all about the apples” (estate grown bittersharps and bittersweet, single varietals etc).  They hope to have the Canadian Invasion Series ciders available in the U.S. in the future.

Cidery Description:  Sea Cider is a farm-based cidery located on the Saanich Peninsula just minutes from Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Our ten acre farm is home to over 1,300 apple trees, made up of over 50 varieties of heritage apples.  Sea Cider opened its farm gate for business in 2007 when owner Kristen Jordan purchased the property with a vision of creating an organic farm and orchard and producing traditional fermented artisan ciders. Since then, we’ve grown to an annual cider production of over 7,000 cases and growing. We continue to pride ourselves on crafting traditionally fermented ciders from organically grown apples.

Price:  just under $20 CAN, which is abour $15 USD
Where Bought:  The Strath in Victoria B.C.
Where Drank:  home
How Found:  Browsing, although I read about it online (and thought I’d never get a chance to try it).

2016-05-27 17.27.56.jpg

First Impression:  Medium straw yellow.  Low carbonation upon pouring.  Smells of apple, honey, citrus, and floral.

Tasting Notes:  Semi-sweet to semi-dry.  Medium bodied.  Still.  Moderate tartness and acidity.  Hint of bitterness.  No sourness or tannins.  Strong honey, moderate lemon, and some orange and floral notes.  Moderate length slightly warming finish.  Low apple flavor.  Low sessionability.

My Opinion:  Simple but very tasty.  Its unique to find a boozy spring/summer cider, as typically these sorts of ciders are lower ABV (although true cysers, when they ferment the apple juice with the honey instead of just adding honey afterwards, tend to be higher ABV).

Most Similar to:  Eaglemount Cyser (also a higher ABV and semi-sweet, but without the lemon)

Closing Notes:   I’m glad I got to try this cider!

Have you tried Sea Cider?  What did you think?

Woodchuck Lazy Hazy Lemon Crazy

cidersays review, Woodchuck , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This is Woodchuck’s newest Out on a Limb release:

Cider:  Lazy Hazy Lemon Crazy
Cidery:  Woodchuck
Cidery Location:  Middlebury, VT
ABV:  4.2%
How Supplied:  6 pack of 12oz bottles
Availability:  limited release (flavors in Out on a Limb rotate)

Description on Bottle:  After a crazy day under the sun, grab a cider – your hammock is calling!  We’ve taken a spin on the traditional shandy and made it our own.  Our “cider shandy” starts with out small batch hard cider and infuses fresh lemon juice and lemongrass, crafting a well-balanced session cider with sweet and tart in every sip.

Price:  $8.99 / six pack (although I only picked up a single bottle for under $2)
Where Bought:  Total Wine
How Found: Started to look for it after reading it on Facebook from Woodchuck.  Note that it can take awhile between when Woodchuck announces a flavor and it is stocked, especially if you are on the other side of the country.  Also, with Out on a Limb, stores are often waiting until they are out of the previous flavor to stock the next one.  I got lucky and was able to find Lazy Hazy Lemon Crazy even though it was just announced this past week!
Where Drank:  home

Opinion:  This is Woodchuck’s take on a summer shandy (traditionally a mix of beer & lemonade, but other mixers can be used).  It was created using a mix of McIntosh, Empire, & Cortland apples, and is infused with fresh lemon juice and lemongrass.  They call this a session cider, which typically refers to low alcohol content beers (cider in this case) suitable for extended drinking sessions.  The ABV (alcohol by volume) is 4.2% in this case, where other Woodchuck varieties typically run between 5% and 6.9%.  Woodchuck previously had “Crisp”, a 3.2% ABV session cider, which I actually thought was quite tasty, and good for drinking multiple bottles as it only came in at 120 calories per 12 oz.  With the bump up to 4.2% ABV for this variety, the calories only bump to 140…not bad!  Also, only 9 grams of sugar, much lower than most of their other ciders.

I think Woodchuck went a bit too “Out on a Limb” with this one, as its definitely “Lemon Crazy”!  I love lemon, yet I find this cider is overwhelming with lemon flavor, and finishes a bit too tart.  I’ve never been a fan of tart ciders, such as green apple.  I like the relatively low level of sweetness though.  I think if they toned down the lemon a bit it would be very nice.  It smells really nice, with only a hint of lemon, but the overwhelming lemon flavor lingers on the tongue.  I would however call it refreshing.  I would only recommend this to people who really like lemon, and like a tart cider.

Note that the Woodchuck Out on a Limb series keeps the same packaging but rotates ciders every month or two, so check the bottle neck before assuming it is the same cider as you’ve seen before.  So far they have had:

  • Chocolate Raspberry
  • Splitter Splinter (with bittersweet apples and aged in whiskey barrels; not bad but I like Barrel Select better as this one was a bit tart)
  • Cheeky Cherry (apparently identical to their cellar series Sour Cherry release but 5.5% instead of 6.9%)
  • Oopsy Daisy (chamomile & honey)
  • Lazy Hazy Lemon Crazy

Have you tried Lazy Hazy Lemon Crazy?  What did you think?