Red Tank | Cider Says

Review of Red Tank’s Roughneck. Its my second time trying it (I previously tried it on draft; see here), and I’ve also tried their Happy Cider, Yukon Cornelius, Sour Cherry, Tropical, and Pear Bear.

Cider: Roughneck
Cidery: Red Tank
Cidery Location: Bend Oregon
ABV: 6.5%
How Supplied: four pack of 16oz cans (and draft)
Style: American craft cider from dessert apples

Availability: Year round in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Northern California

Cider Description: A powerfully complex cider blending all elements into each storied sip. Hints of yeast, earthy sour notes and an almost dry profile keep you wanting more.Our Roughneck Cider is for the hard working people of the NW who know that you can’t have the “sweet” without the “dry”. This is serious cider for a good time.

Cidery Description: Born from years of industry experience, Red Tank Cider creates real North West hard cider. We make cider because we have a serious, uncontrollable passion for it. We won’t stop. It’s not supposed to be easy. That’s why it tastes so good. We practice sustainable techniques in our cider house. We use only apples, yeast and natural sulfites to make our cider. We do not put in any chemical additives and present our craft in its natural form.

They have a tasting room in Bend Oregon.

Price: ~$2.50 / single can
Where Bought: Special Brews in Lynnwood WA
Where Drank: home
How Found: Browsing.

First Impression: Medium straw yellow hue. Nearly still (very low carbonation). Smells like acidic apple juice.

Tasting Notes: Semi-dry. Light bodied. Moderate tartness. High acidity. Hints of bitterness and tannins. No sourness or funk. Notes of apple juice, green apple, and a hint of floral. Moderate length finish. Moderate apple flavor. High sessionability. Low to moderate flavor intensity. Low complexity.

My Opinion: This is a typical flagship apple-forward semi-dry cider. I thought it was rather average.

Closing Notes: I think I prefer their Happy Cider; it seemed more flavorful and complex (also, slightly sweeter).

Have you tried Red Tank Roughneck? What did you think?

Review of Red Tank Happy Cider. This is currently Red Tank’s only cider available outside of kegs. However, they have numerous varieties available on tap, and plan to have their Roughneck Cider available in cans in November. What vibrant packaging!

Cider: Happy Cider
Cidery: Red Tank
Cidery Location: Bend OR
ABV: 5.5%
How Supplied: 16oz cans (four pack, although I bought this one individually)

There is a lack of information on the can, although unfortunately that is quite common. Actually, I couldn’t even find much information online on this cider. So, I e-mailed the cidery.

Availability: Limited to OR and WA (ID and Northern CA soon)

Information from Drew Wilson at Red Tank Cider Company:

Cider Description: An authentic, powerful apple profile with a crisp, clean acid background. Balanced with just enough sweetness to bring it all together. We wanted a cider that made us Happy, so we made one. We’re not making any health claims, it’s just really good. Made only from 100% fresh-pressed NW apples.
Happy Cider is currently our only packaged product because we thought it a very approachable cider. It is fruit forward and clean. Fresh pressed apple juice and yeast are our only ingredients in Happy Cider. Our juice is made up of a blend of table apple juice (Red and Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, etc.)

Cidery Description: Northwest craft cider. Born from years of industry experience, Red Tank Cider creates real North West hard cider. We make cider because we have a serious, uncontrollable passion for it. We won’t stop. It’s not supposed to be easy. That’s why it tastes so good. We practice sustainable techniques in our cider house. We use only apples, yeast, and natural sulfites to make our cider. We do not put in any chemical additives and present our craft in its natural form.

Red Tank Cider is the first cider company in Bend Oregon. We started this company with knowledge and sweat. We have not taken out any loans or taken on any investors in our effort to bring the people cider. From the people for the people. We currently produce around 700 barrels a year with our eye on expanding that to over 2,000 within the next 18 months.

Additional Notes: Bend OR has two cideries, Red Tank and Atlas. Red Tank has a tasting room open Friday 4-6pm and by appointment. Atlas has a tasting room open Wed-Sat 11am-11pm and Sun-Tues 11am-7:30pm. I reviewed Atlas’ flagship cider awhile back. Atlas has an especially large following online for their size.

Price: $3.79 / can (runs about $14 for a full four pack)
Where Bought: Total Wine
Where Drank: home
How Found: Browsing. I’d seen this variety for awhile but skipped buying it due to the price. However, I saw some talk online that it was good, and I was curious.

First Impression: Medium amber. Moderate carbonation upon pouring. Sweet cooked apple scent.

Opinion: Between semi-dry and semi-sweet. Clean, smooth, crisp, and refreshing. Moderate tartness, bitterness, and acidity levels. This cider seemed to go almost flat quite quickly. Medium length finish with some lingering bitterness (although I’ll admit I’m sensitive to bitterness). Some caramel and vanilla notes. However, I found the flavor overall to be quite mild, almost watered down tasting. Also, it was on the boring side for my tastes. I tend to like bold & unique ciders though, and this is more of a plain flagship type cider. Additionally, it seemed to have a lot of apple “juice” flavor for not being made from concentrate. Overall I think its commendable that Red Tank is making a cider with 100% fresh pressed local juice without additives and without too much sweetness. It just didn’t wow me, especially for the cost.

Most Similar to: Other local flagship ciders I’ve tried. The one that especially comes to mind is from HUB, which I have also reviewed here, probably due to the sweetness level and the lingering bitterness. Another one is 2 Towns Bright Cider.

Closing Notes: Although it didn’t impress me, Happy Cider is however a solid choice and I’d be very interested to try some of their other ciders in the future.

Have you tried Red Tank Happy Cider? What did you think?

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