Round the Table

I recently attended an Apple Outlaw cider tasting at Around the Table, a game pub in Lynnwood Washington, North of Seattle. Its a unique game shop with tables to play at, snacks, and beer/cider/mead/soda/etc on tap. They have quite a tap list, which usually includes a few ciders and a mead (which is more ciders than most places with even more taps have). They’ve had a few other cider tastings prior to this, which include having a mini cider tap takeover and bringing in a cidery representative to pour them and chat.

They had Apple Outlaw’s Ginger Bite, Original, and Tangerine Twist on tap. The rep Meghan also opened a bottle of their Cranberry Jewel while I was there. I met up with Nathan from The Cider Chronicles, who now also works part time for Elemental Hard Cider. He brought a growler of their Pomegranate-Rose cider with him. Around the Table also had Elemental’s NW Atomic Root Beer cider on tap (a cider-based hard root beer, which I reviewed here), and Moonlight Meadery’s Sumptuous Mango mead.

Apple Outlaw is an orchard-based cidery in Applegate Oregon, in the Applegate Valley in the Southern portion of the state. They actually sold non-alcoholic cider (juice) for quite awhile before starting to sell hard cider, which they make from dessert apples. Oddly enough they no longer sell their unfermented juice. Although the place was rather busy, the cider tasting wasn’t, so Nathan and I got to chat with Meghan for awhile. We learned that Apple Outlaw is still on the small side, and mainly family-run. They don’t currently have a tasting room, but their bottled (and draft) ciders have been sold since 2013, and are available in Oregon and Washington.

Elemental Hard Cider Pomegranate-Rose, 6.5% ABV: Light cherry pink hue. Semi-dry to semi-sweet. Mild to moderate tartness. I mostly tasted pomegranate, but it was smoother than typical, presumably from the infusion of rose petals (although I didn’t pick up any floral notes). Elemental has infused rose petals with other ciders as well, such as Lavender-Rose (which I reviewed here).

Apple Outlaw Tangerine Twist, 5.5% ABV: Cider with tangerines and hops. It is their Spring/Summer seasonal. Semi-dry. Light bodied. The flavor started distinctly citrus and tart, and the finish was hopped (light bitterness and floral notes).

Apple Outlaw Original Hard Cider, 5.5% ABV: This is their flagship cider. Semi-sweet. Medium bodied. Mild tartness. Easy to drink and sessionable. Very apple forward (back sweetened).

Apple Outlaw Ginger Bite, 5.5% ABV: Made with Peruvian yellow ginger. Moderate to strong ginger scent. Semi-sweet. I’m not a ginger fan, but this was definitely more approachable for me than most ginger ciders, as most of the ginger remained in the scent…I really didn’t pick up too much ginger flavor. Most of all, it didn’t have any sinus burn. I think the sweetness also helped its approachability. This was described as being great for food pairings.

Apple Outlaw Cranberry Jewel, 5.5% ABV: This was a bottle pour. Made with cranberries, rose hips, and orange peel. I didn’t pick up the rose hips or orange peel (which I only read about later). It was definitely very cranberry (moderate to strong) and tasted juice-like to me. Semi-dry. Moderate tartness. Medium bodied.

Moonlight Meadery Sumptuous Mango Mead, 13.6% ABV: Nathan let me taste the glass he ordered. Very fruity and alcohol-forward, but the mango flavor isn’t particularly strong. Sweet. Moderate tartness. Full bodied. This was the first beverage from Moonlight Meadery that I didn’t think was amazing…I think I much prefer their ciders, meads, and cysers which are more honey-forward, with richer brown sugar type notes (see my prior reviews here). The fruitiness just didn’t seem to mesh with the whole 14% ABV mead vibe. I think as a lower ABV cyser (apple + honey) it would have worked better.

Of the Apple Outlaw selections, I liked the Original best. I’ve previously tried their Oaked Sweet Dark Cherry and Blackberry Bounty ciders on tap. However, none of the Apple Outlaw ciders are really a style I enjoy (and I’m not really a fan of hops, ginger, or cranberry). My favorite ciders are typically richer and/or made from cider apples. Its always fun to try new ciders though!

Review of Fox Tail’s Fuzzy Haven cider, a dry peach cider I tried on tap. This is the first time I’ve tried a cider from Fox Tail, although I’ve seen their flagship Sir Issac variety in bottles (at Full Throttle Bottles in Seattle). I believe that is currently their only bottled cider, although they have expansion plans, and they offer a number of varieties on tap.

Cider: Fuzzy Haven
Cidery: Fox Tail
Cidery Location: Hood River OR
ABV: 5.5%
How Supplied: on tap

Availability: regional, only North & Central OR and Western WA

Cider Description: Named for everyone’s favorite peach variety the Red Haven. It has great notes and flavor of peach mixed with apples. (Dry to Semi-Dry)
[Fox Tail’s website says 6.2% ABV, but this was listed as 5.5% ABV on the menu board. I imagine it may vary batch to batch, and I’m more likely to believe the menu board as listing what the keg said.]

Cidery Description: Fox-Tail Cider comes with a long history of family farming in Oregon. It all started in the late 1800’s with a German immigrant who planted apple trees to export apples back to Europe. August Paasch created the Paasch packing label for domestic and export. He continued farming with his sons into the 20th century. Every fall August would crush up a few barrels of raw squeezed apple cider and let it naturally ferment. He was always a big hit when he’d bring the barrels back out for the New Years Eve party that following winter. Five generations later, his Great Great Grandsons still work the land. Growing not only apples, but pears, cherries, peaches and more. In 2009 Bob and long time friend Justin Cardwell began doing test batches of hard cider. Foreseeing that in the next few years there would be a reemergence of the cider industry. (Cider was America’s drink of choice before prohibition.) In 2013, Fox-Tail opened its doors next to Smiley’s Red Barn in the heart of the fruit growing area of the valley. Now distributing throughout the Pacific Northwest, Fox-Tail Cider has only begun to tell its tale.

They have a taproom open seasonally with 10 hard cider selections (5 of theirs and 5 others),plus non-alcoholic cider.

Price: $5.50 / pint on tap
Where Drank: ‘Round the Table Gamer Pub in Lynnwood WA. I heard about them on Facebook and visited just for the cider, as they have three on tap and a few bottle selections as well. Their other cider tap selections that day were Finnriver Habanero and Tieton Cider Works Dry Apple. They even had a mead (Kurt’s Apple Pie from Moonlight Meadery). It wasn’t really the type of scene my husband and I like on a Friday night though…lots of teenagers, and everyone was very into the games they were playing, but apparently their typical scene is more family-like. It wasn’t so much a place to hang out and just have a drink (no bar, and it was library type tables & chairs to accommodate game play).

However, I wasn’t really expecting a bar type atmosphere (for that sort of vibe in the same area, my vote is definitely Special Brews, which has a larger tap list but less cider, and a huge bottle selection). I imagine ‘Round the Table is a really good family place though, which is what they cater to (vs. a 21+ bar). They sell all types of games, have a selection of games which you can test play for free, and a community puzzle. The prices were reasonable, they had a small food selection (toaster oven type stuff), and about a dozen varieties of Full Tilt ice cream. There were also specialty sodas, including on tap. They even do growler fills (32oz). Check out this article about their opening last year. The co-owner even got in touch with me and mentioned they really want to do a cider event, so I look forward to coming back for anything cider-related!

First Impression: Yellow hue. Light foam ring. No visible bubbles/carbonation. Mild apple-peach slightly earthy scent.

Opinion: Dry to semi-dry. Hints of peach and citrus, but I found Fuzzy Haven to be a very mild flavored cider. Crisp tasting and fairly easy to drink. Moderate acidity. Mild bitterness, Mild to moderate tartness. Light bodied. Very little carbonation. Quick finishing. Slightly earthy but not funky. I looked it up before ordering a pint, so I was expecting it to be dry, but I’d thought there would be more peach flavor.

Most Similar to: Other mild fruity ciders. I’ve tasted this most often with cherry (of which I’ve had at least 8 types), but I’ve also had one peach cider, which I found to be mild, from Blue Mountain.

Closing Notes: I’d recommend Fox Tail Fuzzy Haven for someone who likes drier fruity but mild ciders. Although it was a very solid cider, I didn’t especially enjoy it…I usually go for ciders which are more boldly flavored. However, I’d be interested to try other varieties from them.

Have you tried any ciders from Fox Tail? What did you think?

Cider Says

A cider enthusiast blog focusing on cider reviews, based in Seattle WA.

Apple Outlaw Cider Tasting & More at Around The Table

Fox Tail Fuzzy Haven

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