I was debating what type of ice cider to make from last season’s frozen juice. I usually like to have some type of dessert cider option that I can offer. As a note, I think of cider in three categories: Traditional, Adjunct, and Dessert. Traditional ciders are those made just from apples and pears (perry). They don’t have anything that would add aroma or flavor except what comes from the fruit and the yeast. Adjunct ciders are those that receive some type of added compound that does not specifically come from an apple or pear. This includes oak, other fruits, herbs, and spices. Dessert ciders are those with a high %ABV. These can include ice ciders, chaptalized apple wines, mistelles (fortified ciders), and pommeau. Pommeau is a common French drink made with juice and apple brandy (calvados). I have several ice cider and mistelle articles and recipes already on PricklyCider.com, but I have never made a pommeau. I like to exercise a little creative license with my ciders and since I was initially considering an ice cider, I decided to make a traditional pommeau but with a slight Prickly Cider twist. Thus, Prickly Pommeau was born.
I wanted to keep this recipe along the traditional lines with some enhancements. I had already clarified my frozen juice in preparation of making an ice cider. I do this by adding pectic enzymes and cold crashing it before racking off the clarified juice from the pectin sediment. I had even started the concentration process. Therefore, I decided that the juice I would use will already have been clarified and concentrated. I thought this was also good because it will reduce the loss of a more expensive spirit blended drink and enhance the aging potential. Besides using clarified and concentrated juice, I wanted to enhance the color and phenolics. In good Prickly Cider fashion, I added Arkansas Black apple peels. Since I am looking for a traditional pommeau, I used a French calvados that had been aged for at least 3 years as my spirit. This recipe creates about 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of a pommeau with a %ABV around 13%. It’s a drink that should get better and better with age so don’t be afraid to lose a few bottles in the cellar or cupboard for a few years. It’s a dessert cider that goes well with almost any after dinner course but I recommend trying it with some homemade apple pie. It even works with a dark chocolate, chocolate chip brownie, but you may find it’s good enough to enjoy all by itself.
Here’s a link to the recipe as well as the Prickly Cider recipe page where I list many of my recipes.
If you are looking for other cider and food recipes, check out my book, The Art & Science of Cider. It’s a great resource and guide for developing your cider making process. You can find it globally at the following links.
United States Links
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