Making Li’l Apple Cider

Li’l Apple Cider

Li’l Apple Cider - A cider crafted with manzanita berries. If you are ever near where manzanita trees grow, I encourage you to find one. They are a gorgeous tree. In southern Arizona you can find them on some of the mountains and they surround one of the orchards that I pick, which is around … Continue reading Making Li’l Apple Cider

Pizza and Hard Cider – Part VII

Pizza & Hard Cider - Part VII

After six articles on pairing pizza and hard cider, you would think I’d run out of recipes and options. That’s what makes pizza and hard cider so wonderful, there seem to be infinite possibilities. For this group of four pizza recipes and hard cider pairings, we pushed the crust even further when we did a … Continue reading Pizza and Hard Cider – Part VII

Making Black & Gold Cider

Black & Gold Cider

Black & Gold Cider Label Black & Gold Cider is made from two of my favorite apples: Arkansas Black and GoldRush. I enjoy eating them, though I recommend cutting up the Arkansas Blacks as they can be a little hard. However, they both have a fair amount of tannins and acid as well as aroma. … Continue reading Making Black & Gold Cider

Making Winter Cider

Winter Cider: Experimenting with Fermentation Temperature

Winter: Lager yeast fermented hot and aged on hickory. One day I woke up with a crazy idea for a hard cider recipe. Okay, it’s more than one day but, sometimes they actually work. I had been reading about fermentation temperatures and whether hotter or colder fermentations are better. I noted that much of the … Continue reading Making Winter Cider

Pizza and Hard Cider – Part VI

Pizza and Cider Part VI

We continue to create and pair unique pizzas and hard ciders. Pizza is one of my favorite foods to pair with hard cider and like cider, pizza offers a wide array of flavor combinations. Usually, my pizzas are driven by a unique crust flavor that think up. But, a couple pizzas I matched the crust … Continue reading Pizza and Hard Cider – Part VI

Making Tupelo Cyser

Making Tupelo Cyser

Tupelo Cyser Label One of my favorite adjuncts for cider is honey. It’s amazing how just a little honey can add unique aromas and flavors to a cider. It also turns it into a cyser, which is a cider made with honey. If you make mead, you might start calling it other names. For me, … Continue reading Making Tupelo Cyser

Making Heirloom Cider

Making Heirloom Cider

Heirloom Cider Label Every season, I seek to try something new. That usually always includes new apple varieties when I can find them. This year I also experimented with yeast and juice clarity. If you will recall from my earlier post on clear or cloudy juice, clearer juices can produce more fruity esters. I incorporated … Continue reading Making Heirloom Cider

Making Flamin’ Hops Cider

Making Flamin’ Hops Cider

Flamin’ Hops Cider Label This year, I embraced the organic Carolina Reaper pepper as part of my cider ingredients. I have used chipotle peppers before but when I saw the World’s Hottest Pepper was available as organic, I had to try it. My first plan was for my Ruby Reaper cider mistelle but since I … Continue reading Making Flamin’ Hops Cider

Making Ruby Reaper Cider Mistelle

Making Ruby Reaper Cider Mistelle

Ruby Reaper label There are many different types of fortified wines. The process consists of adding spirits to wine often during fermentation to stop the process by raising the alcohol level. In my book, I talk about three main style categories for hard cider: Traditional, Adjunct, and Dessert. This last category is where this recipe … Continue reading Making Ruby Reaper Cider Mistelle

Hard Cider: The Local Way

Local Cider

I am a big advocate that hard cider should reflect your local area. If you are lucky enough to live in England, France, Spain, or even some places in the US that have cider apples, maybe local hard cider would means a traditional cider. That could be dry, tannin-rich and farmhouse, keeved and sparkling, or … Continue reading Hard Cider: The Local Way