Craft Hard Cider: Recipes, Tips, and Ideas for Making & Enjoying Hard Cider
In the US, there is a small but growing trend called Farm-to-Table. It could also be called eat local or know your farmer. Personally, it speaks to me, and the way it speaks the loudest is through the hard cider that I make. My wife and I love to cook and try new foods and … Continue reading Hard Cider: Think Local
Remember my favorite pairing? It’s pizza and hard cider and COVID-19 hasn’t slowed down our pizza making. In fact, we may be making pizza even more often and that has definitely started pushing our creativity. I’ve been getting more innovative with my sourdough pizza crusts. For example, I have a basil infused sourdough crust and … Continue reading Pizza and Hard Cider – Part II
There can be hundreds of compounds in your hard cider that create aromas and flavors. Esters are one of those. They are generally described as sweet or fruity. For example hexyl acetate is often thought to smell like apple. However, they can also be described as solvent, which could be ethyl acetate. Other esters can … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #19: Esters
Bitter Orange Hard Cider Label I love citrus adjunct hard ciders. This is because I like the bitters and aroma you can get from the peel. My favorites are pink grapefruit, guava, and orange. I think these tend to have a sweetness in the aroma that provides more balance to the bitter and acidic nature … Continue reading Making Bitter Orange Hard Cider
Earth Log: June 21, 2118 We emerged from our shelter today to a new world. A world filled with empty restaurants and most everyone walking around with masks. We did see some dinosaurs without face coverings but I’m pretty sure they are on their way to extinction in our area of the world. But in … Continue reading A Cider Trip: The New Normal
Have you even heard someone comment about fusel alcohols or higher alcohols and wonder what they were talking about? It’s not the fuel used to power rockets to the moon. That was actually liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, and kerosene. When yeast convert sugar into alcohol, ethanol is what most of that alcohol is. However, it … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #18: Fusel Alcohols
Unlike Traditional hard ciders, Adjunct hard ciders have fruits, herbs, vegetables, spices, and other ingredients like honey or oak called adjuncts that change the look, taste, or smell of a hard cider. For me, an Adjunct hard cider should be about the adjunct and less about the apple or the pear. Personally, I also want … Continue reading My Favorite Adjunct Hard Ciders
This is the third part in my three part tip on developing your method for making hard cider. My focus is on the process versus the ingredients. I will highlight ingredients, but my goal is to help you understand the processes involved in making a hard cider that you enjoy. In Part 1, I highlighted … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #17C: Understanding Carbonation (Method Part 3 of 3)
This is the second part in my three part tip on developing your method for making hard cider. My focus is on the process versus the ingredients. I will highlight ingredients, but my goal is to help you understand the processes and equipment involved in making a hard cider that you enjoy. In Part 1, … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #17B: Understanding Flavors (Method Part 2 of 3)
So you enjoy making hard cider or maybe you are thinking about trying to make your first batch. Either way and like most things in life, it’s good to have a plan for your hard cider endeavors. Do you want to find that one hard cider you love and make a special batch every year … Continue reading Hard Cider Tip #17A: Understanding Sweetness (Method Part 1 of 3)
PricklyCider.com 