Craft Hard Cider: Recipes, Tips, and Ideas for Making & Enjoying Hard Cider
I often talk about taste and smell being the same and, I’m not alone. This is because the flavors or what is often defined as the taste of food and drink depends on aroma. To be more specific, the flavor is created by olfactory receptors in the nasal pharynx picking up volatile compounds (aromas) when … Continue reading Cider: Taste versus Smell
What exactly are phenolics? Are they tannins? I don’t think there a simple answer. If I told you there are two basics compounds, flavonoid and non-flavonoid types of phenolics, would that clarify it? It didn’t for me but, chemistry wasn’t my favorite subject in school. If I broke down the flavonoids into anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, and … Continue reading Phenolics and Cider
I have sampled a few ciders over the years and I have worked to develop a more discerning palate. It hasn’t been easy. For many years, I wasn’t open to trying new things. However, I now seek out the new and unique, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. I do this partially as … Continue reading Cider Tasting – Common Faults
Apple peels can be yellow, green, red, blushed, streaked, sunburnt, and russeted. However, after noting the wonderful colors and even texture, we often ignore them once we start the cider making process. Did you realize that those peels are potentially the single most powerful ingredient in your cider making process? Most cider makers ignore and … Continue reading Apple Peels: The Missing Ingredient of Hard 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
If I asked you to define the color that hard cider should be, what would answer? I’m not talking about an adjunct hard cider, but a tradional hard cider made from apples or pears. Would you tell me it should be a dark amber? Should it be a golden hue? What about a yellow so … Continue reading The Color of Cider
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
I’m going to make a bold statement, I think most people don’t really understand how to taste food and drinks. That goes double for hard cider. Sure, you eat something and it tastes good, but when was the last time you tried a food you’ve never eaten. Would you be willing to eat duck fat … Continue reading Tasting Hard Cider: Method or Madness
We will all experience life changing or life impacting events. The longer we live, the more of them we have. Usually, these events impact us or a small group around us. However, sometimes the impact is larger, but rarely, do we experience an event that truly impacts our entire world. We are all living in … Continue reading Socially Distanced Hard Cider
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