badriderreviews - Tumblr blog

[badriderreviews]

Cockrell Hard Ciders - Devil 'N Cider

Also featuring my hard-won Geeks Who Drink prize glass. I picked up a bottle of Devil ‘N Cider from Cockrell Hard Ciders from a recent trip to Schilling Cider house. I’ve never seen anything from this company on shelves before, and the idea of raspberry habanero cider sounded pretty interesting. To sum things up: there is literally nothing about this cider that is subtle or mild. Let’s start with…

[badriderreviews]

Aaron Burr Cidery - Hemlock Apple

I AM NOT THROWING AWAY MY SHOT There are three fundamental truths you need to know about Aaron Burr Cidery’s 2013 Hemlock Apple: Number one — Only 60 cases of this cider were made, back in 2013. There’s not much of it left on shelves, and for what’s left you’ll pay a pretty penny. Number two — It pours a cloudy amber and the aroma that wafts up from it is green and medicinal. Keep chilled, but…

[badriderreviews]

Jester & Judge - American Apple

Even the label design is nice. Look at that. So stylish. Such charming bottle copy. Sometimes you’ve gotta get back to basics. As happy as I am that there’s such a diverse variety of cider flavors out there, it’s also good to have a healthy population of just…regular old hard apple cider. Jester & Judge’s American Apple is exactly that. Coming in at 5.8% ABV, it has a slight fresh aroma of apples…

[badriderreviews]

Naramata - Dry Pear

Naramata Dry Pear This cider came down from BC, courtesy of my counterpart Andrea and our meetup at Welcome to Night Vale’s Halloween tour stop in Vancouver. It’s a pale straw yellow, 6% ABV, and very fizzy. From the fizz and the enormous head it poured, I’m guessing it must have been fermented with champagne yeast. The aroma is light, and a little cool in the way I think of pears as smelling and…

[badriderreviews]

Tieton Cider Works - Spice Route

Check out that classy label design. Looks great, right? Though I haven’t made anything close to an exhaustive effort trying out seasonal ciders this fall and winter, I did pick up this one from Tieton, partly because it’s been a long time (almost a year!) since I’ve reviewed one of theirs and I felt bad. To be honest, it really helps that they revamped their packaging and have great…

[badriderreviews]

My first experience with Snowdrift Cider was a glass of their Nebula Red at Capitol Cider a while back. It was, and I put this mildly, like pure manna from heaven descended into a glass. Nothing I’ve tried from Snowdrift since then has quite lived up, as is so often the case, but I still get excited when I see their labels.

[badriderreviews]

The Shock Top versus Red Racer debate came down to craft versus commerciality. Today’s Pumpkindrome semi-final, on the other hand, leaves us pondering a different question.

[badriderreviews]

I found one more pumpkin cider! Okay, now that Halloween is over I know everyone’s on to peppermint everything, but I couldn’t resist sneaking in one more. Besides, the Pumpkindrome isn’t over so we’re not done with pumpkin season here at Bad Rider anyway.

[badriderreviews]

I’ll be honest, this was over in a sip.

[badriderreviews]

Boonville’s Bite Hard made a brief appearance in my Cider Summit roundup post, but now that it’s shown up on tap at my favorite liquor store’s growler station I’ve been able to write a proper full review of it.

[badriderreviews]

Well, this is embarrassing.

If the bracket had ended up differently, this wouldn’t be happening. Were our one big-box, conglomerate owned, only-in-there-as-a-control beer up against Parallel 49 or Nelson or Howe Sound or even Fernie, I wouldn’t have to do this. (Were it up against Prohibition, maybe. Not every craft beer is blameless.)

[badriderreviews]

Like Angry Orchard’s Strawman, D’s Baked Apple isn’t a seasonal offering, but thematically it fits well enough.

[badriderreviews]

I know you’re all wondering about the Pumpkindrome, but my expert panel (well, “expert”) has yet to convene. So, in the meantime, here’s something else I’ve been enjoying when I get sick of squash.

[badriderreviews]

One of the more frustrating aspects of Pumpkindrome is that I feel like I’m penalizing innovation. On the weekend, it was Parallel 49’s chocolate and pumpkin porter failing to make the cut. This week, I’m having similar struggles with Tree Brewing’s marriage of IPA and pumpkin.

[badriderreviews]

With their fall seasonal release, Woodchuck is going not for pumpkin pie but for apple pie, and not for an explosion of spices but for something sweet and evocative of particular flavors without being overpowering (Seattle Cider I’m looking at you).

[badriderreviews]

They both have pumpkin in their names, but today’s Pumpkindrome challengers couldn’t be less alike if I’d tried, instead of leaving this bracket to random chance. And, more than any match up so far, this week’s decision is coming down to personal preference and slightly twisty logic.

[badriderreviews]

Hailing from California, Ace is not the local-est of local operations, but in my quest to bring you comprehensive coverage of pumpkin ciders I’m allowing it.

Buuuuuut I’m allowing it for one specific reason: to bring you a warning that it’s bad.