Merridale Winter Apple

Brewed by Merridale Estate Cidery
Style: Cider
Cobble Hill, Canada

Serve in Flute, Lager glass

fortified apple cider dessert wine (10 on sweetness scale). Advertised flavours of baked apple and brown sugar. Slightly viscous, alcohol rush is excessive and washes away the delightful apple flavours, thus off-balanced.

Bottle from Brewery Creek
Blond color, pale, possibly hazy. Mild apple aroma, mature, with a touch of acidity; but it’s light. Immediately comparable to Ice Ciders, this one is clearly less sweet and more alcoholic, almost burning; sweet flavor, apples and traces of cooked apples, some citrus sourness. Too boozy.

Pours a lovely rosy gold colour. Aroma is brown sugar, baked sweet apples. Tastes very, very sweet indeed, more baked apple with plenty of warm alcohol & vanilla near the end. Coats the throat, nice body. Very fond of this one - the first bottle we bought was lost in an unfortunate accident, but I’m glad we had a chance to try it again!

375 ml bottle shared with Capflu, Goldorak, beerbuzzmontreal, and DumDum at the Ciderwinder tasting in Ottawa. Still caramel-brandy appearance, quite viscous and oily...alcohol-infused oak and pepper along with sharp apples...gorgeous honeyish palate, sweet and thick, alcohol less present than expected...burns just a touch at the front, but warms late with beautiful honey-almond-vanilla pools amidst the ocean of apple. Wonderful.

Pours a copper color. Aroma of apples with lingering sweetness and alcohol. Very sweet flavor of apples and alcohol with a bitter finish.

Caramel, almost scotch-like in color and was syrupy. Alcoholic nose (not surprising at a booming 19%ABV), but behind that boozy blast up the nostrils is a flowery, fruity aroma that reminded me of Mirabelle, an eau-de-vie made in the Lorraine region of France with little fruits that look like yellow prunes. Again, with the first sip comes a surge of alcohol that attacks you on the start, but it’s not strong enough to give you shivers. Then a slow creshendo of honey sweetness finishes it off nicely. Makes a great digestif. Thanks CapFlu for sharing.

(Bottle) I very much enjoyed this cider - enough so that I brought a bottle East with me to share. I hope others enjoy it as much. Pours a clear, deep golden. Fermented 4 times to bring the alcohol level up to bordering on 20%. Thin white head with a whiskey, brown sugar nose. The flavour was euphoric - very sweet American Apple Pie with an alcohol and sour undertone. Excellent.

Gorgeous bright orange colour and completely still. Sweet, earthy aroma with an unmistakable Brettanomyces character. Baked apple character and some light spice as well. Flavour is intensely sweet, apple, spice, and an earthy and musty flavour. Faint citrus character on the finish. Good, but not as complex as the giant alcohol content would have you expect.