via - http://www.edenicecider.com/RateBeer-BestCidery2016.html
Yes!! It was totally thrilling for our little cider company to be named Best Cidery 2016 at the Rate Beer Best awards last night.
But it was also a fair bit embarrassing, because the engagement of passionate and knowledgeable cider drinkers on Rate Beer is far less that that of craft beer: Ciders have very few ratings compared to beers, and the ciders that have high and more frequent ratings are weirdly skewed toward sweet ice ciders, an even smaller proportion of what is a tiny, although growing, market.​
I have a huge admiration for what Joe Tucker and Rate Beer have built over more than a decade - a place where great quality beers from all over the world can be recognized by the people that drink them. They’ve done a hero’s job at avoiding the trap of sponsorship by mass market industrial beer companies that would dilute their focus on craft and quality.
I would love to see Rate Beer become a similarly comprehensive and quality focused resource for the Cider community, but it still has a long way to go - we need a lot more passionate cider drinkers to get involved in rating ciders! We also need more understanding of ciders in the marketplace - what defines true quality in ciders, and how different types of ciders can be appreciated.
For anyone who reads this and wants to get involved rating ciders on Rate Beer, here are some resources, and cideries I would recommend you start with:
Cider Styles
Eric West of Cider Guide. Eric is also leading the effort by the US Association of Cider Makers to create a Cider Certification Program.
http://www.ciderguide.com/learn/cider-styles-old-and-new/
Cideries
Below is my list of the US Cideries I would expect to see in a "Best" list from Rate Beer. Every one of them focuses on the quality, character and origin of the apples they use as the most important factor in how their ciders taste. Then they do an excellent job of producing their ciders - fermentation, blending, finishing, bottling - in a manner that showcases the quality of those apples rather than covering it up with other flavorings, too much added sugar, bacterial infections, and other forms of interference that make sense for beers (which are recipes), but not for ciders (fermented apple juice).
Albemarle Ciderworks, North Garden VA
Alpenfire Ciders, Port Townsend WA
Dragon’s Head Ciders, Vashon WA
Eden Specialty Ciders, Newport VT
Eve’s Cider, Van Etten NY
EZ Orchard, Salem OR
Farnum Hill Ciders, Lebanon NH​
Foggy Ridge Ciders, Floyd VA
Red Byrd Cider, Trumansburg NY
Slyboro Cidery, Granville NY
Snowdrift Ciders, Wenatchee WA
Tilted Shed Ciderworks, Windsor CA
Go find these ciders, and drink them in order from dry to sweet, rather than by producer, and you will begin to get a real sense of what true craft cider should and can be. Yes I’ve included our own Eden Specialty Ciders in the list, but are we the best? Knowledgeable cider drinkers should decide...?
|
I’m a member of their wine-club and actually was there today. Here are some photos:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1650/24447242640_01a901f49f_b.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1558/24716569336_35eb12912a_b.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1606/24649274701_2332251fb8_b.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1514/24649279471_07f79d1d19_b.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1634/24624991142_551ac6297f_b.jpg
Andrea who I work with on ordering bottles was excited about the win. The others weren’t there as they were at a cider event in Colorado I think. Last week, I actually spent some time on Eden’s cider page and making sure everything there was accurate and I’ve confirmed this with their team.
Personally, I was surprised by their win not because of their quality (I LOVE their ciders) but because they don’t have a lot of ratings. The ratings there are very high but I don’t think a lot of people have had Eden Cider so I’d be happy to do a go and pick it up for anyone that would like some (after the snow melts of course).
ciders are wonderful but I think many of us could do more to learn about cider and I’ll be checking out some of the ciders that were linked. In fact, it was September of 2014 that I last visited Eden where they spoke of a similar topic of ciders not using 100% apple juice.
One more thing that I did tell them today that we have a rule on RateBeer when adding a cider:
[3) Fruit infused ciders are only allowed if more than 50% apple fermentables and are over 2% ABV.
This is for an admin discussion but perhaps there’s value in a tag "100% Apple" where we tag ciders that are pure apple without any additions or flavorings. Would be interesting to see pure apple ciders and how they rank.
Finally, Eden has a web-store now you can order their wares from
https://edenicecider.vinespring.com/purchase
"Note that if you live in a state that prohibits direct shipment of wine to consumers, you can’t be a member of the Cider Club. This includes PA, KY, MS, AL, SD, OK, and UT. Feel free to email us with any questions - contact [at] edenicecider.com" |
Eden is great and on par with the best Québec cideries (La Face Cachée de la Pomme, Cidrerie du Minot, Clos Saragnat) when it comes to ice cider. Their title is well deserved! :)
Basque ciders should get more love on this website as well. I have been drinking some Bordatto ciders lately, very lambic-like and totally awesome! |
Cideries in rural Virginia and Maryland are exploding. Albemarle really stands out, Foggy Ridge is good, and I’d also mention Blue Bee in Richmond for more traditional stuff. Millstone, just north of Baltimore, does amazing hopped ciders, cysers and meads, very creative.
Basque ciders are more and more easily available in DC, and in the next few weeks a Basque cider establishment called ANXO will open, taking advantage of our lack of a three tier system to bring Basque ciders in directly. They’ve already done some terrific pre-launch events.
On the Old World side, I was lucky enough to visit Tom Oliver on my last UK trip; we can get his ciders and perries in DC. I wish more UK raters would rate these. |
|
|
Originally posted by Travlr
On the Old World side, I was lucky enough to visit Tom Oliver on my last UK trip; we can get his ciders and perries in DC. I wish more UK raters would rate these.
Olivers gets a LOT of UK ratings compared to most of the other top notch traditional producers. Although there are a huge number of excellent, small-scale producers here they’re largely draught-only (or, at least, best that way) and get very limited distribution - mainly in traditional cider producing areas where we don’t have many active raters at that. And, for many of them, cider-making is just a part of their wider farming activities plus they get total tax exemption provided their output is below a certain (low) volume so, all in all, they don’t tend to have much interest in raising their profile. Sales are often at the farm gate and many of those guys have sold out most, if not all, their annual production within a couple of montrhs of going on sale. |
Originally posted by Travlr
Cideries in rural Virginia and Maryland are exploding.
That’s good to know. I recall travelling through the Shenandoah Valley some years ago and there was a lot of apple growing going on there but (hard) cider producers were very thin on the ground. |
