In which we discuss Cider

[DeeboCools]

it beats zima.

Getting girlie-drink drunk in public with witnesses beats a Zima.

Related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GW22sAE ... 1F0A8D2643

Also, new guy buys.

[John Barleycorn]

Good Lord. I just learned that Stella Artois is in the cider business now.

[Jiggers McCoy]

I guess we shouldn't be surprised; one of the best-selling new booze products last year was "Adult Chocolate Milk." The word "adult" doesn't really ever enter into it, you know?

[Rumhead]

Good Lord. I just learned that Stella Artois is in the cider business now.

Isn't Stella owned by the same people who own Anhueser Busch?

[John Barleycorn]

Yeah. InBev. Frankly, I wish they'd bring Stella Artois in the big can to the US. Price that at about the same as Sam Adams and things would be awesome.

[5-Star]

round here there are cheap 2 litres of cider that come in a variety of insane flavours, they are refered to as bitchpops and I'm fairly certain they contain some kind of psychadelic drug.

There are some alright dry microbrew ciders, a good one is 10 for a 6er (yeah this a good deal sadly), can't say that I'm a huge cider fan though.

[Mr. Viking]

I also like cider with whiskey. I named the Irish Cider, which is a shot of Jameson dropped in a Strongbow.

sounds awfully sickly. Each to their own i suppose.

I make cider, and I like it bone dry with a hint of fizz. I was driven to making my own because the commercially available stuff was just never quite there. Will happily quaff Old Rosie, which is probably the closest you will find to mine

[Malkor]

With regard to White cider I feel I must chime in......long time ago I was an abassador of this shite, I drank 5 litres of 8% swill each evening and shook all the next day waiting fr the next round....this lasted 3 years

it was like crack, it ruined me to anextent that i dare not look back on but I learned, cider is good, white cider is bad, dont think for a minute that its not a real drink, magners, bow, that wierd fucking brothers shit you get at festivals, its straight up booze....but dont mess with the white stuff, fuck that shit

[GraveyardShiftChuck]

Where I live (Carbondale, in Southern Illinois) there's a lot of apple orchards (nearby Murphysboro has an Apple Festival every September) and a few microbreweries (Big Muddy, Little Egypt, Scratch, etc.). You'd think one of them would brew a hard cider just to stand out from the crowd, but not yet.

[Mr. Viking]

Where I live (Carbondale, in Southern Illinois) there's a lot of apple orchards (nearby Murphysboro has an Apple Festival every September) and a few microbreweries (Big Muddy, Little Egypt, Scratch, etc.). You'd think one of them would brew a hard cider just to stand out from the crowd, but not yet.

In Northern Ireland, where I grew up, there were hundreds of orchards. Nobody made cider until about ten years ago. Now there are about ten or fifteen going at it. The winds of change are blowing

[benitobeast69]

I've ordered one early doors before when I've had a really bad beer and whiskey hangover....the sweet coldness is qyite refreshing on the palate compared to the previous nights drink choices. i'd have 1-2 at best though before it became sickly and I moved back onto beer and whiskey.

[Badfellow]

Some eight years after this thread was originally posted, it's fair to say that cider has come a long way in the USA. At my go-to liquor store there is an entire cooler now dedicated to cider and higher gravity apple wines. And half the labels are local. There's one in particular called Loon Juice that comes to mind. Makes a great boilermaker kind of thing with a shot of rye whiskey in the middle.

Also, a doff of the hat to the Univerity of Minnesota for some very ultra kick-ass work in the field of breeding apples. Now we have apples coming out of our ears, and that's a very good thing for those of us with cider presses.

[Patchez]

The wife isn't much of a drinker which is fine, I have a DD most of the time. However she does really love her ciders. I've been tasting them right along with her and their are some really good ones out around here. It helps that most of the local wineries have been getting in on the act and that we are a tad west of apple country here in PA. Musslemans is based about 20 miles west of us and halfway between home and our hunting camp. Local faves are Jack's from Hauser Estate. Also the Apple Pie cider from Cigar City in Tampa is re-fucking-diculous. You can taste the crust and the whip cream on the slice of apple pie you just drank.

[Brother Bluto]

Some eight years after this thread was originally posted, it's fair to say that cider has come a long way in the USA. At my go-to liquor store there is an entire cooler now dedicated to cider and higher gravity apple wines. And half the labels are local. There's one in particular called Loon Juice that comes to mind. Makes a great boilermaker kind of thing with a shot of rye whiskey in the middle.

Also, a doff of the hat to the Univerity of Minnesota for some very ultra kick-ass work in the field of breeding apples. Now we have apples coming out of our ears, and that's a very good thing for those of us with cider presses.

It has come a long way in popularity and variety. Some of it is good, some of it is garbage. That's the way it goes.

I made my first attempt at cider over the holidays. About 3 gallons.

Bought some good champagne yeast, got decent apple cider, added some fresh apples and white grape juice. It packed a bit of a punch but was very dry. Not what I was after. I added a bit of raw sugar to the bottles and let it sit awhile.
The first bottle was a huge hit at the neighborhood party. I was just hoping they wouldn't run me out and tell me not to come back so that was a nice surprise.

As the other bottles have aged for about 3.5 months now they have turned out spectacularly. Better than a number of the ciders I've purchased commercially. I'm thinking about making another batch next week.

I don't remember the yeast off the top of my head, but if you're interested I'll look it up and let y'all know.

cheers

_Bluto