Barrel-Aged Cider is Available at our Taproom

Barrel-Aged Cider is Available at our Taproom

We are excited to release our first barrel-aged cider and it has been a long time coming – I guess that is what we mean by aged. Forgive us, but as cider makers, we are used to producing almost 100% “nouveau” products; even when we bottle condition, it does not take long before the ciders are perfectly ready to consume. We found a supplier of used wine barrels in the Finger Lakes area of New York and selected an assortment of French cooperage with no more than 2 vintages in them – white and red. We were a little concerned about adding too much oak to cider as it can really overpower the subtle apple flavors and aromas. We think cider is even more sensitive than light white wines to oak. Deciding to stick with culinary apples ended up being a good choice – we did not want to add tannins to tannins! But honestly, we did not really know what we were doing. We did our research but everybody has to do something for the first time. We aged the cider for several months on oak and then in neutral vessels for another two years. Having no experience can sometimes lead to unexpectedly beautiful results. (Or dreadful). Luckily our first shot at adding some serious wood to our ciders turned out to be something that we are proud to put our label on. It is a strong cider, bold with woody tannins so take it in small doses with friends and food and maybe even a cigar!

Available by the bottle at our Houston Taproom.

Cheers.