Grapefruit and Chill

It’s the weekend!  I managed to get through almost a full week of Snowmaggedon 2020; and fortunately I was mostly able to work from home, considering that I’m still recovering from my surgery.  I did have to go in for a Board meeting on Monday evening though but that was before the worst of the storm hit…

I’ve been pretty into cider lately, and I’m loving that so many local cideries are making dry ciders!  Schilling Cider has this apple and grapefruit cider called Grapefruit and Chill; it is tart and dry and delicious!  I love the label design as well!

I hope you all have a great weekend and hopefully you get a three day weekend like I do!

 

Circus Trip 2018: Four Daughters Winery

Day 17, Wednesday, August 1, 2018

I had not intended to see much of Minnesota on my road trip.  I mean, in the perfect world, I would have visited much of Minnesota on my trip, as I had never been there before, but… it is not a perfect world, and there was not unlimited time on my trip to go everywhere.  Sadly, I had to pick and choose.  From Austin and the SPAM Museum, I headed east and then south to drop into Iowa.  And found an unexpected gem.

Four Daughters Vineyard & Winery

The Four Daughters Winery is on Highway 16, one of the highways I traveled to get to Iowa.  I wasn’t expecting to see a winery, and I hadn’t done any research on Minnesota wine, but there it was.  I drove past it, noticing what it was, and ended up turning around to go back.  A winery – with a restaurant, and it was lunchtime!  It was clearly a sign.

I went in and chose a spot at the bar – the tasting included your choice of six white or red samples (not SPAMples this time) – I chose the whites.  You could also select two samples of their ciders (but I was so very enthusiastic that she let me taste more).

The white lineup at Four Daughters

My tasting sheet

A few of my ciders

Four Daughters has some fantastic wines.  Their sparkling Brianna is delicious, and their Tea Time Loon Juice, a black tea infused cider, is amazing.  The sangria is a light, refreshing, summer time sipper.  I bought all three, and I’m sad that Four Daughters doesn’t ship to Washington…  I long ago drank them all…  I am going to have to make it back to Minnesota.  Not to mention I had their pork tacos for lunch, which were so delicious – and paired perfectly with the sparkling Brianna.

Pork tacos

That’s the thing about road trips – sometimes you just find a place you want to stop at and explore.  I was so glad that I did!

 

 

Tieton Cider Works Apricot Cider

Tonight I was craving something tart, so I pulled out this Apricot Cider by Tieton Cider Works.  It is a nice mix of sweet and tart, with the apricots really shining through.

Apricot Cider by Tieton Cider Works

A search of the Tieton Cider Works website revealed that they have cocktail recipes that use their ciders.  This one sounds delicious, although it would really pack a punch!

• 2 oz Oola Vodka
• 1.5oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur
• 1 oz Canton Ginger Liqueur
• 1 oz lime juice
• 4 oz Tieton Apricot
• 1 dash Bitterman’s hopped grapefruit bitters (sub Orange bitters)

Garnish with a sprig of thyme Instructions: Shake the gin, liqueurs, lime juice, and bitters in a chilled cocktails shaker with ice. Strain into a highball glass and top with Tieton Apricot Cider.  Gently stir to combine and garnish with a sprig of thyme.

Have you tried any of the Tieton Cider Works ciders?  What did you think?  Happy Sunday Everyone! 

Blue Mountain Cider Company: Winesap Cider

To my knowledge, the first time that I ever had Winesap apples was at Douglas Valley Winery in Manistee, Michigan in October, 2014.  They have orchards with several varieties of apples, and Winesaps are one of them.  They are delicious!

Fast forward to a trip that Jon and I took to Walla Walla in August 2015, to celebrate my birthday a little early and take advantage of Jon’s weekend off.  We visited The Blue Mountain Cider Company, and sampled several of their ciders.  This one, made from 100% Salmon Safe sustainable Oregon apples, was one of my favorites.  It is a dry style cider, with a refreshing crispness and a hint of tartness on the back of the palate.  It is very well done.

It was a perfect accompaniment to a lazy, exhausted Friday night after a long, short week!  It really hit the spot!

A line up of several Blue Mountain Ciders, courtesy of the Blue Mountain website.

Have you ever had any of the Blue Mountain ciders?

Chelan Gold Hard Cider

Jon was craving a hard cider the other night, so he picked this cider up at the store – it was made by Lake Chelan Winery.  Chelan Gold is produced in Chelan, WA, east of the Cascade Mountains, in one of the state’s up and coming wine producing regions.  Chelan and the surrounding area are also widely known for apples.

This cider has a bright, golden straw color and a light aroma of apples, and it is still – there’s no carbonation.  On the palate, it has a light flavor of apple, but something is missing.  It seems stale… How do you describe the quality?  Oh yeah… Meh…  Perhaps it was the stillness that wasn’t doing it for me, but I just wasn’t all that impressed.  At 7% ABV, it is a nice balance of alcohol for a hot, summer day though.

The cider does come in a neat bottle with one of those reusuable flip-caps.  I suppose when that is the most interesting thing about a cider… well, enough said.  And I apologize, but it occurs to me that I have no idea what these caps are called.  I think this one is purely decorative, because I couldn’t figure out how to cap the bottle with it.  And it can’t be that I just don’t know what I’m doing!

So, at any rate…  It was a perfectly drinkable cider, but there was nothing there to wow me or knock my socks off.

Have you had Chelan Gold Hard Cider?  What did you think?  And do you know that those caps are called?