Sip Northwest, Spring 2017

2 Towns Ciderhouse Cherried Away One of the many seasonal ciders from this booming Oregon maker Washington grown sour Montmorency cherries and hibiscus blossoms are blended into a succulent Northwest apple base Unfi ltered cheeky and extremely sessionable 60 ABV 64 S I P N O R T H W E S T C O M Art and Science 2015 Symbiosis Willamette Valleybased producer marries its two products in one bottling of half foraged apples and half Grüner Veltliner The two fruits are co fermented on the grape skins aged in acacia and French oak barrels and bottle conditioned Vivid effervescent and polished 108 ABV One Tree Hard Cider Peach Tea Washington apples are infused with a proprietary peach nectar and black tea for a summer seasonal thats already knocking at the door Unctuously juicy stone fruit fl avors meld with the tannic pang of the tea and crunchy apple acid 68 ABV Anthem Cider Hops A hoppy rendition of the fl agship cider Oregongrown Cascade hops are dry hopped into the cider for more than three weeks boasting a blast of sweet citrus and fl oral notes on the nose with a fresh bitter zing on the apple forward fi nish Look for a fresh hop version in the fall 69 ABV Cider Riot Lullaby of London A limited edition cider for the 20th anniversary of legendary Portland bottle shop Belmont Station Northwest apples are aged in Ransom Spirits gin barrels that formerly housed Gigantic Brewings Pipewrench IPA Herbal apple aromatics impart ripe spiced and savory fl avors 69 ABV Cockrell Cider Devil N Cider Raspberry Habañero Made by two brothers on a Puyallup Washington farm this cider is a force to be reckoned with Undeniable raspberry is spiked with the smoky chile pepper apple soothes the heat and balances the berry 62 ABV sell to the average consumer a basil mint cider than it is to sell a single varietal estate grown Winesap VandenBrink says Schilling agrees He says West Coast cider drinkers tend to prefer the funky fl avored barrel aged seasonals to the terroir driven heirloom ciders Personally I love drinking those traditional heirloom fr uit single varietal ciders but they just dont sell as well as some of the more innovative stuff at least fr om what weve seen Schilling says It just goes back to what the customers interested in and they love really innovative and cool stuff so thats what we tend to make THE FUTURE IS EXPOSURE Looking ahead VandenBrink says he doesnt think that will always be the case The consumer will eventually mature into understanding the diff erence between Jonagold and Winesap he says of the two apple varieties But there hasnt been enough exposure yet For that maturation to happen consumers need access to a wider variety of ciders People dont know the depths of cider and they cant know the depths of cider unless they experience the breadth of cider but there arent a lot of chances to experience the breadth of cider because there arent a lot of cider bars Kohn says Theres a few but theres not enough of them to make a big diff erence in the marketplace yet Thats starting to change Schilling Cider plans to open a Portland outpost this spring and will offi cially be the largest cider bar in America The Avant Garde New Guard of