Hard Cider

With neither the cultural and gastronomic gravitas of wine nor the pub-spawned camaraderie of beer, hard cider—for two centuries (the 18th and 19th) the prevalent alcoholic beverage in North America—faces challenges in its recent attempts to reclaim a share of that market.

Blue Mountain Cider Company, an Oregon brewery a few minutes away from Walla Walla, uses apples from the valley of the same name to produce its ciders, including the five-apple semisweet Farmstead and the Hard Cherry (with a splash of cherry juice) ciders ($10 and $12, respectively, for 750 ml). Blue Mountain aims to produce more hard cider next year than is pressed in the entire state of Washington, and they’re giving our state’s small artisanal cideries a run for their money. (Cideries are considered artisanal if they “scrat,” or grind cider apples into a pulp, press that pulp, ferment it and then blend different batches or varieties to achieve specific balances of sweet/tartness and acidity.

 

Washington’s biggest-selling brand, Spire Mountain Ciders from Olympia’s Fish Brewing Company, isn’t considered artisanal because it uses apple concentrate in its process.)

Vashon Winery, perhaps the closest cider producer to Seattle proper, brews its Irvine’s Vintage Cider ($7) from apples sourced from western Washington. Owner Ron Irvine calls his eponymous brew “an English-style cider: crisp and dry with a clean, light sparkle,” demonstrating that the growing Washington market is still open to innovation and to the creative reenvisioning of this quintessential American quaff. 
 
Blue Mountain Cider Company
235 E Broadway, Milton-Freewater, Oregon; 541.938.5575; bluemountaincider.com

 

Vashon Winery
10317 SW 156th St., Vashon Island; 206.567.0055; vashonwinery.com