Sweet and Sour

I ask you to remember back to the days when a parent or grandparent mixed you, siblings and/or friends a great batch of lemonade. Was it to sweet? Too sour? Just right? I guess that can still happen with a friend, significant other or even the choices mentioned above still today. I'm someone that likes that perfect balance in such a drink. I want the best of both worlds. I also look for the same when it comes to ciders.

I was recommended a few ciders over the weekend and reluctantly gave in. Unfortunately, I'm a very stubborn person. Sometimes that plays into my hands just as it sometimes doesn't . Surprisingly, I can go for  crisp glass of cider once in a while. I really enjoy coming across some bubbly textures in beers I try. I find that I get more of that texture when I drink some ciders.

To me, a good one has to have that perfect balance I mentioned earlier. Not too sweet. Not too sour. We do have Arsenal Cider House here in nearby Lawrenceville. I've only had two of their offerings - Fighting Elleck and Picket Bone Dry. Both are excellent. Tart, sweet and dry. Arsenal has a lot more that I haven't yet come across. Hauser Estate Winery in Adam's County provides us with Jack's Cider which is also another great cider choice.  This weekend left me pondering one question. Do those of us in the craft beer community accept ciders into the realm of craft? I've never really thought about nor actually spent time looking into it.

Gettysburg's Dobbin House Tavern is a bad place for photographing cider.

We've drawn some thick lines over the years when it comes to what's craft and what's not. An argument that's driven me nuts on this blog. I've always argued (maybe even ignored, but who really cares) that what tastes good can be craft. It really shouldn't matter.

Personally, I'd include cider in the craft category. It's all based on taste and personal preference and not what some association writes down on some important piece of paper. Yet, people still find ways to fight over such things. Just end the world now and spare me the stress.

Nice and Tart

I was helping the infamous Beer Snob Sr. move to his new and luxurious apartment Tuesday night. That's in part as to why I wasn't able to get anything posted on here yesterday. Let's be honest. There aren't many that missed me anyways.

Still, an idea for this post came out of my assistance. In gratitude, Beer Snob Sr. offered those of us that helped in said moving pizza and homebrew. His fridge was stocked with lager, white IPA and a hard cider.

In case you didn't get the reference.

I grabbed myself a cider and noticed it was quite flat. In my experience with the hard cider my dad and I have made, it takes at least six months to get any bit of carbonation present. This one had next to nothing. For the lack of carbonation, it still was nice and tart. Just the way I like my ciders.

The one my dad makes in time for Thanksgiving Day each year is a massive undertaking. He waits until nearby Trax Farms has unpasteurized apple cider and gets an "Ale Pail" full of it. We want it unpasteurized due to it having the natural yeasts already in it. We toss in the sugar to up the ABV. Then we add raisins and oak chips before letting nature take care of the rest.

The final product has a strong taste that's oak-like and boozy. Thus, we named it "Boot in the Ass." Beer Snob Sr. (not my dad if you're confused) always used Mr. Beer kits for his homebrews. Given the speed in which one is enabled to make a final product with some of those kits, I can understand why the batch of cider he had was flat.

I made a point to remind him that he had created alcohol, which in some cases is hard enough to do.  In my eyes, that's an above average cider. Obviously my palate isn't acclimated to the nuances of ciders (as I might be with beer) just yet. I've tried a a few of the local ones by Arsenal here in Lawrenceville as well as Jack's Hard Cider out near Gettysburg. All I know is that I like them nice and tart.

Lorraine, I'm Your Density

Back when I first turned 21-years-old I wasn't fully aware of what was available in terms of beer. At that point in time, great beer was Yuengling Traditional Lager, Guinness etc. I also remember walking into very generic bars and pubs to find mixed beers on special. These "mixed beers" included the likes of what I recall to be a Dark Side of the Moon (a combination of Guinness and Blue Moon) and Black Velvet (a combination of Guinness and hard cider). Still, I can't figure out whether or not Guinness is actually sought after anymore here in the states.

I've noticed this trend has taken a slight foothold in the craft world (Hoegaarden and Lindeman's Frambois), but that depends on whether or not you consider Hoegaarden craft. I've moved away from Guinness slightly, but I'm not in complete dismay if I have to have one. That and Yuengling are still considered to be among those first beer's I've had that ran the thought of amazing beer through my head for the first few times in my life. I'm forever thankful.

With the previous beer mixes I've mentioned, another popular one is shandy. I've had the Leinenkugel Summer Shandy. It's alright, but I'm kind of over it nowadays. That and the fact that a lot of people tend to shun it due to corporate aspects. I had a bottle of it recently (honestly was the best choice of the lot at the time) and had to force it down.

I've read in the past that mixing cider and beer is one of the tastier ways to go. Granted, I'd rather have a straight beer most of the time, but broadening one's horizons never hurt anyone. I'm interested in discovering which ciders go well with some craft beers. Why the hell not? I remember discussing that very subject a few months ago with my friend, Beer Snob Sr. I get the feeling that shandies contrived out of sheer experimentation are simply better than the commercially sold ones. To get back on the subject of Lenenkugel, wasn't its Lemon Berry concoction some form of a shandy? It tasted eerily similar to Robitussin.

Just watch this video from it's YouTube channel. Doesn't the story about the Summer Shandy just turn you off from it? it just doesn't feel that traditional to me. Someone wanted to conserve beer. So, he cut it with lemonade? For the second time this week, maybe I'm just nuts.

Monday Rant: Please Save the Pumpkin for the Fall

You wouldn't want this now, right? (Image via Wikipedia)

Towards the beginning of July, there were reports of some pumpkin ales being stocked and/or released in some parts of Pennsylvania. Over the weekend, I came across another news link saying that Harpoon has released it's new Pumpkin Cider.

The fact that seasonal releases have seemed to start appearing way before they're expected isn't a secret to many of us in the craft beer world anymore. It's my opinion that the last thing any of us want after a hot and sticky day in July or August is a thick and spicy pumpkin ale.

I can understand the situation breweries like Weyerbacher are placed in when it comes to having to meet enough demand. If you read the quote (in the first link I provided) by Weyerbacher's president and founder, you can see that the problem at hand is the fact that wholesalers don't always have the room to keep the seasonal brews until the time of release and thus began to sell some of the supply.

I'm pretty sure I summed most of that up correctly. I haven't seen any actual numbers to back it up, but I'd find it hard to believe that these seasonal beers even sell when they're offered so early. Now, there might be a few hard-core fans that want that case of Nugget Nectar, which seems like it can be devoured at any point of the year, but what about for my thick pumpkin beer plight in the heat of summer?

This is the earliest I recall any of the fall beers/ciders ever coming out? Will enough even be sold to give wholesalers a reason to do the same next year and maybe to sell even more?

To me, the bottom line is that a few seasonal beers might fit in with other seasons if they're released early, but pumpkin ales and other strong seasonals of the same type aren't meant to be consumed at this time of the year. I don't even start to think about anything with pumpkin in it until at least the end of September.