We recently tasted a couple fresh ciders that we had made towards the end of 2014. Fermenting freshly pressed apple juice is how many generations before us preserved that valuable food item. Fortifying the beverage certain must have made for some good times in back in colonial times. Packed with vitamins cellared ciders probably help stave of different types of vitamin deficiencies during the long winter times. This week John digs into his cellar of beverage and brings us a cranberry cider from early 2013!

This thing poured with an very interesting pink hue. (Watch the video for a good close up that captures the hue pretty well.)
The aroma of this cider however was pretty strong for me with some odd notes. Right off the top of it I got a distinct meally, vegetable oil smell. Like what your shirt smells like after frying up chicken fingers or something. John really was focused in on what he describes as acetic acid. I think its a cleaner smell than that and not vinegar like.

On the first sip I was really taken back by the acidity. It was pretty strong at first. My palate adjusted a bit as you’d expect it to when drinking sour beverages. The next sips gave way to a subtle lingering cranberry and apple combo. Though the cranberry was pretty soft at this point.

After drinking more if the flavor sort of grower on me, but that vegetable oil thing was just a bit too much. I suspect that flavor may be a long term effect of yeast autolysis. Autolysis is classically described as being meaty. So maybe on my palate that’s coming across as vegetable oil. Fortunately for me I guess, I don’t have much experience with yeast autolysis.

So it is interesting tasting something that had been cellared for so long. When we first tasted this one a couple years back it was strictly dry and tart with a very pink hue. I think the hue has only diminished because the cider is far more clear now than it was back then. Tasting something with so much age on it showed me two things. First its amazing how well something can hold up. The higher acidity and alcohol content certainly helps out a I suspect. Second, the presence of what I assume to be a yeast autolysis flavor was something new to me. Now I’ll be more keen on its flavor presence in other beers or wines that have been aged extensively.

BREW ON!