APPLEJACK-OFF 2014: Aspall Cider

APPLEJACK-OFF 2014 
Supplemental Cider:
ASPALL ENGLISH DRY DRAFT CIDER

(Our Final Cider Entry)

The Supplemental Cider content of our APPLEJACK-OFF 2014  series concludes with a look at another cider from England (it's that country where that thing happened that time).  While recently poking around a local purveyor of fine beverages, we came across Aspall Cider.  Made in Suffolk England, Aspall has apparently been produced in one form or another since 1728.  It was priced at just about $7.00 for this half-liter here in New York.  This is annoying, because apparently in England on Aspall's own website, their stuff goes for GBP £1.69 which would come out to USD $2.85.  So  ...fuck.  But we bought it anyway, and we’re glad we did. 





Readers from the UK might know this brand rather well, and some will notice that this label is (most likely) the export version using the “CIDER” rather than “CYDER” spelling, which seems to be used in Aspall’s domestic market.  Other than that, and the fact that this is 6.8% ABV but in England it's 7% ABV (we don't know why...) we’re assuming that we’re getting more or less the same thing that would roll off the lines in England. 





Since this is just supplemental content for our APPLEJACK-OFF 2014, we won’t be going into any insane detail, but our final thoughts on this are good. 





Yep, Aspall is dry with a clean finish and has those fine tiny bubbles.  This cider is perfect for anyone who is put off by the candy-sweet tastes of things like Woodchuck or even the less-sweet but still not very dry Original Sin, which we must admit we aren't crazy about (the dryer the better as far as we care).  So like a dry Prosecco, we really like Aspall English Dry Draft Cider and think it might even be something that would unseat the Miller-Coors owned Crispin English cider from our favorites list.  Apparently Aspall has done pretty well with the proper cider authorities as well.

We'll see you soon when we take an in-depth look into our final Applejack in the Pinky Mixology Applejack-Off 2014. 

APPLEJACK-OFF 2014: The Good, the Bad, and the Fruity of cider.

PINKY MIXOLOGY APPLEJACK-OFF 2014:

Supplemental Cider
The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

Hard Apple Cider has been around for a few thousand years, but only recently has it returned to a once prominent place of glory in the USA since it was forced into hiding by that oh so mistake of mistakes, prohibition. 

Today, even in most mega-marts in flyover country you can find a well made cider that quenches the thirst of ...thirsty-ness.  The problem is, that too many chuckle-heads are jumping on the band wagon and making some weird crap.  Worse yet, is now the mass-producers are not only buying up the good local cider brands, but they are straight up trying to steal market share with deceptively labeled products which are just crappy beers with apple flavoring and coloring added. 

We’re here to show you some examples of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the cider-scape of today.  Do keep in mind that this list is by no means exhaustive, because we don't really feel like going down to the bottle distributor and blowing like, $200 to get one of everything out there from Hornsby's to New Mexico Hard Cider.  So here's just a few to check out.


THE GOOD:


















You may notice that Doc's Draft isn't here, but that's because we love it so much that Doc's actually has its own post which you can see here.   That doesn't mean that Doc's is going to escape our wrath for what it did to its own cider though.



THE BAD:

These things are just bad.  This is because they aren't cider at all, but deceptively marketed piss-beers that have been flavored by mega-breweries.   Here in New York, we have the stupid 5 cent deposit shit on all bottles, except hard cider.  We don't know why, but a true cider in NY will never ever have a 5 cent deposit.  So if what you're buying has that, you're being taken for a ride. 





There really are few words to describe how terrible we think Redd's Apple Ale is.  Resorting to added flavors and caramel coloring to trick consumers into thinking that this is a well crafted cider  In reality this is more like just some rejected Miller High Life which has been given the Apple Zima treatment.  We can simply call it nothing short of disgusting to our tastes. 








While Shock Top is from a mass-producer, it sometimes hits the spot when it's $4 at happy hour and you can down 4 for $20 while the game is on and still be able to leave a decent tip.  That being said, only the regular kind should exist, and adding apple to it is like shoving a square peg into a round hole; Yes something got through, but nobody really wins.   


THE UGLY:

This is really just tragic.   These are otherwise good labels producing crap by mixing their cider with flavors that just mess them up and take away from makes them great.   The biggest tragedy is Doc's Draft, which seems to be under the impression that their actual hard cider can be improved by messing with it.   Spoiler alert; it can't. 







We LOVE Doc's Draft.  It is one of our favorites and we constantly lobby our local stores to carry it.  But, the reason why we love it is also the reason we can't stand when they go an try to fix what isn't broken by creating berry versions, pumpkin versions, or a dry-hopped cider (who dry-hops a cider? why would you want to do that?).  The apple and the pear are glorious, but their other concoctions fall short.  We just don't like them.





Wen it comes down to it, cider is cider and shoving berries or pumpkin up its ass is just gonna be a mess.  You can do that kind of stuff with beer, because beer is more or less plain toasted bread.  So you could put canned pumpkin or raspberry jam on toast, but would you really put it on apple slices?  Yeah, think about that.


It should go without saying that some people might like these berry ciders, because they aren't poorly made.  We just happen to not really be into that kind of flavoring, but that's just us.  You like what you like, so don't go limiting yourself on our account (except for Redd's ...never ever have that). 


The Pinky Mixology Applejack-off of 2014 continues with our in-depth look at Black Dirt Applejack.

TOM'S FOOLERY: The Hot Old Fashioned

THE PINKY MIXOLOGY 2014 APLEJACK-OFF: Tom's Foolery day 2.

So it's been cold, and when you're cold, it's toddy time.  So for you all out who are wondering when the hypothermia is gonna set in, we are going to give you something that will warm those body parts of yours that need warming.

The Old Fashioned was once a standby drink for America, and is now a standby drink for hipsters who are so desperate to conspicuously consume anything that the Baby Boomers thought was too "square daddy-o" and all that.   You have also seen it here before.

But Tom's Foolery Applejack is a great way to take this cocktail to another level, and we've created an apple-centric toddy version that works great.  Seriously, our panel was worried it was going to be too sweet, but everyone was surprised at how good this was.   Trust us, you'll want to give this a shot.












That's a tea-ball there, which can work well for keeping the spices from going all over the place.  If you'd like to see our Mulled Cider, click here.








It really has to do with how large your destination vessel is.  A good rule is for every 2 parts Applejack, just add 1 part maple syrup.  It doesn't pump up the sweet flavors too much, so don't worry. 

This hot beverage mug isn't exactly Steuben, so while it kinda holds 8oz, that's if you fill it all the way to the top.  We like to leave a little room because filling it all the way to the top in any situation is kind of dumb.





This is real maple syrup, from a little town outside Utica NY.








It stands to reason that you should also use a good apple cider too.  It should really only contain apples and... that's it. 











We have got to say, you won't really know how amazing this is until you try it.  The heat really amplifies what makes Applejack unique, while the bitters and the maple syrup shield your nose from that bitey little bit that Applejack always seems to carry with it (in cold drinks it's no big deal, but with warm ones everything gets amplified a bit).  Tom's Foolery already had a nicely tamed nose on it, and so it works in this one perfectly.  Go get some and try it, and you won't even notice you've been made sterile by the cold outside.

See you tomorrow.

 Cherry garnish out-takes:  Number one.   Number two.

APPLEJACK-OFF 2014: Doc's Draft Hard Cider

Hard cider is part of the origin story of Applejack, so we'll be looking into a few during our event.  We'll start with what is probably our hands-down favorite, Doc's Draft, from the Warwick Valley Winery.  We found this little gem of a cider at our local grocery store and have been taking it home with us ever since.  We save the bottles too, as they are useful to our home-brew friends and we've got about 100 of them all washed and stacked (hear that Warwick Valley?  We've broken the 100 bottle mark because this stuff is just so good).






Actually, you can't really see Doc's Draft at the end of our Cape Fear Punch episode, but it's there.  You can see it in the episode right after that one; Sangira.



Doc's Draft is a great example of the kind of difference a locally produced product makes.  Mass produced ciders are going to have different apples from different farms.  In order to make sure that their cider sold in San Diego is going to taste the same as one sold in Cleveland, they stomp out those differences with processes that make everything taste the same...  The end result is that you miss out on a lot.   Doc's is a great cider which avoids that whole mess, and the bottle you see featured here usually goes for about $5 to $6.  And like we said, if you do home-brew the bottles are great for re-use, and you can get the one label off just with a soak in warm water, they come off very clean with no residue.

If you live in our neck of the woods, Doc's Draft apple cider is available at a number of grocery chains including Met, Gristedes (and Gristedes's poor cousin Red Apple), and you can find the entire line of Doc's Draft, including their pear and rasberry at the recently opened 3rd & 3rd Whole Foods in Brooklyn. ...probably other Whole Foods as well, but we haven't checked.

APPLEJACK-OFF 2014: There will be CIDER!

Yes you can't really separate applejack from apple cider or apple wine (they were making that stuff in Ancient Rome) and so we will be looking into ciders and maybe even a little homebrew.

Champagne Coctails for Valentine's Day

We're back with a special episode of Pinky Mixology! This episode features love, romance, booze, and a special pair of guest hosts! Making their first appearance here on Pinky Mixolgy are the Nendoroid Panty & Stocking for your enjoyment.

Today, we'll be covering those sparkling wine concoctions that seem to be all the rage these days. Here's how to make one. Also, keep in mind that (if for some reason you actually want to), these can all be made with many non-alcoholic beverages such as sparkling cider like Martinelli's, ginger ale/7up, seltzer water, club soda,  ...but probably not Diet Coke though.



You'll notice that there's a Martinelli's in there. Like I said, you can use that to make a 100% non-alcoholic version of this ...if you're into the tea-total thing. But then again if you are, I don't think you'd be hanging around this site. Anyway, as for other bubbly wine options: The sweetest would be Moscato Frizzante, but the most widely available and easy on the wallet would be Prosecco.






Believe it or not, despite being an insane racist christian fundamentalist prohibition-fixated fun-hating cunt-burger who routinely engaged in the frequent criminal destruction of private property , Carrie Nation was once semi-hittable:


Maybe if she put down God's Big Book of Bad Ideas and got laid more often (or at all), she wouldn't have turned out like this:

Kill it with fire!

Always always add a tiny pinch of salt to this as well.  Without it, you won't taste the awesomeness to its full potential.  This is a good rule to follow for all things that are meant to be sweet.

A Chinoise is also called a China-Cap and is one of those over expensive things they sell at Williams & Sonoma that rich people buy while pretending they're not rich because they're cooking their own food.











Will this be the first of many Nendoroid appearances? ...no. These things can't stand up on their on and slipped and slid around like they were buried in wrist deep Santorum ...see there it is.

Next Time (We're really gonna do Infusions).

Mulled Cider (aka Spiced Cider)

And now, we bring you a semi-seasonal appropriate drink of Mulled Cider. This mulled cider recipe takes into account that most of you schlubs don't have access to fresh spices, and uses the kind of middle America mega-mart crap you're likely to have around. Also, it's another one that you can give to your non-alcohol-drinking friends, although a much better solution to that issue is simply to not associate with the Ladie's Temperance Movement type of people.

Remember, don't do this with apple juice, because that's dumb.  You need American Sweet Cider for this. Check the footnotes for more info.

Pinky Street ladies don't measure, because they've done this for too long and so they know how much they like. You can either wing it until it tastes how you like it (which is not hard) or check around for some references.

Some other Mulled Cider links are:
eHow's take on Mulled Cider.
A video tutorial on youtube.
Betty here uses spicy chili powder in this version.

Spices used are fake cinnamon known as Cassia, Cloves, Allspice, Nutmeg, Orange or Lemon Zest, not pictured (or used) is Star Anise. Star Anise does nothing really at this point, since it gets overpowered by everything else in here, but you can still throw it in a single mug before serving to people if you want to look all smart and impress the simps you hang out with.

It's much easier to make fruit zests with one of these, than it is with one of these.

The above image was taken here; Sahadi's Imports in Brooklyn NY.

The above Applejack is actually made by being distilled the same way just about all other liquor is.  Don't try to freeze hard cider at home to make your own Applejack, it won't work and you'll end up with hangover-juice.

Ginger paste can be made or bought. Read the label though, because you never know what ends up in those pre-made things in the plastic tubes.

"Blooming" the spices with a little bit of sweet vinegar can also work if you're looking to avoid booze (ya pansy). It won't be exactly the same, but it will help.

Sugar Chemistry and such.




Cone brewing, not just for coffee anymore.

Unfortunately not used in this example, a much finer quality AppleJack other than Laird's is Cornelius Applejack. It's worth it.

Raw Ciders and Apple Cider Donuts have been picked up at Goold Orchard, and Golden Harvest Farms in New York.

Next up; The cold weather drinks continue, with Pinky Street super-thick Hot Chocolate.

Hot Chocolate and Pinky Street - two awesome things together.
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