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Beer Review #47: Woodchuck Pear Cider

13 Jun

Style: Cider

Menu description: Sweet, lightly carbonated.

ABV: 4%

Tasting notes: This has an extremely light flavor and a very light, crisp feel. You can taste the pear, but it’s faint. I can’t even say that this is terribly sweet. Compare it to Angry Orchard’s standard Apple Cider and you’d think the Woodchuck people are entirely unfamiliar with sugar. I actually don’t mind the lack of sugar or sweetness or even think it’s necessarily a bad thing, except for two problems. First, there’s almost no other flavor other than the hint of pear. If the pear was stronger, it would be fine. Second, the Woodchuck website claims that this is a very sweet cider and that has not been my experience any of the half dozen times I’ve tried it. All that said, it’s not really bad. It’s good for novice drinkers or anyone else who doesn’t want anything strong or heavy.

Rating: 3/5

Woodchuck Pear Cider
 
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Posted by on June 13, 2020 in Beer

 

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Beer Review #27: Angry Orchard Strawman

31 May

Website description: Strawman combines a distinct blend of juices from culinary and bittersweet apples, and is aged on oak, resulting in a complex, wine-like cider with apple and citrus notes and an earthy finish.

ABV: 10%

My thoughts: This has a great cinnamon and nutmeg scent. You’d think it would be sweet given the aroma, but its surprisingly tart! Like a fresh fall apple, it’s crisp and tart with just a bit of sweet juiciness. It’s quite carbonated and feels light on the tongue. It tastes almost like a Granny Smith apple at the very end, which lingers for a bit. Like all great beers and ciders, you don’t get a sense of how strong it is. This is definitely an excellent fall cider that would be great in any occasion.

Number of times I’ve had it: 1 (750 mL bottle)

Rating: 4.5/5

Location: Bought at Bottle Values, drank at home during Thanksgiving with the family.

Angry Orchard Strawman
Angry Orchard Strawman
 
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Posted by on May 31, 2016 in Beer

 

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Beer Review #23: Ace Perry Hard Cider

08 Feb

Website description: It’s made from delicious apple and pear juices. We use champagne yeast in all our ciders and ferment for them 10-14 days. We then cold-filter 4 times and carbonate them before bottling or kegging. It is 5% alcohol by volume with a lovely pear nose and a smooth semi-sweet mouth feel with a dry finish.

ABV: 5%

My thoughts: This has a weird scent. It’s sort of a sickly sweet scent that almost smells like fruit at the very edge of ripeness. This is only the 2nd pear cider I’ve had and it couldn’t be more different. It’s got the perfect level of sweetness. The pear flavor is super strong! It’s not very carbonated and has a moderately clean finish. Pretty solid if you’re into ciders, but its not gonna win any converts if you aren’t a cider fan.

Number of times I’ve had it: 1

Rating: 3.5/5

Location: My friend Russell’s house

Ace Perry Hard Cider
 
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Posted by on February 8, 2016 in Beer

 

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Beer Review #17: Angry Orchard Green Apple

29 Dec

Earlier this year I moved to CA. Very recently I moved back to NY. Its been quite a year, filled with a lot of change and uncertainty, but thankfully it was also filled with a lot of beer! Now that I’m more or less settled back in NY, I thought I’d resume posting my beer reviews. I’ve decided to alternate between the beers I’ve had in CA (I tried an even 100!) and those I’ve had in NY. I’m hoping (don’t get your hopes up) that I can put out a post a day. Let’s see how that goes! To start with we have…

Website description: Angry Orchard Green Apple has a bright, fresh apple aroma, with notes of honeydew melon and kiwi. This cider is slightly tart with balanced sweetness, reminiscent of a fresh green apple.

ABV: 5%

My thoughts: This beer, or more properly cider, was the first new alcoholic beverage I had in California. Its got a light apple scent, as one might expect, and it totally tastes like green apple candy. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this cider. I mean, how different can green apple be from… regular apple? Or whatever it is they use for the standard Angry Orchard cider. Apparently, it can be different enough! More tart than the standard cider, but just as sweet, its an interesting drink. It’s pretty good, but I’m not sure that it’s something that I’d drink several of because I think it would get too sweet. One or two is fine though. There’s a bit of pleasant tartness at the end. It reminds me of a green Jolly Rancher or better yet, a green apple Charms Blow Pop! Anyone remember those?

Number of times I’ve had it: 1

Rating: 4/5

Location: Store bought, drank at home

Angry Orchard Green Apple
 
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Posted by on December 29, 2015 in Beer

 

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Beer Review #3: Angry Orchard Hard Cider – Crisp Apple

07 Dec

From the Angry Orchard website: “A crisp and refreshing cider, its fresh apple aroma and slightly sweet, ripe apple flavor make it hard to resist.”

I’ve had more of these than I can count! This is the 2nd best cider I’ve ever had. Its not terribly strong, but its amazingly flavorful and has a wonderful golden color. The Crisp Apple is, as the name implies, quite crisp. It has a clean, sweet (but not overly so) flavor that finishes smooth as a baby’s ass. (On a side note, why are babies asses the standard measure of smoothness? Something seems wrong about that.) Crisp Apple is used in some what I believe is called a beer cocktail. If I’ve watched the bartenders correctly, you add 1/4 of a pint of this to 3/4 of a pint of Harpoon Winter Warmer and you get an Apple Pie. This concoction is pretty much exactly like drinking a delicious apple pie and its one of my favorite winter beers/drinks. Even if you never get to try an Apple Pie (and if you get a chance, I strongly recommend you do!), this is a fantastic cider that’s not only great in the fall/winter, but is also available year round!

5% ABV

I’ll let this man have the final word:

Angry Orchard
 
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Posted by on December 7, 2012 in Beer

 

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