An old drink is making a very big comeback: hard cider.
Before prohibition, cider was a very common drink throughout New England. Then, during prohibition cider was “rebranded” from an alcoholic drink made from pressed apples to a nonalcoholic drink made from pressed apples. Now, decades later, a new crop of cider producers are resurrecting old methods and creating new methods of their own.
I learned this – and more – at an event celebrating hard cider a couple of weeks ago at the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center. The event featured tastings from six different cider producers, from Vermont, Canada, Michigan and talks from cider producers and experts.
The variety of flavors offered by the ciders was very impressive. Some were sweet and fruity like you would expect. Some were effervescent and reminiscent of champagne. Some were dry.
This photo shows three different Citizen Ciders. You can see how some are more effervescent.
Bottles of cider ready for sampling.
We provided cider-friendly snacks for the event. Here is how we displayed Warm Butternut Squash-Ricotta-Sage Dip. We served it with grilled bread. It paired very nicely with the ciders. (FYI: I afterwards, I cleaned the pumpkins and my kids made mini jack-o-lanterns!).
We also served some soft cheeses from Champlain Valley Creamery, Blythedale Farm and Vermont Farmstead.
I attended a wonderful talk by Louisa Spencer of Farnham Hill Ciders of Lebanon, NH. She talked about the traditional cider apples that she grows to make cider. These are apples that you wouldn’t want to eat, but I terrific for making cider. The Farnham Hill Extra Dry was my favorite cider of the night. It was very similar to a dry champagne. And it is excellent proof that cider is simply wine made out of apples. And that Vermont and New England are making world class wine out of apples.
You can see videos of Louisa Spencer’s talk and more on ECHO’s YouTube Channel.