Pineapple Cider from California

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What is Pineapple Cider?

Pineapple ciders are still cider made with apples. Generally, the pineapple juice is added after fermentation for flavor or the apple juice and pineapple juice are co-fermented. Pineapple ciders are also, of course, alcoholic and range in ABV from cidermaker to cidermaker, company to company.

What is Fermented Pineapple?

In this case, since the pineapple is co-fermented or the juice is added after, it will be classified more as a pineapple cider. If you were to just ferment pineapple juice, and add some of the other main ingredients, you would be more in line with make tepache. In Tas’ case, she was getting to know the former, pineapple ciders.

California Pineapple Ciders

Pineapple is making its mark in the cider world with an increasing amount of cideries using this flavor to make incredible tasting summer drinks. I would not say they are easy to come across, but when I do see them, I make sure I give them a taste!

I recently took a short trip away from Canada in order take a break from my hectic work schedule and relax. My destination? San Francisco, California! I had an incredible time checking out the tourist spots, trying new foods, doing a 17km bike ride across the golden gate (don’t ask how I lived), and, of course…hunting for ciders. I originally had planned to have a tasting at Ace Cidery, but unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out. I did, however, manage to snag their pineapple cider from Total Wines and Spirits. If you have never been to Total Wines, it is like the Costco of alcohol stores and, I’m not going to lie, I gasped when I walked in.

In trying the pineapple cider from Ace, I was surprised with a robust pineapple taste. The cider was packed with the taste of pineapple and tasted like spiked pineapple juice (no complaints here). This cider was very sweet and went down very easy! I wish I could’ve packed this to take home.

The Ace pineapple flavored cider is 5% alcohol content and is brewed in Sebastopol, CA. This company is known for their pineapple offering, but they craft many other flavors including apple honey, pear, and berry. They also do tastings and have live music on Fridays 1-5pm.

I’ve also had the chance to try Brickworks’ Hawaii Five-Eh, a pineapple cider, made in Toronto. It was infused with pineapple, but it was not too sweet at all — just a splash! This was a much more balanced experience in comparison to Ace’s offering, but I much enjoyed both.

What pineapple ciders do you enjoy?