
Cider Trip to Blue Mountains, Ontario
November 6, 2018
Pie à la Mode Re-invented: Core Hero Sorbet
November 15, 2018
If you have followed anything in the US, outside of the cider and beer boom, you may have noticed the increasing conversation and interest in Marijuana and its compounds. We are all familiar with THC and CBD, both actively talked about for many reasons but truly a part of positive and negative cultural perception.
CBD oils, as an example, have been increasingly discussed and are already being tested and used in some beers and sodas. Since hemps and hops are closely related plants in the family cannabaceae, we can use some of the same active compounds to produce familiar flavors and aromas. Obviousl, CBD does not have the psychoactive effects like THC but can be considered for its relaxant effects. But, our goal is not to focus the conversation on those CBD or THC. Our discussion draws away from cannabinoids and focuses on the lesser discussed terpenes (although there is a synergistic relationship between the two). We discussed this movement with Xylem Cider’s co-founder, Nick Fillis, to get some more insight on this fascinating new aspect in cider making.
- Can you tell us more about Terpenes? What are they?
“Terpenes are essentially isolated compounds responsible for flavor and aroma. They are shared by lot of plants and fruits not just cannabis. It’s important to note when you are talking about adding terpenes there are both cannabis derived terpenes and non-cannabis derived terpenes. Neither have THC so you won’t get stoned from but it is an important distinction.”
- Is this part of the growing trend and a similar conversation to adding CBD to beer and sodas?
“It is going to be. Right now all the brewer conferences are having sessions dedicated to talking about terpenes and when you look at the “hop war” they are always looking for something new. What’s really interesting though is that because hops and cannabis are related plants they share a lot of the same terpenes: most notably humelene and myrcene. When I have seen and tasted a couple of terpene beers they all miss the mark, mainly because they are adding terpene compounds already there so I’m not sure if beer is the right vehicle for them. As far as soda and cider, it’s the perfect platform because of how clean it can be.”
- What do you think terpenes bring to cider in particular?
“So many people do dry hopped cider, this is our riff off that. It’s also important for us to tangentially link ourselves to the cannabis industry because we are enthusiasts and it is frustrating to watch another industry still face prohibition. People forget it wasn’t that long ago in our history that alcohol faced a prohibition as well.”
- Tell us more about Xylem Cider
“We are trying to bring a northwest sensibility to cider. We get our juice from a local orchard 8 miles from us, we use Oregon companies to source fruit, print shirts, we are trying to embody localvore attitude. Oregon has such an amazing beer and wine cultural we want to take the best from each and create great clean ciders and get funky with some flavors and terpenes too! Our goal isn’t to be traditional or the most creative, it’s to make a great tasting drinkable beverage.”
- Tell us more about your terpene-based cider
“We’ve been doing terpene cider since we opened basically and it’s hard to say that we are going to have flagship terpene ciders but we definitely have some we love to repeat. We make a drier clementine based mimosa cider that we blend with GG#4 and Durban Poison terpenes for a cider we call Wake n Bake. It’s like the best brunch you’ve ever had. We debuted that at our first tasting at the now closed Bushwhacker and everyone crushed the keg in 3 hours. That was the real “eureka!” moment where we knew this could be a thing because we didn’t know how the market would respond.Oregon Leaf just put on an event called Tannins and Terpenes and we made two terpene ciders for this event but the favorite was our Dank Drank. It’s tasted like purple, not so much like grape. We wanted to make something reminiscent of childhood but put our adult spin on it with Tangie and Trainwreck terpenes. To call it crushable would be an understatement, it is pure joy in a glass. The thing about terpenes are that they don’t always do what you think they will, we have laid some absolute goose eggs so we are always playing and experimenting. We keep at least one terpene cider on at all times in our location and that’s probably going to increase.”
- Any other places fans can learn more about Terpenes?
“I can’t recommend Leafly or True Terpenes enough to learn about terpenes. Those two website allowed me to jump in and get my basic education on terpenes: what they are, how they effect your body, what flavors and aromas they give off.”
As we see there are many new things on the horizon for the cider and beer industry. While the hop war wages on these new outlets can be used to produce new products and varying flavors and aromas. Obviously like any other new arenas in the alcohol business we will have to see how the laws play out especially for the addition of CBD oils. As for cider we are excited to see what Xylem comes up with next and how the industry takes to terpene additives. To learn more about Xylem cider please visit their website here: https://xylemcider.com/.