Foraging: Wild Alchemy Cider
September 26, 2017
Event Preview: Milwaukee Cider & Nano Beer Festival 2017
October 3, 2017
PREVIEW:
With this past week being the beginning of fall, what better time to have a hard cider-themed event than this weekend!? Pour the Core is hosting their 6th annual Hard Cider Festival in Long Island this Saturday, September 30th. This weekend’s event will boast more than 75 locally-produced and internationally-sourced ciders, right in the middle of harvest season! Talk about dedication!
Expect to see some local cideries, like Woodside Orchards and The Riverhead Cider House along with nationally best-selling brands, like Woodchuck, this year’s tasting cup sponsor. Also expect to see some local favorites from elsewhere in the region, including Citizen Cider from Burlington, VT, Original Sin from New York, NY, Nine Pin from Albany, NY, Virtue Cider from Fennville, MI, and many more! If you’re hoping to experience some international cideries like Ireland’s Magners or England’s Strongbow, they’ll be there as well!
In addition to consuming seemingly endless cider, guests can anticipate local food vendors, ciders for purchase to bring home with them, and even a cider donut eating competition!
Fortunately for everyone, the weather looks fantastic in the mid-60’s with some sun, perfect for drinking hard ciders, if you ask us! If you can’t make this event, mark your calendars because Pour the Core will be in Philadelphia, PA on October 21 so drop in for some fun then as well! This event is 21+ and requires a valid ID. To buy tickets, visit www.pourthecore.com/longisland/tickets.
RECAP:
This past weekend was the 4th anniversary of Pour the Core: Long Island…it was also the fourth consecutive year that the event took its name literally, and actually down poured the entire time. Aside from all of the rain, the event itself was a blast! We were fortunate to meet with many different cideries, some local, some from throughout the country, and even some international!
As usual, the line at The Vermont Cider Company, aka Woodchuck Cider, the tasting cup sponsor, was super long. They were serving up their Fall Harvest, Gumption, and Semi-Dry. The line at Citizen Cider was long as well, but definitely worth the wait because of their limited release cherry blend, Companion. Find our review of it here.
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We had the pleasure of meeting the marketing manager from Ace Cider out in California, so expect more from them in the near future for sure! They really brought their A-game to the table with three super popular blends: blood orange, pumpkin, and pumpkin infused with cranberry and cinnamon, which we went back in line time and again to try all three (definitely worth it!!!). Pictured below is spACE, their blood orange cider, a limited release, unfiltered, tart, bright pink/ orange, bloody orange take on cider. Ace’s pumpkin blend smelled a lot like cinnamon and tasted a lot like pumpkin. It wasn’t overpowered by “fall spices” like some pumpkin-themed foods and drinks can be, and the infused version was spot on! Probably a favorite of the day!
We made it over to the Vermont Timed Release table in time to taste Stowe Cider’s Safety Meeting, their dry hopped cider. As someone who doesn’t like hops, this cider didn’t seem all that hoppy to me. I thought it had more of a wine-esque flavor reminiscent of Moscato…but I guess that’s just me! We also got to try a couple of the Shacksbury Cider blends shortly before the event ended, both of which were drier, champagne-y blends.
Riverhead Ciderhouse, a local favorite from nearby Calverton, NY, attended the event as well. We had their Apple Annie which was delicious and refreshing, the epitome of classic hard cider. They also offered Greg’s Strawberry Patch, a strawberry cider that we weren’t able to try, but will definitely be reaching out to learn more about them!
Another semi-local cidery in attendance was Big Apple Hard Cider. They had two ciders on tap, Brooklyn Brew, made with vanilla and cinnamon was semi-sweet, medium-dry, and pleasantly flavorful cider, as well as Hell’s Kitchen, brewed with sriracha and tequila, making it quite peppery with a hint of spice and definitely standing out among the other ciders of the day. While talking with the pourers, I noticed that they had some bottles of their SoHo blend on display, which I learned is a collaboration with God’s Love We Deliver, so expect a potential article on that in the future!
The last of the somewhat local cideries that we were able to stop by was Nine Pin, based in Albany, NY. We tried their ginger cider which had a prominent ginger flavor, was crisp, light, and refreshing.
All in all, Pour the Core Long Island was an awesome time. We discovered some new cideries, talked to many cider fanatics, made plans for future collaborations, and, of course, tried lots of delicious ciders. If Pour the Core is ever in your area (or even a few hours away) we strongly recommend making the trip! Hopefully, you’ll be graced with some sunshine and warmth, but even in the rain and gloom, it was a blast (and the lines were probably shorter, score)! We hope to be back next time!
