If you are a native of Wisconsin, you know there are plenty of great cideries to grab a craft product. Ela Cider out of Rochester, WI is one of those producers that focus on well-balanced offerings. With this in mind their team focused on just two different ciders: Stone Silo and Barn Cat. We will focus on their first cider, Stone Silo, an award-winning and delicious product. This cider is pressed with a blend of Jonagold, Golden Russet, Golden Delicious, Stayman Winesap, Ida Red, and McIntosh apples. They describe the cider as off-dry, lightly carbonated, and highly drinkable so this should appeal to the masses. There is a story behind the name as well in which the Ela family describes in detail. Basically there is an old silo at the orchard that is built out of stone and has not been used for years. This one in particular was built by Peter Frederickson in between 1907-08 according to a newspaper they found. The family did update the silo to keep it around to stand the continued test of time.
History lessons are good and all but we all want to know how the cider tastes itself. This off-dry cider came in a 500 mL bottle and rang in at 6.8 abv. This poured a light straw color with slight effervescent bubbles that were quite small in size. The taste was crisp, clean and what I would say is a traditional apple forward cider. There was some perceived sweetness from the acid in the cider but it was very easy to drink and eloquent in taste. I could see drinking this at a nice dinner or at an outdoor picnic. There was a bit of tartness on the tongue half way through the sip which lingered for a moment until you palette was cleaned again. All in all this was a well-balanced cider that deserves its attention among the ranks.
Review Recap
The Good: Crisp light and full of apple flavor, definitely hand crafted cider
The Meh: Maybe too simple for those looking for modern ciders with adjuncts
Revisit: Absolutely, this will definitely be an option for a nice dinner party but not overly pretentious