Drink O'the Month: St. Paddy's Edition

Any guesses on our March drink of the month?

Irish Coffee? Nope, us Americans drink that one far more than the Irish (and some say we even invented it). Green Guinness...not this one either, the Irish don’t dye their Guinness green. Irish Car Bomb...no again, this one is offensive when you think about it, please don’t ever order it while in Ireland.
OK, OK. You guessed it...CIDER! While it could be hard to get your hands on some authentic Irish cider such as Bulmers or Magners there are tons of local and national hard ciders to chose from in the US. And big plus for me, most cider is gluten-free! In Ireland most folks drink their cider on the rocks but here in the US it’s either served from a bottle or if you’re lucky straight from the tap in a pint glass.

Recently, some friends and I got together for a little cider tasting at the Noble Fir in Ballard. We sampled four ciders and rated them below.




1) Winesap Estate Cider, Blue Mountain Cider Co, Oregon: We were lucky enough to drink this one straight from the tap. The group described it as dry, tart, clean, crisp, white-winey, not very carbonated and less appley. This one is great for people who don't like sweet drinks. 
2) Anthem Cider, Wandering Aengus Cider Works, Oregon: This was the other on tap cider and was a crowd pleaser for sure. Group descriptions: sweet but not too much so, apply, somewhat tart, closer to apple juice taste, not very bubbly. Great everyday cider.
3) Samuel Smith's Organic Cider, Tadcaster, England: This was my personal favorite, the closest to a traditional cider taste. Highly carbonated, semi-sweet, almost like a hard-Martinelli's. Very yummy.
4) Crispin Honey Cider, Minneapolis, MN: Jenny was a big fan of this cloudy cider. It was described as very sweet, candy-appleish, tart bite at the end, and pear-ish taste. Great choice for people who like a sweeter cider. 




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