Maiden Rock Honeycrisp Hard Apple Cider

Brewed By: Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery in Stockholm, Wisconsin 

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack gifted in Maiden Rock, WI; 2013 

Style/ABV: American Cider, 6.8%

Reported IBUs: ?

The high temperature tomorrow is supposed to be -16F. Wrap your head around that. I should probably be pulling out some obnoxious Imperial Barleywine or something, but I think tonight's duo of ciders/beers make sense in the grand scheme of things. So yeah. About the Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery: 

Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery is a farm and orchard located in Stockholm, Wisconsin. The farm was purchased by homebrewer, Herdie Baisden, and his wife, Carol Wiersma. The apple varieties they planted included apples more typical to southwestern England, apples that are suitable for the production of cider and wine. They opened the winery/cidery in July 2008. For more information check out their website here.

The Honeycrisp Hard is a semi-dry hard apple cider brewed with Honeycrisp apples and honey. Punching in at a surprisingly boozy 6.8%, this one is pleasantly honey-forward and dry.

Maiden Rock Honeycrisp Hard Apple Cider

The appearance is your typical Cider fare. Winey green/yellow, clear, highly carbonated, a finger or two of rapidly-crashing white head...it looks the same in bright light.

The aroma is "ehhh." There's some apple and honey, a dash of sulfur and some weird, banana esters? I don't even know.

This tastes par the course...apples, apple cider, some sweet honey, honeycrisp, and lots of juicy apple juice goodness. It's not bad, but it seems very par the course. 

There's not much to see here...this is light, dry, quite refreshing, and surprisingly not boozy at 6.8%. The honey sweetness and light honeycrisp apple is enjoyable, but this isn't particularly complex. Light-bodied, dry, apple juice and apples up front and in the middle, finishes winey and dry in the back.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Average on this. I'm picking up some white grapes in the mix, along with some white wine notes. Otherwise, this is your typical cider fare. Enjoyable, and especially in the context that I had this cider (on my vacation in the freezing cold), but nothing to seek out with fire. You can pair this with anything that goes well with apples, white grapes, cider, and white wine. You could even flirt with pasta and a white sauce...but I don't know. It's also a great hot tub cider.

Random Thought: And now for the night cap...