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Cider Digest #1166
Subject: Cider Digest #1166, 26 September 2004
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1166 26 September 2004
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
fall cider & apple events (Benjamin Watson)
nice turn of phrase (Dick Dunn)
Cider Competition ("Drew Zimmerman")
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Subject: fall cider & apple events
From: Benjamin Watson <bwatson@worldpath.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:56:40 -0400
I am participating in several cider- and apple-related events this
fall, and wanted to draw attention to two events in particular that I
thought might interest CD subscribers.
1. Slow Food Virginia presents a Celebration of Ark Apples and
Artisanal Ciders on Friday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 pm at Rural Ridge Orchard
in North Garden, VA (near Charlottesville). I will be speaking and
leading a focused tasting of four artisanal US ciders and two pommeaux,
which will be served with desserts using heirloom apple varieties from
Slow Food's US Ark of Taste and prepared by area chefs.
Saturday, Oct. 30 Slow Food Virginia will hold a family-style "field
day" and Apple Tasting Festival, also at Rural Ridge Orchard. Tom
Burford will lead a Middle Atlantic heirloom apple tasting, and Michael
Phillips will lead the New England and Northeast apple tasting.
Both days are billed as a tribute to Tom Burford, Virginia orchardist
and apple expert (and a true Southern gentleman). For more information,
call 1-888-265-8298.
2. Franklin Co. Cider Day, Saturday Nov. 6 and Sunday Nov. 7 --
Colrain/Deerfield MA. This is, I believe, the tenth annual Cider Day
event, which was originally organized by, among others, Terry and
Judith Maloney of West County Cider in Colrain, MA. It has become one
of the premier apple and cider events in the country, and attracts a
lot of people -- including, last year, our beloved Digest Janitor, Dick
Dunn. Gary Awdey is a frequent guest as well.
On Saturday and Sunday there are cidermaking workshops, mainly focused
on home cidermaking. One of the features on Saturday afternoon is the
Cider Salon, which is organized like a CAMRA event (you buy a tasting
glass for $5, which enables you to sample all of the artisanal ciders
on offer). I am still wrangling cider for this year, but hope to get
some western NY State ciders (Bellwether and Eve's) that have not been
at the event before. There will also be a focus on British cidermaking
this year, with the former head cidermaker of H.P. Bulmer, who knows
and appreciates well-made artisan ciders too.
Sunday we will again be holding a focused artisan cider and cheese
tasting at the Deerfield Inn in Old Deerfield. Last year's event
featured some spectacular pairings, and even the ones that weren't as
successful educated all of us. This event is co-sponsored by Slow Food
Berkshires chapter, and Matt Rubiner (a cheesemonger in Great
Barrington, MA) has access to some incredible cheeses. There's a fee
for this too.
Otherwise, Cider Day is a free event, and orchards around this historic
apple region of west-central Massachusetts (just west of Greenfield)
host open houses and workshops throughout the weekend.
For more information, you can visit the Cider Day website:
www.ciderday.org.
Sorry for the promotional plugs here, but both of these are worthy
events that I think would be of great interest to cidermakers.
Ben Watson
Francestown, NH
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Subject: nice turn of phrase
From: rcd@talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 20:32:31 -0600 (MDT)
People use various terms for mass-market ciders which are sugared-up/
dumbed-down fizzy get-drunk concoctions. "Industrial cider" is one that's
been around and sort of conveys the made-in-the-lab-not-in-the-orchard
idea.
The heart of the matter with these industrial ciders is not merely the
taste (or lack thereof); after all _de_gustibus_non_disputandum_. It's
that these "ciders" (and there are too many) really are made up more from
sugar-syrup and water than from apple juice. It's not even that much of
a secret any more, it seems. (I think I might feel slightly better if the
producers were ashamed of what they're doing!) You can puzzle it out
from ingredient lists, or do a few calculations from industry articles.
For example, you find info that such-and-such producer uses <x> tonnes
of fruit and produces <y> litres of cider, and you have an idea of the
yield and gravity of typical fruit, and the alcohol in the product, and
from this you easily figure that less than half the alcohol comes from
apple juice.
So I got a good hearty laugh out of a phrase I just recently heard for
these beverages: "glucose wines". It really cuts to the essence.
(I don't know who coined it. I heard it from Andrew Lea; he thinks it
might have come from Julian Temperley. Confirmation?)
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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Subject: Cider Competition
From: "Drew Zimmerman" <drewzimmer@comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 10:52:45 -0700
The Northwest Cider Society is announcing the 2004 North American Cider
Competition. We have sent out information packages and entry forms to
around 65 commercial cider makers in the U. S. and Canada. There will
be a private judging the morning and afternoon of Saturday, November
13th, followed by an awards banquet in Seattle that evening. We will be
awarding medals and certificates to the best ciders in each class. This
year we are following the newly revised BJCP styles and categories. This
competition is only for hard cider, no wines, beers, or meads. There
are categories for Common, English and French style ciders, Common and
Traditional style Perrys, as well as Specialty Ciders and Perrys
including New England, Fruit ciders and Applewine.
We have assembled what we feel is a commendable panel of experienced
judges with diverse backgrounds from wide-ranging locations. New this
year, non award winners may receive feedback evaluation on their entries
upon request.
We are hoping that this opportunity will not only bring a greater cider
awareness to the Pacific Northwest, but also give producers a little
fuel for their marketing efforts.
If you are a cider producer and haven't received an info/entry package,
contact me off list and I'll get you one. We'd like to have all entries
received by October 31.
Cheers,
Drew Zimmerman
NWCS Competition Committee
drewzimmer@comcast.net
206 241 7805
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End of Cider Digest #1166
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