Tasting - Crispin and Fox Barrel Cider

Crispin and Fox Barrel Cider

Crispin Original

Price: $2.25 per 12oz; $8.45 per 4 pack

Shop review: A classically styled, but untraditional hard apple cider. Fruit forward, with a fresh, crunchy appley nose and a deliciously creamy, refreshingly crisp mouth feel. 5.0% ABV

My review: Light and refreshing. Just the perfect amount of apple taste, not too weak nor overbearing. Very easy to drink. Tastes like you're biting into a cold, fresh, and crisp apple.

Crispin Brut

Price: $2.25 per 12oz; %8.45 per 4 pack

Shop review: European-style extra-dry natural hard apple cider, best served over ice. It combines subtlety and sophistication; the epitome of unforced elegance. A crisp fresh apple bouquet with a brisk, refined finish that lingers on the palate. 5.5% ABV

My review: On initial taste, very refreshing and clean. A good balance of apple flavor, not too weak nor overbearing. Leaves a very dry finish on the tongue. Almost too dry for my liking. 

Crispin Stagger Lee - Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged Cider

Price: $5.95 per 12oz

Shop review: Boom, boom. Big, bold, swaggering cider. Blended to the edge of dangerous. Blended 3 times, using apple-wines in rye whiskey barrels. Using Colfax Classic apple-wine plus a "Forbidden Fruit" wit-style yeast fermentation. Final blend with unfiltered fresh-pressed Gravenstein apple juice. Full bodied, subtly spicy rye whiskey notes and taste, butterscotch and ripe apple with mild apple-skin tannins. Sexy finish. Unfiltered and blended from apple-wine straight from the whiskey barrels. Give a solid bottoms-up tilt and swirl to disperse sediment evenly to best enjoy whiskey aromas and unique bouquet. Best enjoyed at cellar temperature (50/55F) perhaps 1 or 2 ice cubes. Age-worthy. 6.9% ABV

My review: A bold taste of apples that seem to have aged. Has a heavier taste compared to the Crispin Original. A hint of spicy notes and a richness of vintage earthy apples. Full-bodied in flavor. The richness lingers after taste.

Crispin "The Saint" - Cider brewed with Belgian Trappist Yeast and Organic Maple Syrup

Price: $7.45 per 22oz

Shop review: Naturally fermented using a premium blend of fresh pressed apple juice, not from concentrate, and fermented with Belgian Trappist beer yeasts, The Saints boasts of sweet floral bouquet that develops a yeasty, herbal complexity. The Saint is uncorrupted by added malt, spirit or grape alcohols, and is free of added sugar, colorants, sorbate and benzoate preservatives, and is filtered cold for crisp refreshment. A small batch, hand-crafted, super premium hard apple cider, The Saint is smoothed with pure organic maple syrup for a silky, sustained mouth-feel that develops complexity on the palate. The Saint is vinted to a 6.9% ABV for a fully body, yet remains exceptionally easy to drink from the first crisp sip to the last drop. It's very, very good. The Saint has an elevated drinkability that is never sacrificed to overbearing complexity. The embodiment of artisanal style, The Saint uses rack-aged apple wine through our cloudy filtration process. Discerning drinkers will find residual apple wine sediment in each bottle for a rich full-bodied flavor that's true to the apple and good to the last drop. 6.9% ABV

My review: A great cider for breakfast in the morning, particularly pancakes because of it's maple syrup notes. Thicker, grainy feel. Light hint of freshness but more of a dense feel. The apples taste earthy. A semi-bold cider. Rather than a crisp fresh apple, there is more of an aged apple taste. Easy to drink, not too sweet nor too tart.

Fox Barrel Blackberry

Price: $2.25 per 12oz; $8.45 per 4 pack

Shop review: Naturally fermented using 100% pear juice, not from pear juice concentrate, or flavored hard apple cider. Filtered cold for extra purity and infused with natural blackberry juice. With no added colorants, sugar, sorbate or benzoate preservatives. No added malt, spirit, grape or apple alcohols. An authentic blackberry dark-fruit taste and a sweet-sharp fresh tang. Mouthwatering juicy complexity. Luscious pear-berry bouquet. 5.0% ABV

My review: A good balance of pear and blackberry flavor, more towards blackberry though. A unique blend of the two fruits. An enjoyable amount of sweet and a light tartness. The blackberry gives it its burst of flavor, while the pear flavor softens the drink. One of my favorite samplings from the tasting. Considered purchasing a bottle.