what’s a extremely subtle transfer? Sipping an after-dinner drink from a tiny glass. There’s one thing very “smoking jacket and classical music” about it, however digestives and dessert drinks don’t need to be stodgy. Italian amaro and vermouth, aged bourbons and port wine are all frequent after-dinner sippers, however for cider-lovers, there’s a clear winner of all these liqueurs and libations: Pommeau.
Mainly, pommeau is a cordial that’s made by mixing unfermented cider with apple brandy. When made effectively, pommeau is wealthy, intense, and candy in a not-cloying, advanced caramel sort of approach. It’s pretty served in a snifter, and often weighing in at between 15 and 20% ABV, it’s meant to be savored, not shot. It’s additionally superior in cocktails, and (we all know this from expertise) it makes a imply scorching toddy. Because the identify implies, pommeau is of French origin, however cideries throughout the US have been producing it with superb outcomes.
We’ve rounded up pommeau from 8 totally different craft cideries so that you can think about including to your bar cart!
2 Cities’ Pommeau is constructed from domestically grown conventional, bittersweet cider apples. The fruit is hand-harvested and sweated (left to sit down for additional time to ripen and develop greater sugar content material) at cool temperatures. After urgent, the juice is fermented and aged with apple eau de vie. 2 Cities then permits its pommeau to mature in French oak barrels for a complete 12 months. The bottle might be additional cellared for as much as 20 years! Use 2 Cities’ Cider Finder to discover a retailer close to you, or store on-line.
Tasting notes: Aromas of fresh-pressed cider, dried fruit and wooden.
The artisan-style pommeau from Massive B’s Laborious Cider is hand-crafted in small batches. Native natural, fresh-pressed Winesap apples create the bottom, which is fermented and cellar-aged. It’s then distilled by Peach St. Distillery in Palisade, Colorado, which transforms it into apple eau de vie. That liquid is rigorously blended with contemporary natural apple juice and a little bit of arduous cider, then rested in used bourbon barrels for 12 months. Store on-line or cease by Massive B’s taproom between April and November.
Tasting notes: Sporting an attractive apple and bourbon nostril, mixed with the flavors of vanilla and smoke.
Capitol Cider Home makes not one, however three types of pommeau: North Columbia Gold Rush, North Columbia Reserve and North Columbia Pink Woman. Every get pleasure from a distinct size of growing old in several types of barrels. GoldRush is constructed from uncooked GoldRush cider blended with apple brandy, which is then bourbon barrel-aged for six months. The Reserve is a mix of 9 totally different pommeau aged for 18-plus months in a combination of bourbon and rye whiskey barrels. The Pink Woman is Pink Woman cider blended with apple brandy, and barrel-aged for six months in rye barrels. Store on-line or get pleasure from free supply within the DC space.
Tasting notes: GoldRush: Honey, banana and butterscotch; Pink Woman: Candy lemon, peach and vanilla.
Eve’s Cider makes its Two 12 months Pommeau (that includes a gorgeous portray on the bottle from artist Janet Byer Sherman) beginning with 100% estate-grown apples. In 2018, spirits distilled from these bittersweet apples at Apple Nation Spirits in Williamson, NY, had been put into barrels. Half of the spirits had been aged at 160 proof. The opposite half had been blended with cryo-concentrated late-harvest apple juice and cider lees earlier than growing old. After two years within the barrel, Eve’s pulled the cider, blended it with bone-dry settled lees for stability, and bottled it. Store on-line, with nationwide and native transport or pick-up on the farm.
Tasting notes: Fruit cake, forest flooring, halvah.
Fenceline Cider’s Pommeau is constructed from a bittersweet apple mix which is distilled at Honey Home Distilling in Durango, Colorado. The apple brandy is mixed with contemporary apple juice after which left to age in used bourbon barrels for 12 months. Store on-line or use this search instrument to search out Fenceline ciders and wines within the wild.
Tasting notes: A shiny concord of candy, tannic and tart.
The pommeau from FinnRiver Cider comes from a mix of choose organically grown conventional bittersharp (Kingston Black) and bittersweet cider apples (Yarlington Mill; Brown Snout and Dabinette), most of that are grown at FinnRiver’s personal orchard. These apples are pressed and distilled into 100-proof apple brandy, which is aged for 2 months in American oak. Throughout harvest, contemporary unfermented juice is mixed with the brandy within the barrel, which is left to mature within the barrel for 2 years. Order this, and plenty of different FinnRiver merchandise, on-line or cease by FinnRiver’s Cider Backyard for bottle gross sales.
Tasting notes: Shiny, contemporary apple adopted by butterscotch and caramel, with a deep trace of vanilla. Anchored by the oak, with refined flavors of stewed apple, dried fruit and honeyed fullness.
This port-style apertif/digestif from South Hill Cider is a mix of barrel-aged apple spirits (eau de vie) with unfermented and unfiltered apple cider. Over the course of growing old, the pommeau naturally clarifies to a nonetheless, candy deep-golden amber liquid. Use South Hill’s Cider Finder for native retailers, or purchase its ciders on-line.
Tasting notes: Warming, wealthy and velvety. Aromas of honey and clove. Nutmeg, amaretto, sun-warmed plum.
Amongst its spectacular lineup of spontaneously fermented ciders and perries, WildCraft Ciderworks affords two pommeau. The normal pommeau is a fancy apple-forward sipper. It begins with a hand-selected number of uncommon heirloom Bittersharp apples which might be aged over three years in American, French and Hungarian impartial oak barrels. WildCraft’s Pommeau Rouge is an imperial barrel-aged cider. Over 5 years, this pommeau is mixed with additions of fermented wild-harvested red-fleshed crab apple. It’s then given prolonged growing old time in French and Hungarian oak barrels. Store on-line or cease by WildCraft’s tasting room in downtown Eugene.
Tasting notes: Pommeau: Delicate notes of spiced brandy and baked peaches with a spherical mouthfeel and smooth tannins; Pommeau Rouge: Aromas of brown sugar and brandy, with dried strawberry and rose petals on the end.
Have you ever delved into the world of pommeau? Have you ever tried any which have blown you away? Tell us within the feedback!
- Function picture: BigStock
- All different pictures: Courtesy of their respective cideries
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