The Northwest Cider Club brings you into the heart of the craft cider movement—sharing the creativity and passion of more than 100 independent cidermakers across the Pacific Northwest.
This limited-release Elevated Club box featured 4 celebration-worthy, 750ml (wine bottle sized!) hand picked cider offerings for this first quarter of 2021.
DRAGON'S HEAD CIDER
Kingston Black
Dragon’s Head Cider on Vashon Island is a holistic cider operation– orchard, cidery and tasting room are all at home in a breathtaking farm setting on Puget Sound’s largest island. Dragon’s Head takes a traditional, perhaps old fashion, approach to cidermaking, with the focus squarely on apple varieties and quality of the fruit. It’s easy to fall in love with the story that apples alone can tell through cider, when you taste something as complex and elegant as Dragon’s Head Kingston Black. Kingston Black apples are often considered the epitome of cider apples, as they produce a cider rich in flavor, slightly bitter, and medium bodied. This Kingston Black is a limited release bottling.
BAD GRANNY CIDER
Heirloom
Chelan based, Bad Granny Cider showcases local Washington fruit using fresh and innovative processes. Most recognized for fun loving offerings, Bad Granny Heirloom represents a more serious and sophisticated part of the line. A partnership of Karma Vineyards (known for methode champenoise wines) and Van Doren Sales (specializing in tree fruits), Bad Granny has married two industries with the goal of producing a cider like no other. The Bad Granny mascot, both iconic and edgy has earned recognition for semi-dry, lightly effervescent and flavor rich cider. Bad Granny Heirloom Cider, part of their 750ml line is more reserved and all about the apples– taking you back to that one of a kind keepsake passed down through generations. Traditional cider apples, Dabinett and Roxbury Russet join forces in this complex blend that leaves your palette with a pinch of sweet.
SNOWDRIFT CIDER
Orchard Select
Set against a dramatic backdrop of basalt cliffs in sunny East Wenatchee, Washington, Snowdrift Cider has deep family roots growing apples, pears, cherries, and grapes in the valley dating back to the 1940s. Like many orchardists in the region, their attention was initially focused on culinary apples, but curiosity and passion led them to cider in the early 2000s. They have since earned numerous accolades and a reputation for quality. Snowdrift’s Orchard Select features apples from Columbia Valley, Washington. Ripened to perfection, the apples for this blend are picked and crafted with the utmost care, into fine cider, resulting in rich, delicious complexity. Showcasing the bright fruit flavor spectrum that aromatic apple varieties can yield, this semi-dry cider is distinctly rich and full of body. Bright rhubarb and summer peach flavors highlight a honeydew smoothness, while sweeter rainier cherry and golden raisin flavors lead into an aromatic almond floral finish.
ALPENFIRE CIDER
2019 Cortland - Single Varietal
Located just outside the seaport town of Port Townsend, Washington, Alpenfire Cider was born from Washingtonians passion for cider. A small, family-run operation, Alpenfire Orchard and Tasting Room has welcomed countless visitors to the joys of cider. Shaped by a maritime climate; mild summers and tempered by the foggy mist rolling off of Discovery Bay, Alpenfire’s organic apples maintain the qualities they’ve been treasured for by generations of cider lovers. In 1898, the Cortland apple was created from a cross between the Ben Davis & McIntosh apples. It was the first commercially successful apple hybrid and the Cortland got the best qualities of both apples. This dry, single varietal cider was fermented with native yeasts, imparting an aroma and flavor reminiscent of a Vinho Verde. Hints of melon, pineapple and plum along with a floral aroma. These apples are organically grown by Heirloom Orchards of Hood River Oregon. Lightly carbonated and refreshingly crisp. Recommendations are to enjoy with seafood, Thai food, cheese and small plates.
