COMPARATIVE LIT ESSAY:
This is the battle for bragging rights for ultimate supremacy of the cherry. I took the best from the three best cider producing states in the West, plus an old-world European option for comparison. Comparison notes: The Apfelwein has a pretty claret color and is very still, almost too calm. It has the richest cherry flavor of the four by far, though. The Cherry Glider has an orangish amber and like the cloudy burnt orange Farmhouse, it too is fairly still. The Farmhouse is natural and a bit raw as you’d expect from an unfiltered farmhouse cider, but it delivered the least cherry flavor and I think a lot could be done with cherries that are deep, dark red and sour. The Bad Granny was the bubbliest, sweetest, brightest and most like a standard semi-sweet cider, and was definitely the sweetest of the four.
Unless you are some kind of backwoods purest, the Stone Circle is not the winner. The fight for second and third is between the Bad Granny and the German Kirsch. These two are neck n’ neck and are both very good and worth trying. Though I recommend both, they both had their faults. The Apfelwein lacks excitement and the Bad Granny tastes like lots of ciders you’ve had, where the Cherry Glider is the cherry Goldilocks—not too sweet; not too tart; not too still; juuuust right! If you can get your hands on it, start there, you won’t be disappointed.