Leidel’s Cider – a new approach.
You may think you just don’t like cider. Despite your best efforts to make friends, it just won’t happen. But that’s where you’re wrong.
credit: M.Wagner
Hard apple cider, or more specifically the American version, has become something like filtered apple juice (the kind you’d find in your average sippy cup) with alcohol present. It’s cloying, it’s boring, it’s artificial. It’s …not good.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. If you’ve had the opportunity to try a dry English cider such as Aspall or Sam Smith’s, or if you’ve ever tried craft cider brewed with bittersharp apples, you’ve experienced what cider can really be.
More and more cider producers are popping up in this country, slowly but surely. As someone who frequently remembers trips to the apple orchard, arboretum, and U of M orchards, I am shocked that craft hard cider didn’t catch on sooner. I learned from the folks at Sociable Cider Werks that this is because the cider variety apples are no longer native to the Midwest.
The effect is superb. The cider tastes the perfect amount barnyard with dry apple notes and a pleasant earthy finish. The aroma, too, is quite unique with the faint horseblanket note, dry apple, and an acidic wine characteristic.
Leidel’s Cider is produced in the tiny town of LaCrescent in southern Minnesota by an enthusiastic ancestor to the original land owner. It is a fascinating story, and I am looking forward to more traditional Leidel ciders!
http://www.leidelscider.com/rochester-post-bulletin-leidels-cider/