Downeast Cider House Original Blend
What the brewers say
“Original Blend is the result of hundreds of test batches aimed at crafting the best hard cider you’ve ever tasted. Made from freshly pressed local apples—Red Delicious, McIntosh, Cortland.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Tropical fruit and peach notes with low sulfur. It’s intriguing and doughy with a light sweetness and moderate Brett earthiness plus a moderate apple-skin tartness and slightly acidic note. It’s apple, but leans toward Kool-Aid with a bit of Pixie Stix.”
Flavor: “Amazing light apple character and light sweetness paired with mildly acidic fruit salad. Maraschino cherry. Very clean fermentation character and strong apple-skin bitterness (but still pleasant). Flavor is milder than the nose sets up—sweet apple with a fair amount of floral esters and a sweetness that leans toward ‘apple-ade’ rather than cider.”
Overall: “A bit on the dessert side, rich and characterful. Truly tastes like there are stone fruits in here. Accessible and enjoyable—somewhat like drinking the juice from canned fruit cocktail, but who doesn’t like that? Nice unfiltered character with a strong touch of earthiness.”
