WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition 2013 Results

So the first order of business was to update the awards page. I posted the link on FB with the following:

Shameless, yes. Boastful and proud, yes. The guy I am, yes. But make no mistake, this is serious business.

80 total awards. 28 for mead of which 26 have come in only the last 12 months!!! More career stats: 40% win rate. And that is with an average of 8 entries per contest. I've missed placing in a contest 1 time in 7 years. I work like crazy to keep my unruly mad science in check, but I also seem to get results. I am happy to be here learning these crafts as well as having the opportunity to share it all with you. Thank you for propelling me day after day!

Ancient Fire Awards Page

The 2013 WineMaker Magazine Competition boasted 4,564 entries, the most ever. Entries came from 50 US states, 8 Canadian provinces and 9 countries.

The full PDF results are available at WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition 2013 Results

For anyone who might have missed our weekend Twitter & FB updates, we took home 7 medals (out of 12 entries) including 3 - Gold, 3 - Silver and a Bronze. 6 were for mead.

Cheers!

Jason

Sweet Dreams

I don’t know how many times since I started making my own fermented beverages (2003) people have asked me if I was going to go commercial. I’ve toyed with the idea, I still often daydream about it, but I’ve never convinced myself that I am really that serious about it that I would make the jump to being a commercial producer. Despite being a driven individual I do have a sense that some things in this universe reveal and work themselves out in their own time, and I firmly believe this is one of those things.

Short of commercial aspirations, my motivations continue to be to learn about the art of fermentation, make tasty “house” beverages, and pay homage to my New England roots by applying fermentation to preserve the bounty of the harvest. Each year since I began I’ve experimented with different mediums, flavors and techniques to keep things exciting and to keep the learning rolling. Six years back I made my first mead, honey fermented into a wine like beverage, and while it came out good and went on to win a medal, nothing about mead really grabbed me then so I didn’t make another one until 2011.

In December of 2010 I walked through the front door of Moonlight Meadery for the very first time. I immediately met Michael Fairbother the owner and meadmaker. Michael was busy at the tasting bar for the grand opening in their new commercial space. Michael carefully explained what mead is, the different styles and his personal history with mead-making to the assembled. On the back of the tasting bar was an impressive lineup of different meads, their product line has grown quite a bit since, ranging from dry to sweet, and unflavored to those infused with fruits and spices. As I tasted each new flavor my mind was racing. How are these different styles made? Is honey a canvas waiting for an artist to release its secrets? Could I successfully make more mead?

( Vanilla beans ready for my mead. )

Madagascar, a mead flavored with vanilla, really caught my attention. Real vanilla flavor can be an intoxicating experience. It is decidedly savory and earthy, and when blended with the slight sweetness of the mead it is allowed to express an inherent warmth and a gentle bitterness.

I left Moonlight Meadery that day with neurons firing all over the place. I wasn’t immediately sure of what to make of the experience, but I did know that I needed to educate myself a little bit more on mead. Tune in next week for post with an overview of mead leading up to mead being the topic for #winechat on October 3^rd.

A few months later inspiration hit. Having recently returned from a West Coast trip that involved several beer tastings I had orange flavor on my mind. I enjoyed several Wit beers with varying degrees of orange flavor, including a sublime offering from Santa Barbara Brewing. Orange and vanilla, what a killer combination! When I was a kid I was allergic to chocolate so in the hot weather a creamsicle was, and still often is, more my style. I figured if I used orange and vanilla in a fermented beverage it would be a like an adult creamsicle, oh how delightful!

The recipe for my first mead in five years was decided (and the final product can be in the top photo). The process went smoothly, you can find the original recipe and some of the details at the WineMaker Magazine blog, and the result was beyond my personal expectations. A little orange, a little vanilla and whiffs of wildflower honey. Only slightly sweet, my new mead came off as complex and was immensely drinkable. As competition time rolled around I happily entered my creation hoping to get some useful feedback on where I could go with it. Boy was a surprised went it took first place in its category! The feedback was overwhelmingly positive from friends, both those who are knowledgeable about mead AND those who just love my fermented creations. This mead has gone on to take additional competition accolades, a very humbling result indeed.

I knew I could make it better though. And I planned to do just that in 2012. Before I set about planning my attack on the second batch I got an email that would serve to take this whole experience higher. Michael Fairborther, whom I have gotten to know both through the Brew Free or Die home-brewing club and my love of the products he creates, was interested in the recipe. But it gets better. He wanted to make a commercial version of my recipe in collaboration with me! And, wait for it, I would get to write a short paragraph to go on the side of the bottle as well as give the product a name! I was in shock.

Everyone who knows me knows that I make the beverages I do first and foremost because I want to drink them. I’m pragmatic about my craft though. I’m not the best brewer or winemaker out there, and I’ve purposely kept my process low-tech and simple which hasn’t always been the best decision. I’ve made my share of crappy products and I try my darnedest to keep on top of the various batches of stuff I have going on so nothing goes wrong, or at least terribly wrong.

So it took me a bit to wrap my head around the fact that a successful commercial producer wanted to collaborate with me. If this person thought my recipe was likely to make a commercially viable product I had to think beyond my own personal goals and see this as a vote of confidence that my inspirations and efforts were bearing grander results.

I decided to name the mead Summer Love. I choose the summer theme primarily because of my initial inspirations (creamsicles) and added love to marry with Moonlight’s own theme of Romance By The Glass. The idea that a product born from a recipe of my own would soon be available commercially was exciting to say the least.

( The mixer was a bit under-utilized for such a small batch, but it sure beats hand mixing! )

Time went by and I set about making my second batch, which is going to be better based on my pre-bottling tastings, and then the call came in. Honey was available and the desire to make a pilot batch was at hand. We finalized the details of the recipe based on the batch size, 40 gallons, and picked a date to make the new mead. As an aside, the name “Summer Love” has had unintended humorous consequences in Tweets and Facebook messages. Saying you are making summer love with somebody is a door wide open for jokes. Laugh freely, we do, it only adds to the story that this new beverage has around it!

( Chopping oranges for our creation. I didn't get a pic of me mopping the floor. I should have! )

I can’t really romanticize the process of making the mead, because I already knew how to make mead and a 40 gallon batch isn’t really a stretch in terms of equipment and process from my own enterprise. But, I had a blast doing something I love in a different way with people who are even more passionate about it than I. That's that's real life and a story worth telling!

( Me, Michael and Rick. Thanks for the fun day guys! )

I've spiced the pictures from the day throughout this post and they tell the story better than words. I very much enjoyed being able to spend the time with Michael and Rick bringing this new beverage to life. I was on site to work and I did anything and everything I could to help, including mopping the floor.

( Oranges through the port hole of the fermentation vessel. A rare artsy shot from me! )

Hopefully Summer Love will be finished and in the bottle for the holidays. The last report was that the fermentation was complete and it would soon get dosed with vanilla and be allowed to settle and age. I will definitely be letting everyone know when Summer Love is available so we can buy it all up and enjoy something new and different from Moonlight Meadery and Ancient Fire Wines!

Next Monday I will be posting an overview of mead, including a little history, notes on different styles and additional details of my mead-making projects from 2011 and 2012. If you would like to learn more about mead, and from Michael Fairbrother directly, join Moonlight Meadery, Marie Payton and the crew from #winechat on October 3^rd at 9PM on Twitter.

Cheers!

Jason

Tales from the Cellar – July 2012

It’s been a while since I shared a cellar update, actually more than 8 months have passed since the last one! Time sure flies. And we have been busy.

On the production front Margot and I have shepherded a number of 2011 wines/ciders/meads into the bottle since November, including:

• Cellar Craft Amarone (made in early 2011)
• Cellar Craft Red Mountain Cab (also made in early 2011)
• Mosti Fresco Zin
• Mosti Fresco Riesling
• Mosti Fresco Guewurztraminer
• Apple/Cinnamon Cyser
• Cherry/Currant Mead
• Maple Cider
• Maple Dessert Wine
• Still Cider
• Sparkling Cider
• Strawberry/Riesling

Several of the newest wines are offering some excitement, but over the years we have gotten more patient both from experience AND from having some aged supply to drink while new wines are aging. The still and sparkling ciders have been a bit underwhelming, but the group of us who bought the cider were a little suspect of the quality of it after getting it home and going. The feedback on the finished product has been similar from the others in the group. I’ll figure out how to turn them into punch or something so it doesn’t go to waste!

The brewing schedule (to the right is a pic of Margot and I making the Hefeweizen in March) is also in full swing and by the end of 2012 we will have likely made more beer this year than in any prior year since we started in 2003. Here is what we’ve made so far this year:

• Pliny the Braggot (hopped malt/honey beverage)
• Dark & Hoppy (American Stout, dry hopped)
• Hefeweizen
• English Mild
• Cherry Saison
• Big Belgian
• Oaked Red Ale
• Honey Brown
• Lime Ale
• Summer Shandy

Most of the beers have been shared around with friends and the feedback has been a huge honor. The simpler beers, the mild and the Hefe in particular, have been big hits at parties. The Big Belgian (big as in 8.5% ABV) just created some fans this past weekend. This might be an annual beer for me. The more specific beers like the Saison and Dark & Hoppy have plenty of appeal, but do need some background for drinkers new to the styles.  The Lime Ale and Summer Shandy are awaiting their debut at a summer party in a little over a week. If we are lucky to get a great summer day I predict these beers will kill it with the guests!

We’ve also been in the ring against the other contenders from the homemade beer and wine communities several times since last November. The results have been mixed but no less exciting.

We picked up nine medals from the annual WineMaker Magazine Annual Competition including:

• Concord Rosé (G)
• Strawberry (G)
• Purple Plum (S)
• Dandelion/Chamomile (B)
• Maple Dessert (B)
• Gewurztraminer (B)
• Raspberry Fortified (B)
• Apple/Cinnamon Cyser (B)
• Orange Vanilla Mead (B)

From homebrew competitions we also took Third Place for our English Mild and Second Places for our Maple Cider and Orange/Vanilla Mead.

( Margot picking up one of the medals at the WineMaker Magazine Conference. )

The competition feedback has been phenomenal. Several beers have garnered positive judging comments about their fit to the style and suggestions for us to consider in attempting to make them again. With feedback we have been given we’ve already amped up our meads with more honey and more fruits, herbs or spices depending on what we are making. Some of the feedback has also been pretty quirky, like being told a hopped braggot isn’t stylistically accurate. Really? The style category is wide open on this. The only requirement is that it be equal parts malt and honey. Most people go brown or black with it, but I went pale ale and hoppy. Deal with it!

So that brings us to what is on deck for the rest of the year. I’m on a mead tear that started last year. This year I have gone big and have 15+ styles planned. Most of the batches will be small, 1 gallon, but that is more because I am going nutty with herbs and spices most of which I haven’t used this way before. Margot is about a week away from embarking on Stout and Porter experiments, both of which will result in three styles of beer and some with flavors. I expect I will make some more beer in the Fall, I’m just not sure what yet. Maybe another Belgian and another IPA to use some of the wonderful American hops I have been able to acquire. Wine is likely going to take a back seat for 2012, but the basement is so full of stuff that will be drinkable over the next year I doubt I will miss making more!

With all of that I am staying plenty busy. I will take a break next month to travel out to Portland for the Wine Bloggers Conference where I hope to learn more about the regions wines, beers, distilled spirits AND food!

Cheers!

Jason

2012 Wine Competitions – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

( Research leftovers. Read on for an explanation. )

Since 2008 my wife and I have entered our wines (and more recently beers, ciders and meads) in to several national, regional and local amateur competitions each year. The format of the competitions differs a bit depending on the host organization but the majority are executed using judging protocols like those from UC Davis, the American Wine Society or the Beer Judge Certification Program. We began doing this as a means to get objective feedback on our wines. We love to win medals, but the feedback we get teaches us things about our wines that we may not get anywhere else. No matter what great things our friends and family might say about our juice, it won’t ever be as objective as the feedback from an anonymous judge who tastes our wines blind. The feedback we have received, both good and bad, has been immensely valuable in directing our focus on improving our creations. The outcomes are still governed partly by luck (quality of product differs years to year, my personal attention span isn’t consistent, you get the point) but the feedback always gives us something to consider the next time we get ready to make something new.

( Summer 2011. We've taken home some hardware over the years. It's always an honor. )

I’ve gotten more objective about the resultant quality of my products over the years as well, and some fans think I might too harsh at times. This self imposed pressure is my way of trying to keep my head in the game. This isn’t all I need to make a good wine or beer, creativity and quality ingredients are also required, but some amount of ruthless self criticism is just part of the equation for me.

Prior to each competition we obviously need to determine what we are going to enter. Bottles that have won in prior editions of the same competition are excluded, this is often in the rules although cheating is common from what I understand, and products that are just too young are also disqualified because they typically get judged as such. As we have gotten more serious about the quality of our entries we have taken to pulling bottles of everything we think might make the cut, opening them and giving them a good once over. We are looking for high clarity, good color, bountiful aromas, discernable flavors and of course balance. If a wine (or beer,cider and mead) doesn’t have enough of the combination of these facets we won’t enter it. It could still contend, but since entering competitions costs money and requires at least one bottle to be surrendered, it isn’t worth entering wines that you don’t feel are truly worthy. We just drink those. And if they truly don’t merit, meaning they suck, we might parlay them into sangria, use them for marinades or dump them.

This year we ended up opening more than two dozen bottles in our search for wines and meads that we thought would show well in the WineMakerMagazine Annual Competition, the largest amateur competition in the world. We have placed in this contest every year we have entered, four years running. We ended up selecting only twelve (we have an entry limit of fifteen) bottles, feeling those were the real contenders and thus worth the money. Here is a rundown of both the wines that made the cut, and those that didn’t and little something about why.

( Gold from 2010. Here's to hoping luck strikes again in 2012! )

Made the Cut

• Dry Gewurztraminer 2011 – Decent aromas, good clarity and overall a nice dry, clean wine.
• Winexpert Estate Series Dry Creek Chardonnay 2011 – This wine saw some lees aging and no oak. The balance of fruit with a wildness in the nose is exceptional. It pours a nice deep, gold color and tastes great.
• Winexpert South African Chenin Blanc 2011 – This is a subtle wine, but with a tad of breathing time opens up in a way that says to me it has potential. We've won a bronze medal for this the past which moved it up on the list.
• Strawberry 2011 – Strawberry wine is the longest running style we make. Until 2011 we had medaled for it every year (in the WineMaker competition specifically). Last year the Berry Fruit category had no 100% strawberry winners which we found odd. This in my opinion is our finest version ever and I hope it helps us regain recognition for this style.
• Concord Rose 2011 – This is the second year we have made this wine from grapes a friend grows in his yard. Last year the color was too pale and it was also too sweet. I fixed both of those issues this year and it paid off!
• Purple Plum Dessert Wine 2011 – After the success of our 2008 Golden Plum Dessert Wine I wanted to try the same thing with purple plums. This is a different wine, but expresses plum very well and deserves a shot.
• Raspberry Fortified Dessert Wine 2011 – This is on a short list of things that will be the best of 2011 once we really start sharing it. Massive raspberry in color, aroma AND flavor. Well balanced, with just a hint of the Cognac we used to kick it up.
• Dandelion/Chamomile 2011 – This might be a second dark hose scenario for dandelion wine for us. We nailed a surprise gold for our 2010 version last year. This year I added some chamomile and the result was a wine with an herbal tea quality to it. It is more than drinkable.
• Maple Dessert Wine 2011 – This was inspired by a friend’s win for a Maple Ice Wine style wine in 2011. He wouldn't share his recipe (while I freely do share mine), but I nailed something here that might be even better.
• Cherry/Currant Mead 2011 – Clear, deep red color with fruity aromas. Big flavors with a dry, tart finish. The honey will come up in time, but this is very spot on for style to me.
• Cinnamon Cyser 2011 – The aromas of apple, honey and cinnamon are what get me. All other elements are polished and balance is good.
• Orange/Vanilla Mead 2011 – This was our surprise first place finisher last fall, and probably one of the best things we made in 2011. We didn't need to open this to be sure, but we did because we wanted something to drink!

( Entries for the 2010 WineMaker Magazine Competition. Huge recognition with 9 medals that year! )

Nope!

• Blueberry Fortified Dessert Wine 2011 – The balance is off. The neutral alcohol I used for fortification comes through too much. I am going to back sweeten this with some organic blueberry concentrate and add some oak chips for a bit. It might move in a port-like direction.
• Dry Riesling 2011 – The acid is out of balance. Not sure what will happen with this wine.
• Riesling/Gewurztraminer Blend 2011 – Slightly hazy, otherwise a pleasant, drinkable wine.
• Winexpert Estate Series Yakima Pinot Gris 2011 – Oxidized. Not sure of the future of this wine.
• Winexpert New Zealand Pinot Noir 2011 – Just didn't pop. Going to revisit this wine in six months.
• Winexpert Special Edition Pacific Quartet 2009 – This wine has lost its nose. It tastes great, has good clarity and is balanced. Just not worth the expense.
• Peach Dessert Wine 2010 – This batch of peach wine is drinkable, but doesn't have the total package.
• Malbec 2010 – All three batches of Malbec from 2010 are a little funky. We are going to let them age for a while.
• Syrah 2010 – A lighter wine with a bit of cured meat in the nose. Didn't feel like it was typical. It drinks well for me and that’s just what I am going to do with it!
• Winexpert Rioja 2010 – Kind of a dullard. It just doesn't influence me in any tangible way. I won’t fuss to drink it as an everyday wine, but it ain't gonna bring home any hardware.
• Viognier 2010 – Way out of balance. Something about this wine changed shortly after the fermentation was completed. It was trending well up until then. We used quite a bit of it in a blend so it is almost gone.
• Sauvignon Blanc 2010 – Only a few bottles of this were bottled varietally. It is typical, if not a bit acidic, and I didn't feel it was a winner.
• White Blend 2010 – Not a bad wine, except when one of the stinky bottles gets opened! Too much risk therein.
• World Vineyard Australian Riverland Reserve 2009 – This wine doesn't have enough of everything. Very subtle, plenty drinkable but not in a pay attention to it type way.

One wine that we didn’t open is our 2010 Cabernet/Syrah, and as I drink a glass while I write this I am wondering if we might have missed one. It isn’t a big wine, more European in style, and has a moderate nose solid flavors, chewy tannins and a healthy does of acidity. This is at the top of the list for the next competition!

( Enjoying last year's WineMaker Magazine Competition awards dinner with friends. See you in June! )

Several wines from 2011 were too young to enter, but are coming along nicely and will see themselves in the ring in 2013.

• Cellar Craft Red Mountain Cab
• Cellar Craft Amarone
• Winexpert Sonoma Valley Pinot

The above list doesn’t include the fresh juice Amarone and Zinfandel we made in the fall of 2011 that have not yet even gone into the bottle.

While the effort we went through might seem fun, it really was hard work and required my wife and I to be brutally honest with each other and ourselves. I am really happy with the selections we picked and can’t wait to see what turns up our first medals of 2012 in June when the results are announced. No matter what I have improved my own ability to judge my wines and am looking forward to the feedback these wines bring.

Cheers!

Jason

Nov. 15th Cellar Update – 2011 Awards, Etcetera

( This my new Cellar Update photo. Shot by my college friend Josh Mazgelis. )

This has been another big year for the Ancient Fire home fermentations. Entering four competitions netted us 13 places including 3 gold medals and a first place among them! Two recent results were for the Northeast Regional Homebrew Competition and the Amenti del Vino Amateur Wine Competition. Congrats to Margot for her Third Place in Stout and our first ever win for beer! We made and won for wine, beer, cider AND mead all in the same year. That’s crushing it!

Northeast Regional Homebrew Competition 2011

First Place – 2011 Orange Vanilla Mead

Second Place – 2009 Cider #4

Third Place – Margot’s FX Stout (2011)

Amenti Del Vino Amateur 2011

Gold – 2011 Dry Creek Chardonnay

Silver – 2011 Peach After Dinner Wine

Bronze – 2011 Yakima Pinot Gris, 2010 Chilean Cab/Syrah

I posted a new page for the Ancient Fire Competition Awards. You can see an inventory of our awards by category and type plus links to the full results of all the competition’s we’ve entered. Four years and 41 medals!

Margot and I brewed again over the weekend. Margot took a shot at an Oatmeal Stout and I went with an Amber Ale with Rye. Margot and I both think the initial gravity on the stout was a bit low but will play it by the book and decide if we need to interfere later. The ryle ale smelled of moderately toasted rye bread, a good sign for the style. I’ve got an IPA Braggot to make coming up and I think putting down a sour cherry Saison might be a nice touch when the warm weather returns next year.

I cleaned through three batches of wine bottles this weekend. And I ordered some as well. We just can’t get, don’t  already have and don’t have enough time to deal with all of the ones we need. And with what we are making will need a lot of clean bottles. Time to buy some. Bottling of the remaining 2010 reds and some early 2011 wines will proceed swiftly this coming week. The 2011 Strawberry in particular needs get bottled so it can show up around the holidays as it always does!

Ancient Fire Writing from Around the Web

My article entitled SensoryPerspectives for the Dry Finish column of WineMaker Magazine is live online. In the article I review the obvious, but not as obvious as you’d think, application of sensory evaluation of wine for winemakers. I find the appreciation of this skill especially helpful for amateurs who are very much learning wine and winemaking at the same time. I’m still learning this way.

As a WineMaker Magazine blogger I have also recently shared the recipe for my Orange/Vanilla Mead, my thoughts on How Artisanal Producers & Products Can Help Us Create a Story for Our Own Creations and a report from the Finger Lakes ahead of the upcoming 2012 annual conference in Itahca. I am very much enjoying writing for an amateur winemaking/brewing making audience who can geek out on some of the things I find interesting in my projects and travels.

There are a couple of tech updates as well.

A mobile version of this blog is live. Browsing to it from your smart phone is all that is required. It was a simple change and posts now show up in a short form in a list from my Droid. I can read the posts, see the pictures and otherwise interact with the content. If your experience with the new mode is underwhelming, please let me know.

Ancient Fire Wines is on Facebook. We’ve had the page for a while and give it some care and feeding, but the traffic is quite honestly not compelling. If by my publicizing it folks want to prove this to be untrue I say bring it on.

I’ll be posting all of the California trip reports tonight so if you haven’t checked them out already you’ll be able to find them on Facebook soon! I’ve also got some Godiva swag to give away and giving Ancient Fire Wines a Like on Facebook will be one of the entry criteria. Stay tuned for that drawing to kick off next week and run into early December and thoughts of sweet treats.

Cheers!

Jason

Ancient Fire Roundup June 7th, 2011

With my announcement last Monday that I would be shifting gears and that my writing would be showing up in some new places it makes sense that I periodically share where I have been and what you might find around the web. Here are last week’s highlights.

The Unreserved

Review of Craggy Range New Zealand Chardonnay

Review of Valley of the Moon Sonoma Zinfandel

Speaking at the WineMaker Magazine Annual Conference – I had to great honor being able to share my tips for making award winning red wine at the conference.

WineMaker Magazine

Last week saw my first post from WineMaker Magazine’s blog. I recapped my experience at the annual conference held in late May in Santa Barbara, CA. I was introduced with a new bio at their site which might make for a great read for new visitors to the Ancient Fire Wine blog.

Ancient Fire Wine Blog

Strawberry Wine Revisited – I had more requests for tips and the recipe for our award-winning strawberry wine and I love to share!

Santa Barbara Food & Drink Guerilla Style - The first day in Santa Barbara before the WineMaker Magazine Conference was action packed with lots of food & drink!

Happy National Cancer Survivor Day! - The first Sunday in June is a special day for me as a cancer survivor. See how I spent it and am spreading the word about the fight against cancer. Please support Frosting For The Cause.

Tasting in Los Olivos – More food & drink from the Santa Barbara area

Cheers!

Jason

Strawberry Wine Revisited

It was this same day last year that I posted "Award Winning Strawberry Wine" after so much feedback and interest at the 2010 WineMaker Magazine Annual Conference. We have won two more medals for our strawberry creations since and the number of people who ask about it and are working on batches of their own has grown.

This year's conference had me recognized as "Strawberry Wine Guy" several times. We didn't win for it in the 2011 WineMaker Magazine Competition, but that doesn't say anything about how well it drinks with good friends. Everyone who we shared it with had something positive to say about it. An incredible honor to be sure.

Brant Burgiss and I had several conversations about the recipe and his attempt at making it. Clearly I led folks astray a bit last year leaving out some key steps in the process. Brant and I met in 2010 on our first day at the conference in Washington. We had talked on several additional occasions last year and talked wine for quite a while at the swap meet this year. Brant was kind enough to share my passing along of some tips in a recent Grapestompers.com publication which has now generated more interest. You can sign up to receive the monthly newsletter which is full of events and tips at their web site. Here is the Grapestompers.com June 2011 Newsletter containing the mention and a full recap from the conference from Brant.

Here are the tips I shared with Brant that can be used with the recipes found in the post linked in the first paragraph:

(1) To create your 6 gallon initial volume I used a combination of white grape juice and water looking for a starting gravity around 1.080 or so which you will need to mix well to achieve in stages. The fruit sugar adds more so any higher isn't better.

(2) I back sweeten my finished wine with a combination of white grape juice, water and frozen berries. I steep the berries in hot (boiled, but off the heat for a bit works) water adding the juice after the berries have broken down. This creates a nicely aromatic, colored and flavored syrup to finish the wine with. I do have to strain it and then let it clear for quite a while, but I assure you it is worth the wait.

I hope this challenges you to try your own batch of strawberry wine real soon. Picking season is right around the corner in NH, and believe me I will be looking to get back winning some medals with our 2011 batches!

Cheers!

Jason

Washington State Merlot

Just about one year ago Margot and I were getting ready to head off to the WineMaker Magazine Annual Conference for the first time. It was being hosted in Stevenson, WA situated on the Columbia River along the Oregon border. We had been to the state before, but not its winemaking areas, and didn’t have a chance on earlier trips to visit any wineries for tastings. Our plans included those activities on this trip, and we packed with much excitement.

( Great place to hang and drink! )

One of the types of wine we had the chance try from a number of difference sources was Merlot. I had heard many great things about WA Merlots and had never really explored them. My favorite from a winery visit was the Ethos Merlot at Chateau Ste. Michelle. The night of the swap meet we tried Merlot varietals and Merlot based blends from a number of local wineries and winemaking clubs. We enjoyed several homemade versions shared by local-area conference attendees. All together I felt I had gotten to know the style much better. Across all the selections we tried we found a great balance of fruit and earth with dark berries and cherry wrapping touches of chocolate, spice and smoke. The smooth textures and manageable tannins made these wines so very approachable and great casual drinkers. I kept thinking about food pairings and what I wanted to try at home with wines we would bring back.

One of the things we found so interesting were subtleties between the single vineyard Merlot bottlings at the Columbia Winery. They presented the wines from varied growing areas, conditions, the differences and we found so much of it to be accessible. At the conference I shared a rose I bought made from Merlot at Phelps Creek Vineyard (no relation) from just over the border in OR. At first folks didn’t seem interested, but once the first person at the table said something good about it, it was gone. Check out what we wrote back in June of 2010 from our trip notes.

So it was with great excitement that I was assigned a WA Merlot for a recent group tasting with the Boston Sommelier Society. I felt like I knew it better because of my experiences and knew more about the region giving me a good basis to search for. I considered the CSM Ethos but opted for something else and stayed within the CSM family. I came across the 2006 Canoe Ridge Merlot and grabbed a couple bottles to try. At $20 a bottle it should be a solid performer, but not an everyday drinker. I found a healthy dose of cherry, vanilla and a dusty soil note. The tannins are there but softening and really helping to define the wine. I bet this 2006 will be much better in 3-4 years.



Washington Merlot started stalking me at this point and this time in the form a perk from the Kloutperks Influencer program. As an influencer I received a $100 credit to Lot 18 and found wine and olive oil that would make for great adventures back at Ancient Fire Wines. The Pepper Bridge 2006 Walla Walla Merlot two-pack was a steal. The wine is good, but needs more time to mellow.

It is garnet in color with a touch of purple. The rim variation has a slight brown shift and the staining and viscosity are low inferring a lighter wine. The alcohol is up there, 14.1%, but noticeable, and makes the chocolate, cherry, spice, pepper and soil flavors a bit hard to completely pin down. The tannins are moderate, but feel like they are softening and time may be an asset here.

We are again getting ready to head off to the WineMaker Conference, this time in Santa Barbara, CA, home to several winemaking regions that will be worth visits. Pinot Noir perhaps, or Sauvignon Blanc or Viognier, oh my! We’ll be live tweeting from the conference, including the awards dinner. We won 9 medals last year and we have more chances than that again this year! Wish us luck!

Cheers!

Jason


I was given a free product or sample because I'm a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.
http://klout.com/perks/disclosure

Apple Pie - To Compete Or Not?

( my long-time crust recipe and our first test of the Apple Cheddar Crunch pie )

Mack’s Apples in Londonderry, NH has an annual apple pie-making competition, with 2011 being the 21st year. The last few years I have known about it but was out of town on the weekend of the event. This year I found I would be home and decided to throw my hat in the ring.

I’ve entered several recipe contests before, but never a live judged food competition. With plenty of wine competitions, and medals, behind me this seemed like a gap that I could fill starting with apple pie. But what makes a competition worthy and furthermore a competition winning pie?

I have a combination butter/shortening crust recipe that is my go-to for pies. My filling is 100% Cortland apples and heavy on the spices. Everyone seems to love them and in 2003 and 2004 I made over 200 apples pies by hand to fundraise for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I guess you could say I have some experience making pies, but would that translate to a win?

I love my crust recipe but not being overconfident I felt I need to experiment with other recipes to be sure that I had something that would really stack up. Thankfully the Mack’s competition requires participants to submit their complete recipes and the winners are published for all to see. I went and picked up the 2009 and 2010 winning recipes to see what I could learn. I also scoured the web looking for other ideas with the intention of running some trials in my kitchen before deciding what to make for entry. Crusts made from 1005 Crisco dominate. I find this weird as I have never been terribly impressed with this type of crust. I find them to be less flaky and flavorful than those made with butters, lard or other ingredients. Taste being what it is I had to give it whirl and be objective about what I found.

We ended up with four crust recipes pitted against each other. The fillings were all the same. We had to use my long-time favorite which is 60% butter and 40% Crisco. We also choose 100% shortening (Crisco), a recipe with shortening, egg and vinegar and for the final crust, 100% lard. My mother said that her aunt Pat says you can’t make a good pie crust without at least a little lard. Seems like good advice to me.

( lard, anyone? )

Crust Recipes

Butter/Shortening Crust
(makes 1 double crust)
2 ½ cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
11 Tbsp butter
7 Tbsp shortening
8-10 Tbsp ice cold water

Allow the butter and shortening to soften slightly. Sift together the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Adding the butter and shortening in two waves, work it into the flour with a pastry blender. The final result will look like coarse crumbs. Add the ice water folding the crumbs together until it forms a ball. Lightly flour the ball and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. When ready to make the pie the dough should be divided into two pieces and rolled out on a floured surface as needed. (The top picture shows an example of this crust.)

100% Shortening
(makes 1 double crust)

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup + 2Tbsp shortening
5 Tbsp ice cold water

The method is the same as the above recipe except that you are using 100% shortening.

Shortening, Vinegar & Egg Crust
(makes 1 double crust)

2 cups flour
1 cup shortening
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 beaten egg
1/2 Tbsp white vinegar
1/4 cup ice water

Allow the shortening to soften slightly. Sift together the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the shortening, working it into the flour with a pastry blender. Combine the wet ingredients and add to the flour mixture to form a ball. Lightly flour the ball and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. When ready to make the pie the dough should be divided into two pieces and rolled out on a floured surface as needed.

( just a little bit of oil from the lard collecting in the foil! )

Lard Based Crust
(makes 1 double crust)

2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2/3 c. lard
1/4 c. water

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in lard with pastry blender until small pea size particles/coarse crumbs are obtained. Sprinkle with water a little at a time. Mix with fork until flour is moist. Press into a ball place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. When ready to make the pie the dough should be divided into two pieces and rolled out on a floured surface as needed.

After the experiments I decided that my non-traditional pie recipe would have an all-lard crust and my traditional would have a lard/butter crust. My exact competition recipes can be found below. The all shortening crusts were too dry for me and the lard crust just had that extra oomph in taste and texture that made me feel like it was the way to go.

( Apple Cheddar Crunch waiting to be judged )

Apple Cheddar Crunch Pie
(non-traditional)

Glazed Almonds (crunch)
½ cup sliced almonds
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
Splash of rye whiskey

Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Roast the almonds for a few minutes until they become fragrant. Shake them frequently. Roasting time is about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan. Add the butter to the pan, allowing it to melt. Add the cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Mix well, breaking up any clumps of sugar and allowing it to melt a bit. Add the nuts back to the pan. Stirring frequently allow the nuts swim in the butter/sugar mix for 5 minutes. Splash the whiskey over them. Be careful not to splash the whiskey onto the burner or near open flame. Continue to stir for two minutes. Remove them from the heat. Allow them to cool. They will become slightly clumpy and very crunchy.

Pie Crust

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
18 Tbsp lard
8-10 Tbsp ice cold water

Allow the chilled lard to soften slightly. Sift together the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Adding the lard in two waves, work it into the flour with a pastry blender. The final result will look like coarse crumbs. Add ice water folding the crumbs together until it forms a ball. Lightly flour the ball and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Pie Filling

7 large Cortland apples
1 Tbsp lemon/orange zest
1 Tbsp fresh lemon/orange juice
½ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp clove
6 oz thinly sliced sharp cheddar cheese
Glazed almonds (from recipe above)
1 egg
1 Tbsp Demerara sugar

Cut the dough ball from the crust recipe in half. Roll out the bottom crust and place in your pie plate. Spoon a small layer of the apple filling into the empty shell. Slice the cheese thin and evenly place over the apple filling. Spoon the remaining apple mixture into the shell leaving any liquid behind. Spread the nuts over the top of the filling. Roll out the top crust and place it over the filled shell. Trim the edges so that an even amount of overlap from both crusts is available. Overlap and pinch shut the crusts making sure the edges are inside the very outer edge of the pie plate. Brush the egg over the top of the crust, including the edges. Sprinkle with Demerara sugar. Cut four slits in the center of the top crust for venting. Bake in a 350 degree over four 1 hour or until the top is browned.

( my traditional pie hot out of the oven )

Traditional Apple Pie

Pie Crust

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
11 Tbsp lard
7 Tbsp unsalted butter
8-10 Tbsp ice cold water

Allow the chilled lard and butter to soften slightly. Sift together the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Adding the lard/butter in two waves, work it into the flour with a pastry blender. The final result will look like coarse crumbs. Add ice water folding the crumbs together until it forms a ball. Lightly flour the ball and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Pie Filling

7 large Cortland apples
1 Tbsp lemon/orange zest
1 Tbsp fresh lemon/orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp clove
1 egg

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Combine the apples, zest, juice, sugar and spices in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Let stand 10 minutes.

Cut the dough ball from the crust recipe in half. Roll out the bottom crust and place in your pie plate. Spoon the apple mixture into the shell leaving any liquid behind. Roll out the top crust and place it over the filled shell. Trim the edges so that an even amount of overlap from both crusts is available. Overlap and pinch shut the crusts making sure the edges are inside the very outer edge of the pie plate. Brush the egg over the top of the crust, including the edges. Cut four slits in the center of the top crust for venting. Bake in a 350 degree over four 1 hour or until the top is browned.

( lots of pie! )

I didn’t place in the competition and on at least one account there was a good reason why. The crust of my traditional pie wasn’t cooked all the way through. I had to finish cooking the leftovers before I took it to a family party the night of the competition. It was consumed quickly and the feedback was great. I can least take comfort in the fact that I made some people happy with it. My non-traditional pie seems to have been robbed of a chance. It was executed perfectly and when I had a chance to taste it I could find no issues. It didn’t advance to the second round where at least one pie with a Pillsbury (store-bought) crust did, so I can only assume the judges weren’t as discerning as they could have been.

( my non-traditional pie is cut for tasting )

( what are they thinking as they try it? )

I have already been kicking around ideas for next year and I will definitely be back and ready to try it again!

( Denise LaRoche, non-traditional winner. We chatted before the judging. She shared secrets! )

( Deborah Pierce, traditional winner. I tried her winning pie and can learn from her tricks! )

( the winner in the traditional category. it looks simpler than it is )

The announcement of the winners and prizes can be found at the Mack’s Apples web site. It pays to know who your local news reporters are. A quick conversation with April from the Union Leader netted a great quote on the front page of the local edition on Monday January 31st!

Cheers!

Jason


Simple Midwestern Apple Pie

Home Winemaking (Kits, WinExpert & You!)

( a Cabernet, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc fermenting, May 2010 )

You don’t have to spend much time in the world of home and amateur winemaking to come upon a debate about kit versus grape winemaking. The conversation is often fierce and heated, and if you don’t have a thick skin you might get pissed off with some of the feedback freely offered.

Just a bit of quick background for those unfamiliar with making your own wine at home. Wine can be made from grapes and many other fruits (both fresh and from juice), usually with the mere addition of sugar, acid, water, and of course yeast. Traditional grape based winemaking involves the crushing and pressing of grapes before vinification. Along the way quite a few smart companies have gotten into the business of packaging pressed grape juice along with all the necessary adjuncts and instructions for folks who don’t want, or don’t have the means to process grapes. This product has made home winemaking accessible for a great many people.

The debate is whether using kits (and juice and fruit is often lumped in) is really winemaking. Of course it is in the strictest sense. My fresh strawberry wine is made using similar steps, and I pick and process the fruit myself. Kit winemakers generally don’t have to worry about testing and balancing for acid and sugar levels, and are able complete wines more quickly since the volume of solid matter (grape skins, etc) is much lower, thus requiring less clearing time. There are several things that you do learn whether you make wine from grapes or a kit that do qualify you as a winemaker. With time and experience this knowledge can even help you become a very good winemaker!

• Sanitation – keeping your equipment and work areas clean is key
• How fermentation is monitored and what the process looks like
• The development of your senses of sight, smell and taste that guide the progress of your wines
• Siphoning/racking of wine between containers
• The use of oak and how aging affects wines
• Bottling,corking and finishing

So for me the debate is bullshit. I’ll dump my competition medals (for wines, meads and ciders) on the table in front of fierce opposition and ask if the judges were wrong all 28 times! My recipe for award winning strawberry wine was posted last year and has been used by several of my winemaking friends since. Mine is still better!

I don’t exclusively make wines from kits, but the majority of them had been from kits, juice or fresh fruit up until 2010. My first batches of wine from Chilean grapes are still aging and I have high expectations for them. These wines took more effort, required me to purchase new equipment and will take much longer to be ready for enjoyment. Thankfully I am not averse to making wine from our sources and have many other wines available to drink while I wait!
 

( Chilean grapes forming a cap on the top of fermenting juice, May 2010 )

The process for making wine from a kit is pretty straightforward. There are lot of bullets below, but read on and you will see that is not a technical exercise; and much like cooking.

• Kits come with a bag of juice. The higher quality kits come with more juice which means less water will be used to create target 6 gallons you will start fermenting with.
• Generally you will mix warm water with an additive called bentonite (derived from clay) that will help your wine to clear later on. The juice is then added, and water is used to fill the bucket up to the 6 gallon mark. Home brewing buckets have a marked scale on them making this very easy to determine.
• Stirring to mix the juice and water is the big effort here, and you want to get that right. The fermentation will begin and proceed better with a well mixed base.
• At this point you need to add some science to the process and take a gravity reading. A simple device called a hydrometer is used to determine the amount of sugar in the solution. This measurement will be used several times to monitor the progress of the fermentation.
• Some red wines will come with packages of oak which are generally added now, before pitching the yeast. Mixing in fine powdered oak products is a cruel instruction as they don’t get water logged that easy!
• Yeast is provided as a dry packet much like you might buy at the store for bread making. Some kits recommend you rehydrate the yeast, others have you pitch it into the bucket dry. Following the instructions is important for beginners. (I wrote about some yeast re-hydration and nutrition techniques that I added to my process in 2010 when I started my Chilean wines.)
• You will wait 1-2 days for the fermentation to start. The tops of homebrew buckets are provided with gaskets to affix an airlock to. The outgassing of CO2 once fermentation begins will be obvious in the airlock.
• The hydrometer is used to measure the fermentation looking to get to a secondary stage where the fermenting must (that is the proper name) is transferred to a glass carboy to complete its fermentation. The instructions will give you the gravity target you are monitoring for. Some or all of the thick sediment at the bottom of the bucket is left behind during the siphoning process.
• Fermentation continues and once again the hydrometer is used to determine when it is finished.
• At this point additions of potassium meta-bisulphite, potassium sorbate and a clearing agent are made. The fermentation will cease and the wine will clear over several weeks.
• Once the wine is clear it can be siphoned into a bucket affixed with a spigot for bottling.
• Clear and stable wine is bottled and corked resulting in what you recognize from commercial bottles you buy. You can make or buy labels and foil tops to finish or dress your bottles of wine.
• The wine needs to be aged for a minimum of a month to allow the wine to adjust to the bottle.White wines generally are best left to aged for at least 3 months and red wines will require 6 months or more before they begin to drink well. Red wines will often benefit from additional age, but that depends on the variety and how well the wine was made.

And now you have made 30 bottles of wine. I have shared this process with several friends who now enjoy doing this at home for themselves. Having a “house wine” is pretty cool!

( strawberry wine, secondary fermenation - July 2009 )

WinExpert is my favorite manufacturer of wine kits for home winemakers. The selection offered is quite varied in both types and quality. I have never been disappointed with a wine I have made from a WinExpert kit. It is fair to say however that some have been better than others. They are constantly coming out with new styles and travelling the world to source the best possible juices to put in their products.

Their kits come complete with everything you need, including instructions to get even the most novice winemaker going. An added bonus is that their Technical Manager, Tim Vandergrift, is very active in online forums for winemakers. His knowledge of winemaking and the WinExpert product line is an asset for anyone who dips into this hobby. I met Tim at the WineMaker Magazine Conference in May of 2010 and his energy and passion for winemaking was obvious. Ask a question and you’ll get a solid answer you can run with. Offer him a glass of wine and you’ll get a chance to spend time with a great guy.

Check out my recap of the conference from last year. We have already signed up to go to the 2011 conference in Santa Barbara, CA.

By now you might think I am shilling for WinExpert, but alas no, I am saying these things because my experience has been that good. The company has a program that rewards competition entrants for their wins using WinExpert products. In each of the last three years I have won two free kits each year. This has been a wonderful add-on to the competition wins and has helped me add new types of wine to my homemade lineup. They get the advertising bump and I get free wine. Works for me!

Last week I happened upon the website for The Unreserved, a new online community for winemakers and wine & food lovers. And guess what? WinExpert is behind the site. Clearly they are trying to bring together members of their customer base, and wine lovers at large, to connect and share their passions. Jackpot! I signed up right away and posted a few of my recent blog entries for folks to check out. I also sent messages to several of the community management staff about the site and how I could help it grow. The feedback has been extremely positive and clearly my experience with my blog over the last year is going to payoff big here. And much to my surprise, I didn’t read the whole page on the community benefits before signing up, I was notified that a reward for the most popular post each month in the form of a free wine kit had my name on it. I signed up and posted 3 days before the end of the year and I had the two most popular posts for December. Thank you WinExpert!

Making wine at home isn’t for everyone. Hopefully I have shared some insight on the process that at least makes it less mysterious and potentially approachable. There are several home brewing stores in New England who have all the equipment and ingredients, including kits from WinExpert, that you will need to try this at home. And don’t forget, I’m here to ask questions of. Believe me when I say that I still have a lot to learn, and that helping others to make their own wine is one of the best ways to ferment (awesome play on words) my skills!

Cheers!

Jason

Book Review: Cider: Hard and Sweet by Ben Watson

I picked up the second edition which includes new material on Perry, i.e. pear “cider” for most of us who would never have heard of this otherwise. This book ended up being a nice bump for me after my cider experiment in 2009 and all of the feedback I have received on the different styles.

The wonderful thing about books like this is the fact that you get information of all kinds. A good start is a history about the beverage and then add in process, customs & variations, DYI details and last but not least tasting, pairing and applications/cooking.

Cider has a long and storied history around the world. While production volumes have changed a lot over the years it stands to reason that some of the very best cider products are available right now, if you know where to get them. Today I enjoyed the section of the book on the departments of Normandy, France and their customs in the making and consumption of Calvados. A kiss of Calvados on the lips during baptism and we can’t love the French?

Ben Watson, the author of Cider: Hard and Sweet, succeeds in an impressive effort to present a breadth of information on a topic that isn’t familiar to most, and seems to point to a tradition in decline from its heights. That is certainly true, but the upside with reading Watson’s book is knowing where to get good cider, he readily tells you about all of them, how to serve them and what enjoyment awaits those that do. Our own home-state favorite, Farnum Hill Ciders at Poverty Lane Orchards and its owner/cider maker Steven Wood is quoted, described and toasted in the book.

I made cider for the first time in 2007 after a bad go of making an apple wine in the two years before. My initial attempt at cider including charging the bottles much like you would with beer (creating the bubbles through a closed fermentation) resulting in volcanic openings on a couple boxes. My 2008 batch was still (no carbonation) and worked much better. The sections of the book on basic cider making, upgrades and longer term projects represent a true hands-on experience and processes others could follow to a happy outcome.

I love cider, but my experience with it is pretty limited. Once I could make my own I didn’t end up tasting too many others. I remember buying Farnum Hill ciders right after college and drinking them with my now wife on our weekends away together while she finished school. At the recent Wine Riot in Boston I had a heritage varietal cider from Farnum Hill that blew my socks off. I’ve also had Woodchuck and Cider Jack, but they aren’t the same beverage.

Then came 2009.

In my cider post earlier in month I explained my approach to a 7 bucket project to produce a bunch of different cider types. I got good results from all of them and one just took First Place in Common Cider category of the Northeast Regional Homebrew Competition. I’m learning and trust me I coming on strong again next year with new ideas and new products.

Towards the end of the book Watson shares recipes and cooking tips. Braising meats with cider is a slam dunk. Marinades and salad dressings using cider are not a stretch. (Recipes below)

Making your own cider vinegar sounds easier than most people, including me, would have thought. I am hoping this extends to wine vinegar as well. Unfortunately I have some wine I could blend for vinegar (it isn’t good to drink), but I’d like to use cider to make vinegar on purpose. Allowing a finished wine/cider to aerate in a warm dark place and then stabilizing it like wine can net gallons of ready to use vinegar. The uses for it are well beyond cooking and a variety of health benefits have been observed in some daily consumers. Thanks Ben!

The details on how the author lined up and tasted many ciders, compiled scores and described the facets of the best ciders was very intriguing to me. Food pairing with any beverage is a lot of fun and some of the notable things we have tried with our ciders are grilled margherita pizzas, candied bacon and barbeque. Our cider party was a drunken barn dance a-la South Park, and the hangover a few of us had was pretty intense; but what a way to celebrate all the hard work!

The chapter on Perry contained information completely new to me. I made a pear wine in 2008 but found it off tasting and have used it mainly to create wine punches. Fine Perry can be made from specific heirloom pear varieties and is typically drier and sharper than that which we create from dessert pears, e.g. those that are directly edible. Pear and apple blends are noted here as well. I think an experiment with a pear dessert wine is worthy for 2011!

Cheers!

--Jason


Barnes & Noble info for the book

Recipes

Braising / Slow Cooking

I have changed the liquid ingredients using cider in place of ½ of any broth and water in an original recipe. If the recipe also calls for white wine I would continue as is, but recipes that call for too much red wine are a problem as the wine can overpower the apple flavors which are not typical in such wines.

Cider Salad Dressing

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ dry hard cider
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
½ tsp crushed rosemary

Combine cider, vinegar and spices. Slowly mix in oil. Serve over greens with candied nuts, dried cranberries and Roquefort cheese.


Other NH Cider Products We Have Tried

Crooked Tree Winery – we had several great tastings at a public event
Farnum Hill Ciders – our favorite!
Silver Mountain Ciders – lots of different styles, found in NH & VT

Out-of-State Mention

Crispin Ciders – Crispin is active on Twitter organizing events and might be coming to NH next year.