Hard Cider

One thing that I have gotten into since we have been here is hard cider. Coming from Beer City itself, I just never paid much attention to it. 

My love affair started one day last summer. Husband and I had been out in the woods and creeks all day, and after freshening up with some baby wipes, throwing my hair in a bun, and slipping on a cotton dress, we stopped by downtown that afternoon for some appetizers and a drink. It was hot, we were on the patio, and at that moment the thought of a crisp cider sounded so refreshing. 

And it was.

I hadn’t seen it before back in North Carolina, but up here a big cider brand is Angry Orchard. My favorite is the Crisp Apple. It’s just barely sweet, super crisp, and the perfect carbonated alternative to beer. Although I will say my ABSOLUTE favorite cider was this dark hard cider by Fish Brewing. If you are a beer lover it is the long lost cousin you are so excited to find.

So anyway, we’ve gotten a few beer batches under our belts and decided to try something new.

Four Sam’s Club sized bags of apples and a lot of juicing later we had our cider. We added the yeast and such and it is now fermenting (we hope). I’ll keep you posted on our success or failure. 

We had a TON of pulp leftover so I promptly looked up a recipe for apple pulp cookies and set to work. After subbing coconut oil and using almond flour instead of regular, they ended up more like bars, but man were they delicious. 

We froze the remaining pulp for future batches. 

And that my friends is another recap of our weekend shenanigans.