Seattle Cider Co.

Did you know that John Adams drank a tankard of cider nearly every morning of his adult life? I'm not talking about apple juice. No sir. This was the strong stuff. Fermented fruit. The drunk drink. And it was, like all the other alcohol at the time, consumed not only for it's flavor, but for safety's sake. Beer being better than brown water, etc. Now, we've come quite a ways since the Founding Fathers drank fermented fruit juice. But that's not to say it's bad. I believe hard cider is the answer to a lot of our alcohol issues. Don't drink beer? Unwilling to whiskey your way through the weekend? Gin and juice a little too O.G. for that ass? Well, you should have some hard cider!

I remember watching the Fantastic Mr. Fox a few years ago. The protagonist, a misbehaving middle aged newspaperman turned thief, spends his evenings chicken stealin' and hard cider swillin'. Living that good life. While weird, the film did, however, inspire us to sample different ciders. There weren't many at the time, though. So after a few of our own cider swillin' evenings, we were all but empty. Fast forward a few years. The local grocery store shelves are now overflowing with options. Especially in Seattle. Every sorta cider you can think of. There's big brown bottles, tall cans, small cans and even those fancy ones with the resealable pop-tops. Overwhelming it is. So when we heard our friends at Full Throttle Bottles were hosting the launch of a new Seattle based cidery, we jumped at the opportunity to learn more about cider and all the available varietals.

The Seattle Cider Company, founded by Joel VandenBrink, the same dude that owns and operates Two Beers Brewing, is the only cidery operating inside the city. They currently have three different ciders being canned and bottled - Dry, Semi-Sweet and Pumpkin Spice - as well as three other seasonal ciders available at an assortment of establishments.

Their Dry Hard Cider is just that - a no bullshit, brewed without any added sugar, cider drinkers cider. It's flat at first, with a clean, crisp finish. But by the time you've poured the entire tall can, you'll begin to taste the golden green apples from which it came. It's bold at the beginning and not too tart, but certainly not sweet. It goes down easy and leaves you eager for another.

Their Semi-Sweet Hard Cider is similar in a lot of ways to Fish Brewing's Spire Mountain Apple Cider, which I enjoy. However where Spire can be overly sweet at times, Seattle Cider Co.'s Semi-Sweet offering is a happy medium, filling that often forgotten cider space between dry and an after dinner drink. It's almost too damn delicious. I'm pretty sure we could've consumed a case last weekend.

As for their Pumpkin Spice Hard Cider, well, it too is amazing. Similar to the Semi-Sweet cider in that it isn't over-the-top in any one way, and yet offers a selection of spices to which your tongue struggles to savor. And it would pair perfectly with some roasted turkey or your favorite sweet potato recipe! Delicious? Undoubtedly. And a lot like my friend Mr.Fox, the entire Seattle Cider Co. collection has inspired me to drink more juice, and save the beer for baseball games.

You can find all of their offering's at Seattle's own Full Throttle Bottles.

Click here to learn more about the Seattle Cider Co.