Mike Loves Beer

Name – Stagger Lee
Country – United States
Type – Cider

I promised some reviews this week so I better make good on that.  So here I am with another cider review.  I’m actually really excited about this one.

I first saw Crispin’s Stagger Lee on my friend Casey’s Facebook as he posted a picture of it.  This cider is a blended cider of three different varieties including one of them being aged in rye whiskey barrels.  Cider in rye whiskey barrels?  I’ve never heard of such a thing.  But now I have an I must try it.

From what I’m told it is only available in Total Wines in South Florida.  Additionally my first trip to the store to try to find it turned up fruitless as it was not in the single bottles section with the other ciders.  It was actually in the package cider section.  Kind of strange when it is being sold as a single bottle.  But what do I know.

I popped the cap and poured the beer into my shaker pint.  It is a very cloudy gold color.  I can see sediment floating all over the place in there.  No head but that is common in ciders.

The scent is definite ripe apples upfront.  But you do get slight notes of wood and whiskey in the back end.

The taste gives you whiskey right up front and then turns into sweet apples.  The finish has a slight alcohol burn to it as the whiskey taste comes back for one final appearance.

I was blown away by this cider.  The complexity that the whiskey barrels adds to this is incredible.  Usually I look at ciders as a session drink but this is a sipper that deserves the respect to be savored.  Plus at the 6.9% ABV it will sneak up on you if you aren’t careful and take advantage of you the rest of your evening (or afternoon okay).

To say that Crispin is doing outstanding things with cider would come nowhere close to how true that statement is.  They are truly a craft cider maker.  From different yeast strains to spirit barrels I can’t help but enjoy and look forward to everything they do.

If you like or love cider you absolutely must try Stagger Lee.  You won’t be disappointed, I really mean that.

Grade - A

Name – Crispin Artisanal Reserve The Saint
Country – United States
Type – Cider

As promised I’m back with another cider review.  This along with yesterday’s Lansdowne were given to me by good ol Ed Roberts.

This one is The Saint from Crispin’s Artisanal Reserve series.  It states to have maple syrup and a trappist yeast used on it.  Ed tells me for legal purposes they can not disclose which trappist brewery they got the yeast from.  Okay we’ll leave it at that….for now!  Let’s just jump head first in why don’t we.

It pours an extremely cloud pale yellow color.  As I was pouring it looked a lot like lemonade until more particulate came into the glass.  Now it looks a lot like maybe fresh squeezed white grapefruit juice.  Super thin white head is gone quickly.

The nose is for the most part apples and pears.  But I get a bit of lemon in there as well as an ever so slight hint of maple syrup.

The taste is really the same.  Apples, pears, lemon and a bit of maple syrup.  It finishes very crisp and clean.  Extremely easy to drink for a 6.9% cider.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this may very well be my favorite cider I’ve ever had.  And since their arrival I have really enjoyed a lot of Crispin’s line but this is just great.  Before I knew it I was through the entire 22 oz bomber.  Usually doing that is not difficult at all but this was gone way quicker than normal.

Again as I mentioned in my review of Lansdowne this bottle is not available in South Florida, yet.  With that I make a plea out to Gold Coast Beverages.  Please bring in The Saint.  You have done a great job of bringing Crispin down in the first place and you are pushing them pretty good.  I saw Crispin/Fox Barrel products all over Key West.  Now just bring in these Artisanl Reserves, other than Honey Crisp which is here, and I will be a happy man.

So be on the lookout and maybe we will get it soon South Florida.  To those of you that get Crispin in other areas and if you have never tried this one, do yourself a favor and do it.

Grade - A

Name – Crispin Artisanal Reserve Lansdowne
Country – United States
Type – Cider

Here is a little fun fact that many of you may not know.  MikeLovesBeer is also Mike loves ciders.  For quite awhile I have enjoyed a number of ciders but in my over 3 years of blogging I have only review ever reviewed one other cider.  Not exactly sure why I haven’t but it’s not because of a lack of drinking them I can tell you.

So over the weekend my good friend Ed “The Sexiest Man in Craft Beer” Roberts provided me with a couple ciders from Crispin Cider Company that we don’t get down here as of yet.  He really wanted to see what I thought of them so what better time than now to review them for the site.

Today I will be doing the review for their Artisanal Reserve Lansdowne.  The label says that this is made using molasses and and Irish Dry Stout yeast (I wonder who’s).  Ed told me at a recent cider class he taught that this beer was really enjoyed by many.  The label also says server ice cold or over ice.  For picture purposes I opted against the ice, but I’m not opposed to it.

It pours into my nonic pint a very cloudy copper or amber color.  There is absolutely no head at all and that’s kind of to be expected.

The nose is pretty standard in my opinion for a cider.  Lots of scents of apples and freshly peeled skins in there.  I can pick up a bit of molasses but it doesn’t jump out at you.

The taste obviously contains apples with some hints of molasses and brown sugar.  Would seem fit for the fall season if it weren’t still so freaking hot here in Florida.

I wouldn’t say I picked up really any character specific to using the Irish Dry Stout yeast in it.  It seemed like a pretty standard cider with some sweet notes of brown sugar and molasses added to them.  I think Ed built it up a bit in my head and I went in expecting something completely different than I maybe should have.

But tomorrow I will be back reviewing the second bottle that Ed provided me and that is the Artisanal Reserve The Saint from Crispin as well.

Grade - B-