Hard Cider, Baby!

Honestly, I never knew that anyone in Colorado made hard cider, actually I had never even thought about it. I have only had hard cider a hand full of times in my life.

Why write about cider now? Well, an acquaintance of mine is a bartender and the bar that she works at is trying to specialize in alcohol from Colorado. A mutual friend of ours told her about my blog and suggested that she talk to me. So, she asked first if I knew of any gluten free beers from Colorado, so I of course told her about New Planet Beer. And then she wanted to know if I knew of any hard ciders from Colorado, and as I already mentioned, I had no idea. So, with the help of my good friend Google (which I'm sure thinks I am a raging alcoholic with all of the alcohol related searches I do), I found out about the Colorado Cider Company, and hunted down a bottle of 'Glider Cider' (I even had to go to a liquor store the next town over to find it).

Like I said, I have only had hard cider a hand full of times, so I don't really have much to compare it to. The Colorado Cider Company website describes it as :

Colorado Cider Company was founded to produce a fresh hard cider for the discerning Colorado drinker. With a well-developed craft beer market and and educated populace, Hard Cider has been a missing choice in the cacophony of craft drinks in local pubs & liquor stores. We hope to remedy that.

Glider is our flagship dry cider. Crisp, tart and drinkable.

Gluten Free-All Juice, 6.95% ABV- in 22oz bottles

It isn't quite as sweet as I remember the few ciders I have tried in the past, but I actually like that about it! The fact that it has a little bit of tartness to it may have made me become just a little bit of a hard cider fan and if I am ever asked again if I know of a hard cider from Colorado I will have an answer.

Deerhammer Distilling Company... Redux

For those of you who've been reading this for a while, maybe you will remember that I wrote about Deerhammer Distilling Company before and that I was not particularly impressed (you can read that post here). But I also promised to give them a second chance, it just took a little longer to get around to than I had planned on. I did finally get around to it though. And I am glad to say that this time around I can give them my 'seal of approval'.

Deerhammer Drink Menu

I went in there on a Thursday night, which in the winter in Buena Vista is usually a slow night wherever you go. So, still being a little unsure about the place when I was told they had a drink that wasn't on the menu which was a gin drink (I don't remember the name of it), I opted to give that a try, mostly because in general I prefer gin to whiskey. 

I may be letting my 'white-trash' side show a little bit here, but when I drink gin, I usually mix it with Squirt. This drink tasted a little bit like that, but with a little bit of a honey flavor. Not quite as sweet, but it was delicious! And since I've already admitted that I have a 'white trash' side, I may as well admit that I like 'girly drinks' too...

'High Roller'

So, for my second drink I had the 'High Roller' which is whiskey, coconut, pineapple, orange basically it is piña colada-esque. It was very tasty and I can see this becoming a favorite summer standby! After two drinks I was feeling pretty good and had to call it a night. So, I will give you a little heads up, if you ever find yourself at Deerhammer Distilling, the drinks are strong. Later I was talking to a friend and mentioned that I had two drinks, and his comment was that 'you only ever have one drink when you go there, even I know that'. So, yeah, pace yourself!

 

Also if you happen to be in the Arkansas Valley next weekend, check out the Ark Vally Libation Society launch party in Salida.