Uncertain Cider

A rich cider that shifts between juicy and tart.

Body: The deep jammyness of TPA Strawberry as well as the cinnamon and light doughiness imparted by the CAP Cinnamon Danish Swirl combine with the juiciness of the FA Fuji to impart the feeling of a viscous sweet and spicy drink.

Top: The FA Fuji and TPA Strawberry (Ripe) take over here along with some of the bolder notes from the TPA Dragonfruit. To me it ended up feeling like a far too juicy red apple, maybe edging upon a Honeycrisp variant.

Accent: Here the CAP Cinnamon Danish Swirl and FA Lemon Sicily really stand out adding a spicy tartness to the whole. The low level of FA Lemon Sicily helped to boost the fruits with something brighter to bounce off of and it blends beautifully into the cinnamon without giving any taste of lemon.

Process: I started this process rather late so despite my lofty dreams of a perfect 6-ingredient brie en croute I had to shift into more of a shake and vape mentality. I learned early on that Cinnamon Danish Swirl was pretty heavy and while rich flavors are wonderful when done right, being able to finish a tank without gagging kind of trumped that.

In order to get the three flavors to play nice together quickly, as well as emphasize the TPA Strawberry (Ripe), I felt the TPA Strawberry and Dragonfruit were pretty essential for both their high triethyl citrate contents and the depth they would impart to the rather light FA Fuji.

As much as I wanted just these five to work together all the concoctions I came up with ended up rather straightforward and borderline cloying. I played with FA Meringue to help elevate the sweetness and tease the danish out of hiding but it ended up overemphasizing the richer aspects to the point of being cloying or simply not adding enough punch to the pot.

FA Torrone was the one I wanted to work the most in theory, and perhaps after a steep it would but while I found it delightful at first it quickly started taking things over even at .25%.

I settled on my dwindling supply of FA Lemon Sicily and it finally struck the balance I was looking for. I didn’t think it would make it so much like a cider but I suppose focusing so much on the basket makes for a bit of a forest:trees scenario.