Sonoma

EVER THE PURIST, David approached pear cider cautiously. Often cloyingly sweet, he deemed few worthy of the Sonoma Cider name. So the bar was set at: balance, nuance, intensity or not at all. Contrasting crisp and creamy, aromatic and tart, he added all-natural pear flavors to Sonoma’s distinct small-apple blend until he found something genuine, with real cider integrity. Pitchfork is our happy ending. It’s an apple connoisseur’s pear cider, hand-crafted with organic apples and a measured infusion of pear essence. It’s both intense and balanced, greeting you with the distinct aromas of both fruits. We’re convinced its fresh play of flavors, crisp start and creamy pear finish will inspire a fan club all its own. With David, the skeptic, presiding. Bottom’s up.

David and Robert both love bourbon. We mean love bourbon. Maybe that’s why they didn’t beat around the bush here. Sure, you can age subtly in bourbon barrels. And subtlety is sometimes enough. But, with the Anvil, the real spark ignited when we tossed nuance aside and added a healthy measure of our proprietary barrel-proof bourbon flavor. Suddenly, something intense, alive and memorable happened. To our palates, it offers a clean, lively, aromatic presence with a layered smoky finish. It’s truly integrated and rounded, yet vitally distinct. Enjoy.

AH, A PARADOXICAL CASE of small = large. After decades of tinker, tweak, improvise and analyze, David honed in on a surprising insight: size matters. Smaller organic apples simply yield bigger, more intense flavors. And so, The Hatchet was born. Intensity behind us, the subtle work of balance and nuance began. Using a unique blend of native organic apples, we handcraft each batch to bring out fresh, ripe apple aromas, carefully pairing sweet and tart varietals to ideal effect. The result is a clean, refreshing hard cider with noticeable complexity and a lively finish. All hail the little things. To our tastes, there’s simply more going on in here. Cheers.

Surely there was an easier way to go about this – at least that’s what we were thinking as we looked at the hundreds of pounds of organic Sarsaparilla root we needed to make The Washboard. Our first task – getting the Sarsaparilla root from its bark-like form into smaller pieces (this helps more of the Sarsaparilla flavor to come through). Our poor old school kitchen blender was hardly up for this task, but when it was done we steeped an apple cider blend with the Sarsaparilla and a touch of vanilla. This combination gives the cider a mild earthy flavor, offset by warm, creamy notes of vanilla and caramel. The final product – The Washboard – is herbaceous and dry with a long lasting creamy finish that is reminiscent of rootbeer without the sweetness.