During my late-college and post-college years, I was never a big fan of hard ciders. Most of the ones I had tried – Woodchuck, Magners, Angry Orchard – had a sharp tartness to them that seemed to linger in the back of my throat for hours. I would have a cider and then want to spit excess acid out for the next hour or two. Not being a big fan of that experience, I put ciders down for quite a while.
Now, though, there’s such a thing as craft cider, and most of it is actually exceptional. New Hampshire is even pumping out quite a bit of craft cider these days, so for this Apples Issue I wanted to go and try one. Naturally, I ended up at Dos Amigos Burritos, where I knew they had a few ciders in stock.
I ordered a pint of North Country Cider Company’s Firestarter, the only cider Dos had on tap. In the glass it looked a lot like a typical lager – golden, mostly transparent, slightly bubbly. The last craft cider I had tried was very cloudy and yellow in color, so this was quite a change.
The first sip really blew me away. I was expecting something called Firestarter to be very bitey, but it was just the opposite. This cider is very sweet, mellow and soft. It actually tastes an awful lot like apple pie, only lighter. There are obvious cinnamon notes in there that really make this a flavorful drink. At 5 percent alcohol by volume, it sits right in that happy zone of not too strong, not too weak.
If you want to try a delicious, spicy, sweet hard cider, try a Firestarter by North Country Hard Cider Company.
