Top 5 Virginia Ciders - 2026

I know I don't really write very often about cider on here - though of course you know I wrote a book on cider in Virginia, there's a link over there to it if you fancy buying a copy - Christmas is coming and all that. To support the book, I do have a cider only Instagram account, come give it a follow if you are there. That said, a couple of years ago, just before the book came out, I wrote a post listing the 7 best Virginia ciders I drank during my research. For this year's list, I decided to trim that to a top 5, mainly because 5 just seems a more manageable number. As with my Top 10 Virginia Beers posts, this is an entirely subjective list, so if I have missed out your favourite habanero mango dill pickle cider made with Red Delicious, oh well.

Let's dive in then...

5. Potter's Craft Cider: Farmhouse Dry

   This is the cider that launched Potter's Craft into my consciousness over 15 years ago, when it turned up on tap at my main drinking den back then, a place in Charlottesville called Beer Run. These days it is difficult for me to think much past it when Mrs V and I go down to their taproom. "Taproom" really isn't the right word for what is a former Episcopalian (if I remember rightly) church building in the rolling hills of Albemarle County's Piedmont. It is a glorious space, and when a friend's band is playing, there are few things more chill than sitting outside sharing bottles of Farmhouse Dry with the wife. Made with Gold Rush, Albemarle Pippin, and the Old Virginia Winesap, this is a riot of fruit, balanced with a dry acidic finish that just screams "drink more", and I often do. The acidity, at least for me, is something between lemon and Key Lime, and I get very subtle spicy hints in the background, think cinnamon and you're in the right ballpark. Cracking stuff.

4. Big Fish Cider: Virginia Hewes Crab

   Last autumn I did a grand tasting of single varietal ciders from Virginia using just the, allegedly, Virginia Hewes Crab apple. I say "allegedly" because a recent article by David Zakalik and Gregory Peck in the Journal of the American Pomological Society has shown that the "Hewes Crab" trees growing at Jefferson's Monticello are, in fact, not Virginia Hewes Crab, based on DNA analysis of their lineage that includes an apple variety unknown in the United States until long after Jefferson had died. Putting that fact to one side, and focusing on the liquid in the glass, Big Fish's offering here is a wonderful cider, regardless of the actual apple in use. Delightfully floral, like being in a meadow orchard in spring, in aroma, and brightly acidic, coupled with a trace of spice, this is, as I said in the Cider Review article "clean, dry, and leaves you wanting more, lots more".

3. Tumbling Creek Cider: Ruby Red

   Tumbling Creek Cider is located in far away Southwest Virginia, with a taproom in the town of Abingdon, not too far from the state line with North Carolina. It was the first cidery I visited when I was researching my book, and it made an immediate impression. So when my family and I went to Grayson Highlands State Park over the Memorial Day weekend, I made sure we stopped by to stock up. Stocking up turned into an afternoon session with a couple of the owners, Tom and Justin, and the standout cider for me was their experimental batch of Ruby Red. The Ruby Red crabapple, at least in a Virginia context, is unique to a single orchard where it was discovered growing as a seedling. Tumbling Creek made a single varietal with it and it was stellar, dry as a bone, but with a firm tannic body that belied the 9.5% abv, red berries marry with the apple flavour create a cider that is just too easy to polish off a 750ml bottle in a single sitting. Glorious.

2. Daring Cider: Crab Apple Blend

   The first time I had Daring Cider's Crab Apple blend was sitting with owner and cidermaker, Jocelyn Kuzelka, talking about her work for my book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and made a mental note to buy a few bottles so that Mrs V could try it as well. Last autumn, I was invited to speak at a cider festival hosted by the Frontier Culture Museum, and behold Jocelyn was pouring the latest batch of this blend of Virginia Hewes Crab and Ruby Red. Mrs V tried it, loved it, and so we got a few bottles. Being 75% Virginia Hewes Crab, the dominant flavour is noticeably lemon, with with a background of red berries, mainly strawberries from the Ruby Red - a note that is also in the aroma. A gorgeous cider that paired wonderfully with the roast beef we had for our Yule feast back in December.

1. Troddenvale: Malus X Dolgo

   Talking about the winter holiday season...Early in January, I packed the kids and my wife into the car and took the couple of hour drive from central Virginia, down I-81 a bit, and across the mountains, to get to Bath County. It was a fun trip of beautiful countryside, winding roads, and at the end of the journey, Troddenvale Cider at Oakley Farm. A few weeks later, when I went to Norway for work, I took a bottle of Troddenvale's cider with me for the folks I was working with. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but Troddenvale's Dolgo is a cider that blew me away the first time I had it, and it continues to be something I love to drink, especially for the sharp acidity that slices through rich foods as though the barely exist. Sometimes I will say that it is like sucking a lemon and a teabag at the same time, but I mean that positively. Wildly acidic, massively tannic, but also deeply fruity, think strawberries and cranberries, with hints of flower meadows in the mix for fun as well. Troddenvale make a raft of great ciders, but Dolgo just hits the spot for me everytime.

The hardest thing with this list is leaving off so many great cideries, and magnificent ciders, whether that's Albemarle CiderWorks, Buskey, Blue Bee, the list goes on - Virginia is insanely fortunate when it comes to fantastic cider. So if you're interested in learning more about our embarrassment of apple riches, buy a copy of the book, and get out on a journey of discovery. 

Definitely though, don't sleep on any of these five.

Fuggled Virginia Cider of the Year

Turning my attention away from beer for a moment to finish up my booze review of 2025, we come to cider. Specifically, Virginia cider since that is the mainstay of my cider drinking world, and it would be disingenuous of me to have categories for outside of the Commonwealth.

Looking back over my notes for the year, I have also decided to cut back on the number of categories from last year. Out go "Flavoured" ciders and "Pommeau/Strong Cider", not because I haven't had any of those categories, but because I have really only had one of each. As nice as they were, and in the case of the Sage Bird Long Light superb, again it feels a little damning with faint praise to give them their own categories. So we have just the two:

• single varietal
• blended (including co-ferments)

Let's dive in...

Single Varietal

• Malus X Dolgo - Troddenvale, Warm Springs
• Virginia Hewes Crab - Big Fish Cider, Monterey
• GoldRush - Buskey Hard Cider, Richmond

Honorable mentions: Hazy Lady (Winesap) - Ciders from Mars, Staunton; Kingston Black - Sage Bird Ciderworks, Harrisonburg; Royal Pippin (Albemarle Pippin) - Albemarle Ciderworks, North Garden.

I mentioned last year that I could quite easily have had a category for single varietals of Virginia Hewes Crab ciders, but I wrote about that mass tasting for Cider Review recently. The highlight of that tasting, which features 6 examples from around Virginia is also the winner of the single varietal category, the one from Big Fish Cider over the mountains in Highland County. I described the cider as being "a pleasing blend of limes and lemons, set off by a green apple flavour that brings even more brightness" and that it is one "of life's most happy accidents" since the founder of Big Fish had intended to use it in blends, but it was too good not to shine alone. Every trip to Big Fish results in at least half a case of bottles clinking their way over switchbacks to Louisa County, and always, always, always their Virginia Hewes Crab is at least 2 of the 6. A cracking cider from one of my favourite cideries in the state.

Blends/Co-ferments

• House Cider - Troddenvale, Warm Springs
• Crab Apple Blend - Daring Cider, Stuart
• Maven - Ciders from Mars, Staunton

Honorable mentions: Foraged Cider - Troddenvale, Warm Springs; Cidermakers Choice #6 (Harrison and Dabinett) - Albemarle CiderWorks, North Garden; Crabbottom Pippin - Big Fish Cider, Monterey.

Back in November, I was privileged to be asked to speak on an author panel at the inaugural Cider Festival at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton - one of my favourite little cities in the entire world, and a wonderful open air museum too. At the festival there were several of the best cideries in Virginia pouring their wares for visitors. It was a wonderfully civilised way to spend an afternoon. My blended cider of the year was available at the festival, and I made a point to stock up on a few bottles, that may have lasted little more than a weekend. Jocelyn Kuzelka is a cider maker of supreme skill, and it is her Crab Apple Blend that takes the accolades. It is a pretty simple blend, being 75% Virginia Hewes Crab and 25% Ruby Red Crab Apple - a variety that is only found in a single orchard. The blend sings with red fruit notes and a lovely floral character that makes me think of meadows in spring, and there is a delicate sweetness in the background that just keeps it from being too bone shatteringly dry (not that that is a bad thing in my world though).

A pair of quite simply glorious ciders to select a single winner from, and in common with my annual beery review, this is an "award" that comes with no financial gain, or even a certificate to print off and put up on the wall. Both ciders grace my wine/cider fridge regularly, and so it really is difficult to separate them, but given that Big Fish's Virginia Hewes Crab won out in my big summer tasting of single varietals, I am going to given them the plaudits. It is an absolute must buy whenever I head over to Highland County - a gorgeous drive in and of itself - as well as something I will pick up in local bottle shops, and there are few better ways to spend a sunny afternoon, regardless of season, than on the back deck with a bottle or two of Big Fish's finest.

Fuggled Virginia Cider of the Year

Ah...cider, in many ways my first love booze. 

In common with many Brits, or at least the Brits that I grew up with and/or know from my travels, our first sip of booze was cider, proper cider that is, you know with alcohol. Fun fact, under Virginia law there is no such thing as "hard" cider, just fermented apple juice with a maximum abv of 10% abv without "chaptalization" - which is the process of adding sugar to bump up the booze. So...go stick your "hard cider" nonsense where the sun doesn't shine. In Virginia, there is cider and sweet cider (cough, cough, apple juice, cough, cough), nothing hard about it really. 

Anyway, sermon over - the collection plate will be around momentarily - this year my first book was published by Arcadia Publishing, "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History", there's a link in the right rail to the Amazon page where you can buy said book. As a result of the research I undertook for the book, cider has come roaring back into my drinking world - I have always had a few bottles floating around the house, and I make my own from time to time, but today the "wine fridge" that Mrs V bought a couple of years back has been colonised by an ever rotating selection of great ciders from around the Old Dominion.

In trying to decide how to break down my review of Virginia cider for 2024, I figured that the basic classifications I used in the book would be my template, with an addition category for pommeau and strong cider. As such, I'll have a short list of three for the following categories, as well as any honorable mentions:

• Single Varietal
• Apple Blend
• Flavoured
• Pommeau/Strong Cider

I will take the winners of the categories and decide on the Fuggled Virginia Cider of the Year, so let's get started...

Single Varietal

• Malus X Dolgo - Troddenvale, Warm Springs
• Wickson - Albemarle CiderWorks, North Garden
• Kismet - Ciders from Mars, Staunton

Honorable mentions: 21 Bent Mountain - Patois, Charlottesville; Virginia Hewes Crab - Buskey Cider, Richmond; Dabinett - Blue Bee Cider, Richmond; Northern Spy - Big Fish Cider, Monterey; GoldRush - Buskey Cider, Richmond; Harrison - Albemarle CiderWorks, Charlottesville; Virginia Hewes Crab - Albemarle CiderWorks, North Garden.

We have an inordinate number of fantastic single variety ciders being made here in Virginia, and to be honest I could almost have had a separate category for just Virginia Hewes Crab single varieties. As it is, in selecting my short list I chose three ciders that every time I go to, or speak with, the cideries in question I ask if they are available. However, of those three, only one inspired me to add a tree to my little backyard orchard, and so the Fuggled Single Varietal VA Cider of the year is the simply magnificent Malus X Dolgo from Troddenvale. Made with 100% Dolgo crab apples from the mountains of Highland County, this stunningly blush cider looks glorious in the glass, and when you inhale the aroma you get Alpine strawberries, cranberries, and very little foreshadowing of the taste explosion that is about to go off in your mouth, this is a riot of acid with a healthy dose of tannins to bring it back from being like sucking excessively sour lemons. I have a bottle in the fridge that at this point is going to have to wait for a charcuterie project to be finished before opening, maybe a duck prosciutto...

Apple Blend

• Cidermakers Choice #6: Dabinett and Harrison - Albemarle CiderWorks, North Garden
• Crabbottom Pippin - Big Fish Cider, Monterey
• Malice - Winchester Ciderworks, Winchester

Honorable mentions: Charred Ordinary - Blue Bee Cider, Richmond; Farmhouse Dry - Potters Craft Cider; Charlottesville; Wild Meadow - Big Fish Cider, Monterey; Cidermakers Table - Big Fish Cider, Monterey; Crab Apple Cider - Daring Cider Co, Stuart; Comeback Kid - Lost Boy Cider, Alexandria

I still remember the first time I tried the winning cider in the "apple blend" category (I need to think of a better term, but that can wait). Straight from the tank in the cidery where it was aging after primary fermentation, a beautiful crisp early spring day, the sun was shining, and I had a sense then that when it was released I would be enjoying it often. That day was a couple of years ago now, and whenever Mrs V and I make the trip to Albemarle CiderWorks I hope that the Cidermakers Choice #6 is still available, The marriage of the American Harrison and Dabinett from the West Country of England is just about perfection in so many ways, Harrison brings a quince like character with gentle tannins which more than stand up to the astringent black tea notes of the Dabinett. The blend is a complex, multi-layered joy to drink - I think I need to stock up.

Flavoured

• Whitetop Spruced Cider - Tumbling Creek Cider, Abingdon
• Stocking Stuffer - Sage Bird Ciderworks, Harrisonburg
• Sinners Cider - Winchester Ciderworks, Winchester

Honorable mentions: Wassail - Big Fish Cider, Monterey.

As I mentioned in my book, my taste in cider "doesn't so much veer to the dry side as it jackknifes like an 18 wheeler on I-81", and this fact makes ciders with added flavours something of a challenge for me. I have the same challenge in the beer drinking world, I like classic, you could say simple, drinks. That said, as I was researching the book I discovered many ciders with other fruit, vegetable, or even tree flavours that I really enjoyed. The other day I took my family, parents are visiting from the UK, on a little day trip to the Shenandoah Valley specifically to pop into some cideries. That Mrs V fell in love with the winning cider, made up my mind. Stocking Stuffer from Harrisonburg's awesome Sage Bird Ciderworks is simply Christmas in a glass. Flavoured with tangerines, oranges, juniper, and clove, the first time I stuck my nose in a glass of it I was transported, Anton Ego like, to being a kid making clove studded oranges as Christmas decorations, which my own kids had done just a few weeks previously. The oiliness of the citrus peels plays really nicely with the dryness of the base cider itself, so it doesn't become overly sweet, and the clove note is bang on point, present but not omnipresent as clove can so easily be. As long as Zach and co are making Stocking Stuffer, it will be part of our festive season menus.

Pommeau/Strong Cider

• Long Light - Sage Bird Ciderworks, Harrisonburg
• Firecracker - Blue Bee Cider, Richmond
• First Watch - Tumbling Creek Cider, Abingdon

Honorable mentions: Dark Night - Sage Bird Ciderworks, Harrisonburg.

Pommeau is on the verge of becoming something of an obsession for me, a blend of freshly pressed apple juice with apple brandy and then aged in oak barrels, it is a lovely night cap, aperitif, or even digestif, being about 18%. They are great on their own, but also blend with regular strength ciders nicely to make cider cocktails. The winner though of this category is not actually a pommeau, but rather a strong cider, although the cidermaker refers to it as a "sipping cider". When Mark the photographer and I drove down to Abingdon in the far south west of Virginia for a booking signing event at Tumbling Creek Cider's taproom, Justen brought over a bottle of First Watch for us to try, and explained the production process. Taking inspiration from how maple syrup is made, Tumbling Creek reduced the pressed apple juice before fermentation, resulting in a 15% abv "sipping" cider that is so focused and punchy in its flavours it's all too easy to polish off a whole bottle, especially sat by the fire. It is the luxuriant drink that demands comfortable surroundings.

How on earth do I make this decision then? Four fantastic ciders that I am always more than happy to drink, and I recommend you all go and hunt them down, whether that's online or getting to the cideries themselves for them, as I would with every cider and ciderworks mentioned in this post, we really are spoilt when it comes to cider in Virginia. But I will insist on deciding on an overall Fuggled Virginia Cider of the Year, a prize unencumbered by financial considerations, and so the inaugural winner is Cidermakers Choice #6: Dabinett and Harrison from Albemarle CiderWorks - a stunning cider from the cidery that I consider both the standard and flagbearer of real cider in Virginia, and even beyond.

Cidery of the Month: Blue Bee Cider, Richmond

A couple of posts ago, I produced a list of what I think are the best 7 ciders I have had in the last 12 months, many of them discovered as part of my research for my book, "Virginia Cider - A Scrumptious History", which you can pre-order by clicking the cover in the right rail there.

As I pondered the many, many ciders that could have made that list, seriously people Virginia is a hotbed of great cider at the moment, I decided that I needed to highlight more cideries on here, especially as cider becomes even more of a regular tipple. There would be but one rule, that I have to have visited said cidery in the month in question, any way...onwards.

I mentioned in the post about the 7 best ciders that my recent visit to Blue Beer Cider in Richmond was off the cuff, and also the first time I had been since meeting with co-owner Mackenzie on a dreich November day when the building was still an empty shell. For those curious about the name, Blue Bee is named for the blue orchard bee, a native species of bee that is a more efficient pollinator that the invasive honeybees imported from Europe by the early colonists.

Now that Blue Bee are back up and running in their new location, very conveniently placed close to I-64 for those us who don't live in Richmond, it was great to see the spruced up interior, with comfortable seating, high tables, and a beautiful bar space. I will be honest, I don't recall how many ciders were on tap the day that we swung by, but they offer both flights of 4 ciders as well as cider by the glass. Mrs V decided to do a flight, while I grabbed a glass of Harrison, one of the workhorse cider apples in Virginia.

Even though I am primarily a beer drinker, in common with most Brits I know cider is always something we are happy to delve on into, and single varietal Harrisons are often a delight. Blue Bee's weighs in at 8.5% is decidedly dry - yay, I love a bone dry cider - with a subtly tannic character that give the cider beautiful structure and a lingering finish that practically demands you drink more. In terms of flavours, I mostly got tropical fruit with some zingy orange peel, which put me in mind of my mum's pastry recipe for our Yuletide mince pies, if you've never zested citrus peels into short crust pastry for sweet pies you are missing out.

Next up was another single varietal, this time an apple more associated with the West Country in England, Dabinett. Rather than repeat myself from the previous post I have reference a couple of times, here is what I wrote about Dabinett:

"The star though for me was their single varietal Dabinett cider, made from the eponymous bittersweet apple from the West Country in England. Pouring a golden colour, the nose was spicy with hints of vanillin, weird reference here perhaps but my kids are big fans of vanilla and cinnamon yoghurt, and that was what popped into my mind straight off the bat. That sweet spiciness carries on it the taste realm as well, but joined by some heavily hitting apple flavours - think apple pie made with wildflower honey. Being a bittersweet, the tannins add a lovely structure and depth to the cider that stop it from being overly zingy in the finish."

By this point I was deep in conversation with Mackenzie and fellow co-owner Taylor, Mrs V had joined us and the conversation and cider was fairly flowing. It was almost like being in the most convivial country pub you can imagine, though being in very urban Richmond. I continued to work my way through the draft offerings, and in my time honored approach not really taking any notes, but just reveling in the aromas and flavours of good cider. It never ceases to amaze just how much diversity there is in something as seemingly simple and ubiquitous as the apple, and likewise that so few varieties are available in the store, and the majority of them overly sweet to my taste.

One thing I have discovered by virtue of the research side of writing my book is that I love pommeau, a mix of apple brandy and freshly pressed sweet cider, so of course I was going to try Blue Bee's two offerings. Firecracker is made with Gold Rush apples and infused with ginger, while Harvest Ration harkens back to pre-industrial times when an agricultural worker's pay was partially paid in cider and brandy, the former to keep you hydrated, the latter to deal with the aches and pains of a hard life. It was while sipping on the Firecracker, which in and of itself is stunning that I had a mad idea, and thankfully the folks at Blue Bee were willing to let me try...putting a measure of Firecracker in a glass of Harvest Party, a blend created by their cider club. It was an absolute knock out, and when the heat of Virginia finally dies off (hurry up please), you bet I'll be creating it as a nightcap to hopefully rain sodden days.

Having stocked up with bottles of more single varietals, including a Yarlington Mill that I am particularly looking forward to tucking into soon, we headed home knowing that when we make it down to Richmond, Blue Bee will certainly be high on our list of places to visit.

Top Seven Virginia Ciders - 2024

Just in case you didn't see my various socials last week, my first book is being published on October 21st and is now available for pre-order on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble for those who don't care to give more money to Amazon. 

The book is called "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History" and looks at the development of cider in Virginia from the earliest days of European colonisation to the present, with a particular focus on the people making cider in Virginia today, as well as a glimpse of where they feel the industry is headed in the immediate future. Researching the book meant several weekends driving the highways and byways of Virginia, from the Blue Ridge mountains in the far Southwest to the Atlantic coast in the east, taking in the Allegheny Highlands, Shenandoah Valley, and the Piedmont along the way, as well as cities like Richmond, Alexandria, and of course Charlottesville. Virginia has a long, and hopefully continuing history of being a cider making region, and it was a pleasure to get out and meet the folks making it around the state.

Having travelled many, many miles, and drunk many, many ciders, I decided that in addition to my annual Top Ten Virginia Beers post, I would start a Top Seven Virginia Ciders equivalent. As with the beer post though, this is again thoroughly subjective and really about the ciders I enjoyed the most, emphasis being "I", so lets go on shall we...

1. Troddenvale: 2021 Special Edition No. 12

Having spent time speaking with Will and Cordelia at Troddenvale, having a tour of their orchard that contains several apple varieties from Spain and France as well as classic American cider apples, it was time to indulge in a little sampling of the wares, including this 100% Dolgo crabapple cider. My first thought as I looked at the deeply rosé copper liquid in the glass, which you can just about make out in the picture above, was that this was possibly the darkest cider I had seen before, or at least the darkest without the addition of others fruits or flavorings. Sticking my nose in the glass I was overwhelmed by masses of strawberry and cranberry aromas, vaguely hinting at the acid attack that was to come. Those strawberry and cranberry notes were definitely there in the drinking, but this time they were smacking a huge acid punch, as if the fruit had been layered in sherbet and lemon juice. I think I may have taken a step back in amazement at the complexity and structure of this simply stunning expression of a single apple variety. Such was the impact of this cider that I now have a Dolgo tree in my own little backyard orchard. Yes, this is a cider that is as bone dry as you can imagine, and yes it has a puckering tannic kick to it, but that fruit flavour comes with a hint of sweetness that fends it off from being like drinking straight malic acid. Being such a flavor bomb, it simply demands to be paired with foods that can more than stand up to it, the farmhouse cheddar in the picture for example - Black Cow Cheddar from Dorset in England - or the sweet fattiness of duck breast prosciutto.

2.  Albemarle CiderWorks: Wickson Crab

The Wickson crab apple has a delightfully spicy acidity that to my mind makes it a dream of a cider apple. On the nose there is a subtle lemon note, with the spiciness adding depth reminiscent of lemongrass. The tropical theme continues in the flavour department too as notes of melons, pineapple, and kiwi swirl around, the finish is dry and zingy, brining everything into a laser sharp focus that is deeply refreshing. I will be honest and admit to having caned an entire bottle in a nonic pint glass other the course of about...oh, half an hour or so, yeah I'm a fan.

3. Big Fish Cider: Highland Scrumpy

The first time I went to Big Fish Cider, over the mountains and and far away in Highland County, was for Mrs V's annual trip to her fiddle teacher's traditional music camp, aka "fiddle camp". At the time, Mrs V was pregnant with the twins, and my best mate Dave was along for the ride as well as his wife any took lessons from the same teacher back then, and their son was all of 6 weeks old at this point. While the lady folks were playing fiddle, Dave and I took the opportunity to wander over to Big Fish and sample the wares, it was love a first sip and to this day whenever I get to Monterey I get a couple of bottles of Highland Scrumpy, a blend of locally grown mountain apples, many with no known name. Pouring a clear golden colour, the aroma is that of summer apple meadows with a hint of pear blossom. Tastewise, you know there are plenty of crab apples in the blend as that acidic bite chomps its way through the gentle sweetness to leave you craving more.

4. Buskey Cider: Virginia Hewes Crab

Virginia Hewes Crab is basically the state apple of Virginia, though the state doesn't actually have an official "state apple". Grown since at least the 1760s and a popular cider apple ever since, Virginia Hewes Crab is a wonderful combination of acid, tannin, and sugar, that makes a superb cider, that in the hands of Buskey Cider produces a rich yellow cider, that to my brain smells distinctly floral with a tropical fruit - think pineapple - edge. I find Buskey's version of a Virginia Hewes Crab cider also has notes of lime peel, strawberries, and a hint of Sekel pear in the background, finishing with that classic dry zing of crab apple ciders. It is no wonder it won a gold medal at the 2023 Governor's Cup.

5. Blue Bee Cider: Dabinett

The first time I visited Blue Bee Cider in Richmond was with Mark, and they were in the process of moving to a new venue, with all the decorating and building work yet to be done. Last weekend though, I was in Richmond to drop off my entries for the Dominion Cup homebrew competition and we discovered that Blue Bee was just round the corner from where we were having lunch, so Mrs V and I took the decision to pop round. Well, popping round turned into trying every single cider they had available, a couple of them several times, and even doing a little mixing and matching of ciders with pommeau - it was one of the most agreeable afternoons ever. The star though for me was their single varietal Dabinett cider, made from the eponymous bittersweet apple from the West Country in England. Pouring a golden colour, the nose was spicy with hints of vanillin, weird reference here perhaps but my kids are big fans of vanilla and cinnamon yoghurt, and that was what popped into my mind straight off the bat. That sweet spiciness carries on it the taste realm as well, but joined by some heavily hitting apple flavours - think apple pie made with wildflower honey. Being a bittersweet, the tannins add a lovely structure and depth to the cider that stop it from being overly zingy in the finish. There is not a lot of this cider left, so if you are in the area, pop by and buy some before it is all gone.

6. Ciders from Mars: Shady Lady

Made 100% from that workhorse of the American cider world, Harrison, Shady Lady from Staunton's Ciders from Mars pours a rich, honeyed gold and looks just gorgeous in the glass. The nose is lots of stone fruits, such as peaches and nectarines, all with the floral quality in the background that kind of reminded me of my own orchard in spring. The stone fruit is the star in the tasting as well, this time with some berry notes that immediately put me in mind of lingonberries, all leading to a sharpy, citrus zing in the finish. 

7. Sage Bird Ciderworks: Stocking Stuffer

Being honest, flavoured alcoholic drinks, whether cider, beer, or mead, are something I tend to shy away from, but the idea of a winter seasonal cider infused with juniper and tangerine just appealed to me - and to be frank everything Mark and I drank at our evening session in Harrisonburg was superb too. Why then did this one stand out? It rounded off my Yuletide drinking, after our traditional feast of hot smoked salmon, gratin potatoes, and various other rich goodies perfectly - especially as we didn't crack open the traditional plum pudding. The spice in Stocking Stuffer more than made up for that oversight, with hints of clove, allspice, and cinnamon to the fore and the subtle sweetness of tangerine peel lurking in the background. It had me thinking of the once grand tradition of studding oranges with cloves and hanging them around the house for Yule. Not overly sweet, but a sipper by the fire for sure.

It's really hard to highlight just seven from the many superb ciders I have had in the last 12 months, and the likes of Winchester CiderWorks Malice, Lost Boy Cider's Cellar Series - Small Apples, Sly Clyde Ciderworks' Subversive, Daring Cider Company's Crab Apple Cider, Patois Cider and several more would all have graced this list.

House Rules?

Blimey, it's been a while since I posted, these things happen from time to time, you know how it is...

Anyway, a few weekends ago I was touring cideries as research for a book I am writing about the cider industry in Virginia, scheduled for release next year. One of the places I visited, with my long time collaborator, photographer, and all round good bloke, Mark, was Troddenvale Cider.

Troddenvale Cider is located on the historic Oakley Farm, owned and run by husband and wife duo, Will and Cornelia. The farm is set in some of the most glorious countryside that we have in Virginia, deep in Bath County, among the valleys and mountains that form the Blue Ridge. To say I reveled in the drive from Lexington to Warm Springs would have been an understatement.

Coming from a wine background, Will and Cornelia approach cider from the viewpoint of it being the highest expression of the fruit that they press, and as such they are insanely patient as their pressings ferment and age in wooden barrels for months, and even years at a time. Their orchard, just a few years old but already producing apples for the press, contains several French and Spanish cider apple varieties as well as many of the American standards.

Their tasting room, and to be honest that term is simply insufficient for the delightful space where they serve their ciders, it really reminded me far more of a country pub, is a charming space that if we didn't have an appointment in Monterey, Virginia to get to, I could have happily sat in all day drinking their stunning cider. When time allows I will be taking Mrs V over the mountains for a tip.

While it is true that the single varietal made from Dolgo Crab Apples that is in the picture above was an absolute revelation - puckeringly dry, intensely fruity, with aromas of strawberry and cranberry, and it goes absolutely stonkingly with a West Country farmhouse cheddar (shock, horror, right?), I have been thinking about the "House Cider" since that trip.

More specifically I have been thinking about something Will said about their House Cider. Given their oenological background, Will lamented that the term "house" has come to mean the most basic wine on offer, something almost cheap and cheerful, but decidedly not excellent. His aim with House Cider is to be the exact opposite, to be the very best that Troddenvale puts out, and it is a magnificent cider, easily up there with the best being made in Virginia today, no I didn't take notes, I was too busy enjoying it.

This got me thinking about the concept of "house" products when it comes to beer. We quite often use the term "house beer" in homebrewing circles to refer to something that we brew regularly, but I don't recall a brewery, at least not in my neck of the woods, hanging their entire reputation as a brewery on a single "house" beer. Is it perhaps that modern beer drinkers are constantly on the hunt for the new, or is it a case of fear of missing out by not pushing every possible style out the door in case the crowds choose to go somewhere else?

I feel as though the concept of a "house beer" is distinct from flagship beers in the sense that flagships are often based on commercial decisions. Plenty of breweries come out the door with their flagship beers and as commercial reality bites they often change. Flagships are more often than not just the best selling beers a brewery offers.

Quite often in interviews with brewers, and I have done this myself, we ask the question "what is your favourite beer that you brew?" Invariably there follows some umming and ahhing, mutterings of chosen your favourite child, before a beer is chosen. Perhaps a better question would be "what is you house beer?" as in, which of your brews is the one that is the highest expression of you as a brewer, of the business that is your brewery? Which one would you stake your entire reputation on?