But, who’s counting?
If you haven’t guessed by now, this is another entry about alcoholic beverages. I’ve been told I need to drink more. After that pondered parental moment, drinks should be on me. Hell, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.
Also, apologies on the size of that schematic diagram in the previous post; kinda large, eh? Since I am a master of all things technical, I was able to crop it appropriately. (sarcasm intended). In my defense, I was worried the text would be too small if presented otherwise. It’s a great picture; very colorful and very Fall!
answers to random apple inquiries
- Our family apple of choice is the Gala. In my opinion, apples are a bit too gritty in texture. (side note: my wife is an apple snob)
- Apple juice is refreshing. Apple cider is a bit much for me.
- I still love ‘the Mother’ – a shot of Apple Cider Vinegar every day, baby.
- I enjoy the thought of hot, mulled cider, especially this time of year. But the follow-through isn’t there – too sweet.
- When it came time to taste test my first hard cider, I kept it local AND dry. Tasted a bit like Riesling.
Enough about me, on with the … pomace?
That postal pictorial overview was informative. However, I felt more explanation was necessary.
Hard Cider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. The juice of any variety of apple can be used to make cider, but cider apples are best. Cider alcohol content varies from 1.2% ABV to 8.5% or more in traditional English ciders, and 3.5% to 12% in continental ciders
- Apples must be allowed to “sweat”, allowing excess water loss which increases sweetness. In turn, alcohol content rises proportionately.
- Washed apples are ground into pomace.
- During fermentation, sweet cider changes to hard cider, fermented by yeasts. Like beer, fermentation is temperature dependent.
- Champagne yeast is used for most cider ‘hardening’ – it best retains the fresh fruit character of the apple.
- Lastly, the cider is centrifuged, stabilized, and filtered before bottling.
this dude should’ve been a pharmacist
To answer the question posed in my opening comment: Angry Orchards. Apparently, there is an equivalent of two apples in every bottle. Truthfully, I’m not going to argue with the dude in the commercial link below either. I have anger envy. He yells at apples with a bullhorn. The technique is tempting. Though, corporate may have issues with that type of communication skill. I don’t, of course.
now, about that ‘an apple a day‘ shit
I wanted to close with a fun song about Fall or even apples, for that matter. James Taylor recorded October Road . A song appropriately entitled The Apple Cider Song by Darren McCarthy would’ve worked, too. However, neither had the desired core element. The cartoon caricatures in this ‘Bad Apple‘ will definitely … keep the doctor away.
