Recently I made a trip to Seattle with some friends to attend another friend’s wedding. Beyond the wedding, we made a point to visit a handful of local breweries, and one afternoon made our way to local cidery, Schilling.
Schilling uses 100% fresh-pressed Washington apples to make its cider, and its attention to details shows in their final products. They’ve got a pretty interesting lineup on draft at their taphouse, all with an amazing apple flavor and a few unique twists to set them apart.
Our group of six managed to make our way (in flight form) through the majority of the menu. My fave of the ones I tried was Ascender Ginger. I’ve recently been on a huge cider kick, and I’m a sucker for ginger in my cocktails …so this one was pretty much made for me.
The cider is made with fresh-pressed apple juice and ginger puree. That’s it.
The cider has an aroma of fresh ginger, and from the first sip you get a lot of that ginger on the palette, but not overwhelmingly so. Think of it as the ginger level of your standard ginger ale rather than a ginger beer. It;s good, but not overpowering.
That ginger flavor is beautifully layered on top of the apple juice to make this one take almost more like a cocktail than a draft cider.
Schilling cans this one, so if you see it out (or happen to find yourself in Seattle) you should definitely grab one.
Brewery: Schilling
City: Seattle, Washington
Style: Cider
ABV: 6.5%
Availability: Yearound; Draft, can