Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight and a Movie: The Farewell
Many Washingtonians have chosen to retire in Jefferson County, Washington state’s oldest county. Its median age is 58.9 years. Interestingly, Jefferson is the nation’s third-oldest county, among those counties with at least 20,000 residents. The county beautiful and livable in the best ways, and home to Port Townsend, Chimacum, Glen Cove and Fort Worden, just to name a few highlights. Jefferson County is reliably Democratic, which not all Olympic Peninsula counties are. The county is also home to some of the best cideries in the state, including Finnriver Farm & Cidery, Alpenfire Cider and Eaglemount Winery & Cidery. Stop by Peaks and Pints for a flight of the three cideries before or after catching The Farewell at The Grand Cinema at 2:10, 4:30, 7 or 9:15 p.m. Enjoy Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight and a Movie: The Farewell before or after a Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
Finnriver Farm Hand Saison
6.5% ABV
When one of Washington’s earliest cidermakers, Drew Zimmerman, retired, Finnriver Farm & Cidery owners Keith and Crystie Kisler transplanted 1,000 of his trees from Mount Vernon to their Chimacum farm, a heartwarming, if labor-intensive transition from old guard to new. A working farm, Finnriver houses rows of espaliered apple trees, fields of flowers, grazing sheep, and on weekend nights, bands add to the merriment. Farm Hand Saison arises from a Cerevisiae/Brett combo yeast strain that is known for high ester and spice notes in traditional saison beers. The citrus is amplified by a quick infusion of Skip Rock
Distilleries coriander/orange peel heavy gin blend.
Eaglemount Raspberry Ginger
8% ABV
Fourteen years ago, Jim and Trudy Davis founded Eaglemount Winery & Cidery on an original 1883 homestead in the town of Eaglemount on the Olympic Peninsula. Part winery, part cidery, Eaglemount continues the tradition of the original homesteaders by making hard cider with heirloom apple varieties such as Gravenstein, Winesap, White Pippin, Roxbury Russet, and Twenty Ounce, although they also source heirloom varieties from other old homestead orchards on the Peninsula. Seattle wine Awards “Gold Award” winning Eaglemount Raspberry Ginger is just that, raspberries and ginger, in a fragrant, balanced, semi-sweet cider. Nose is strong, with notes of ginger and raspberry. Flavor is interesting, with the ginger upfront, with raspberries in the back.
Eaglemount Aronia Blueberry
8% ABV
Eaglemount hard ciders are made with certified organic or sustainably grown fruit. The fruit comes from their homestead orchard, other homestead orchards in the area, their English and French cider orchard, and from certified organic growers in Washington state. Eaglemount Aronia Blueberry is crafted from certified organic aronia (the anti-oxidant superfruit), blueberries, and heirloom apples. The aronia balances the sweet blueberries.
Alpenfire Spark!
8.9% ABV
Port Townsend cidery Alpenfire creates Spark, a sparkling cider with an unique blend of organic heirloom apples. Varietals grown in Sequim, Washington, such as Melrose and Winter Banana make up 80 percent of the blend while Alpenfire’s estate Brown Snouts, Foxwhelp and Vilberie apples round out the last percent and help give this cider a nice astringent finish. By the way, owners Nancy and Steve “Bear” Bishop, including their son and sales director, Philippe, adore showing people around their orchard, where they grow three French and five English cider apple varieties as well as many heritage and dessert apples.
Eaglemount Brambleberry Burn
8% ABV
Pepper-infused cider happens to be trending, with the season change and with the direction of craft cider to experiment with more flavors and ingredients. Eaglemount Brambleberry Burn adds jalapeños to the blackberry and apple cider for a rich, almost wine-like cider with a mildly spicy jalapeño finish.
