As you set your sights and stomach on your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day feast; consider cranberries. No doubt you’re thinking roast beef or roast ham, mashed taters, glazed carrots, stuffing pigs in a blanket, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, and Yorkshire pudding, but don’t forget the most important condiment: cranberry hard cider. You should have saw that coming. After all, it’s Monday, which means Peaks & Pints suggests a cider flight to-go. Cider has roots in the holidays after all — going back to the Middle Ages, people would go wassailing to orchards in the English countryside, chanting recitations in hopes of spurring a good harvest in the coming year. And many cranberry ciders find a way to the market during the holiday season, including the ones we chose for our to-go flight, Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight: Cranberry.
Peaks and Pints Monday Cider Flight: Holiday Cranberry
Portland Crangerine
5.1% ABV
Portland Cider Company released Crangerine for the holiday season. A medium sweet, crimson cider, Crangerine highlights tart and juicy tangerines complemented by fruity Oregon-grown cranberries. The citrus zest of the tangerines interacts with the fruitiness of the rich red cranberries for a playful spin on a fall classic.
Incline Cranberry
6.5% ABV
When poured in a glass, Incline Cider Cranberry looks like a serving of cranberry juice. And first taste certainly tricks you into thinking you’re drinking hard juice — of course, because that’s what cider is — but tartness doesn’t overwhelm the drink. This is a well-balanced cider made with 100 percent apple juice infused with real cranberry juice and a hint of key lime for a bright and slightly tart cider.
Finnriver Cranberry Rosehip
6.5% ABV
Cranberry sauce is an essential part of every holiday meal for one simple reason — it cuts through the heaviness of all the other dishes. It’s light, it’s bright, and it’s pretty darn healthy. Finnriver Farm & Cidery’s version is a small batch seasonal cider fermented to dry and then blended with the juice of transitional and organic cranberries from the Washington coast’s Starvation Alley Farm. Head Cidermaker Andrew Byers then adds an infusion of wild rosehips gathered from woods and hedges around the Olympic Peninsula. Sweetened with unrefined organic cane sugar for added depth and balance, this holiday cider is lightly carbonated.
Yonder Cashmere
6.9% ABV
Yonder Cider’s winter seasonal Cashmere, is inspired by one of their favorite cocktails, the Negroni. Made with tart cranberry, dark cherry and a hint of bitter orange, Cashmere hits the nose with orange peel and berry, pairing beautifully with notes from one of their favorite cider apples, Ashmead’s Kernel.
Yonder Velvet Cashmere
8.9% ABV
To ring in the holiday season, Yonder Cider grabbed their Negroni-inspired winter seasonal — Cashmere — and blended it with Fast Penny Spirits’ Amaricano amaro. Tart with notes of cranberry, dark cherry and bitter orange, the addition of amaro brings a beautiful richness to this cocktail-like creation. Aromas of toasted sugar and dark fruit shine through while hints of truffle, vanilla bean and Mexican chocolate mingle with a savory bitterness.
Tieton Cranberry Cider
6.9% ABV
If you dig sweet and tart flavors, then Tieton Hard Cider’s Cranberry Cider is for you. The Yakima Valley cidery blends fresh pressed cranberry juice into an already upbeat blend of fermented apples for fruit and spice on the nose. The taste is semi-sweet apples and tart cranberry with warm spices. The finish is medium to long tart and astringent.
LINK: Peaks & Pints cooler inventory
