Bottle from New Beer. Hard pour into a shaker pint. Filtered orange/amber brown body. Flash of off-white head. Decided to pay attention on the second pour, & sediment was swirled around as directed. Smell is apple sauce & coco powder. Earthy. Slight banana esters. Different, but so far not ugly. Taste is a lot like a black velvet(cider/stout blend), heavy on the cider. Sharp, bitter sweet start. Ugly buttery middle. Heavy on the molasses. Glue. Stoutly, bitter chocolate & yeasty finish that dries out gradually. Too sweet overall though. Strong carbonation. Slippery feel. An interesting idea that almost worked.

Bottle from Whole Foods - Short Pump on 10/31/2010. Cloudy dark amber body with a medium fizzy tan head. Huge molassas and brown sugar aroma with some light apple and caramel notes. Sweet molassas flavor, some brown sugar, caramel, light apples, slight nuttiness and a touch of astringency. Medium full body with moderate carbonation.

Not terrible, but I wouldn’t really want another. Lots of maple syrup sweetness. A bit sticky. A bit low on carbonation. The sour green apple flavor is nice, but I think it’d be tastier without the syrup. Tannin-ish bitterness. It’s just too sweet and maple-y. It’s nteresting but doesn’t really work for me.

Rubber and apple aroma, with molasses overtones. Muddy ochre. Overripe apples, still quite rubbery. Nice body. Light molasses finish. Very unusual cider, doesn’t appear to be particularly well made, but I like the concept.

Bottle from the Co-Op in Davis, CA. Pours a very hazy dark amber/brown. Aromas of very ripe apple skins and treacle. Near medium body. Flavor is lightly appleskin with some supporting treacle. All very moderate - neither light nor heavy. Drinks much like a low carbonation ale. And despite the treacle the skin bitter balances. Very much worth a try. Drinks way too easy.

Bottle from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA, opened 10/1/10. Pours a very dark hazy amber color with a thin fizzy head. Aroma of caramel and apples with a tart, earthy finish. The taste is molasses, apples, earthy notes and a bitter nutty finish. Medium bodied.

Bottle with much thanks to ltdan.
Pours with a relatively dark (for a cider) and murky amber-orange body with little sign of carbonation. Much less clarity here than most commercial ciders (even from Crispin, although I remember two of the other Reserve Ciders being a bit cloudy). Looks closer to a real homebrew cider that hasn’t been filtered or fined. The dark shade is definitely different.
Aromas of honey, powerful earthy molasses note, plastic, and a variety of yeast based esters. A bit of banana foster. Bready and sweet. Not too much vibrant or acidic apple aromas.
Flavors of yeast esters, apple, molasses, caramel, raisins, sweetened apple juice. A bit of vanilla and banana as well.Somewhat of a short duration. A bit too sweet for my tastes in cider. Doesn’t border cloying like some of the other ciders Crispin makes, but it is still too sweet for my taste. I would imagine that it is back sweetened some how, or the fermentation was halted and then it was forced carbonated.
A pretty big body on this cider, that accompanies the residual sweetness. It is not off putting in the slightest, but it is different than the traditional and drier French and English styles. Thankfully the carbonation is not over the top, just the right amount of spritz to keep things enjoyable.
All around this cider is a unique take on the beverage, and pretty enjoyable to drink. That said, I wish it were a couple of points drier.