(Bottle) Copper colour with brief, off-white head. Fruity, slightly tannic nose with red apples, spices, oak wood and earth. Fruity taste with bitter red apples, spices, earth, oak wood and a finish with a dry tannic harshness and a mild acidity. Almost full body, with a slight sweetness (but drier than expected). Quite complex and tasty. Nice one.

Bottle at BrewMaster’s Craft Beer Festival. Pours a clear orange with small white head. The aroma is floral, apple, pear skin. Thin body, tart apple, light oak, dry finish, good.

Hazy. Sweet. Tart apple. Light hay. Not a lot of interest. Medium bodied. Decent.

Bottle. Pours a hazy orange with a near white head that dissipates quickly to the edges. Aroma has a good amount of musty apple with some growing sweetness and a hint of oak. Flavor starts slightly sweet but quickly transforms into dry and earthy apples with an oaky backing.

Bottle poured into a snifter. Dark gold with minimal head. Aroma of applez and oak. Taste is the same oaky with crisp tart apples. Dry on the finish. Overall, great.

750 ml corked and caged bottle. Pours hazy orange with a collapsing white soapy head; leaves a ring of big-bubbly foam. The nose on this one is more aromatic than the Iceman I just rated, but it’s still pretty faint. I get apples and the same fresh chopped wood/leather character Iceman had. Taste is tart and savory, a little watery. Has a flavor of apple core. Alcohol presence is much stronger in this one. Astringent. More carbonation on this one, but it’s still not very high. I like the Iceman better, overall, but this isn’t bad.

Bottle. High end presentation with a seemingly artificially inflated alcohol percentage (10% naturally from non concentrated or aided apple must?). Pours very effervescent. Violent carbonation in the glass. Large bubbly white head that floats above a sea of bubbles for several minutes. Bubbles don’t have enough staying power to leave any lace, but still are quite retentive for a cider. Clear, quite bronze tinted golden hue. Pretty deep. Some alcohol legs above the liquid show that there is something of high octane or viscosity in the glass. Aromas are of dry apple, sulfur and a light citrusy zest like acidity, some estery pear like notes, relatively well hidden alcohol. Grassy, light raw oak. Some straw or fresh hay. Flavors are quite boozy, green apple, slightly artificial in its tartness (aided acidity or tannin?), nice and decently complex apple character. Still a bunch of sulfur lingering. Oak tannin and flavor are less noticeable than the alcohol, apple and sulfur. Something feels slightly boosted (dare I say hooch like about it) fleetingly in the aftertaste. Very lively carbonation. Alcohol makes it still seem rich, but it clearly finishes dry. Warming. Interesting. Many positives, but certain elements detract. Acid is strong but nicely balances any ethanol sweetness. Overall a very good cider, but expensive at $17 per bottle.

750 c&c from the Arden BevMo. So 10% without an ice approach? Pours orange gold with a fizzy beige head. Aroma of slightly tart apples with perhaps a hint of oak. Med body at least. It’s fairly tart, lots of crisp apple, and I think some oak astringency. The flavor combined with the unobjectionable heat causes my body to twitch. It really gets astringent and woody. Dry as the proverbial bone. Wine-like characteristics it is.