SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Seamus from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Bottle form their cider cellar sale. Week in the fridge, probably not quite settled. Lo-ball glass @home. Strong pour. Dusty gold, wisp of lingering lace, otherwise still. Smells of random macerated fruits, leaning orange/lemon/kiwi/white grape/crab apple. All very mild, but the total effect is perfume-y. Dominate sour, very gummy, punchy acid, lemon peel, cider vinegar. Bit tired of vinegar. Oxidation, but little funk. Lingering table grapes. Tastes like an apple-grape hybrid but isn't. Creamy finish. Itchy, good carbonation, strong for the abv, not quite dry. Good with food, okay as is.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Good Night Charlie from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5
Bottle from the cider club thingie. Only grabbed one bottle this time. Two days in the fridge, who cares about clarity. Low-ball @ home. It's just a good glass. Dusty more so than cloudy. Tan, opaque cider with a ring of lace. Smell is bittersharp apples, heavy bubblegum, epoxy, saltwater. A heavy, still fermenting sort of scent. Twangy apples, salt, banana, papaya, melon, kiwi. Fruity, but messy flavor. I don't taste the Oak beneath all this. Sidra/Wild/Funk/Amateur. Very unsettled, partially my fault. Mild to okay carbonation at first, but it quickly drops. Milky. Bit strong for the moderate ABV. Doable, but glad I only bought one bottle.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Nirvana from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle from Shacksbury's cellar sale. Two days in the fridge. Lo-ball glass @home. Drinking now before they start to pile up. Foaming neck that doesn't want to become a casualty. Nice, slow, lurking head. Cloudy orange gold. Hearty. Could be good. Fresh fruit, tin, sand, melon, saltwater. Taste is bittersweet stone fruit with some residual sweetness. Sharp, lightly sour, mildly tart, lots of apple peel. Very minor ripe funk. Some vinegar. Noticeable sulfites. Soap. Floral apples & skin on the finish. Not quite done fermenting? Thick, crispy, more sharp than sour, strong for 6%. American Sidra. Low burn. Pretty good.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Down To Earth from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Clear bottle from their cider club while writing out Christmas cards to all of those we love, but maybe don't really want to visit much. Lo-ball glass @home. Dull gold body. Two months of settling & a few weeks of chill haven't done squat. Smells like botanical, infused apple cider vinegar with a touch of vanilla on the tail. Appalachian hippies love this shit. Hard citrus burn & tart apples dominate. Sour orange, lemon, salt, gum, yeasties, lingering orange oil. It all hides some of the robust vinegar that I'm getting a little tired of. Though this is the strongest orange-related infusion I can remember. Good carbonation, yeastatic, okay booze. Just okay. Maybe deserves a less bias revisit.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Twig from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Clear bottle from their cider club. Stemless wine glass @home. Orange wine sorta color. Golden, but not perfectly clear. Nose is earth, aerosol, bubblegum, lots of pepper. A little unique. Lots of bubblegum, bittersharp apples, cherry & vinegar. Bright. Vinegar fades somewhat, leaving tannic apple skin. Very vinegary regardless. Light but forceful carbonation, not absolutely settled, fumey alcohol. Just okay.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Hunt + Alpine from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Bottle from their cider club. A two months on the shelf, two months in the fridge. Still not quite settled. Not waiting any longer. Tasty pint glass @home. Caked yeast all in the neck, some still on the bottom, some floating dead center of the bottle. Yellow on orange body. Beautiful & unexpected eggshell head that takes it's time settling. Smells of warm, baked apples, sharp & sweet. More rum-ish than whiskey to my nose. Pucker tart, lightly sweet, half sour apples pickled in cider vinegar. Lemon, sour orange, typical sour flavors. Booze is very subtle, but it's there as you breathe in & out. End is a little bready/yeasty, with soft vanilla & sulfites. It starts to build & stick to you by the second pour. Prickly, but otherwise soft carbonation. Not sparkling(it fails here). Obviously textured/yeasty, with a very warm & gentle barrel. Eat some cheese first. A bit too sour, but good.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Steep from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle from their cider club. A couple months settling, a couple more weeks in the fridge. Low-ball glass @home. Clear, purple on ruby color in bottle, pours more like a muddled sunset cocktail of red grapefruit & grape juice. Deep concord grape scent. Bubblegum, tart apples, licorice-y Thai basil. Tart Sidra, heavy on the fleshy, dark grapes. Beaujolais fruitiness, mild open-air funk. Lime juice sourness. Not much actual sweetness. Herbs are lost to me mostly, that's fine. Spotty, very low, weak carbonation. Would have appreciated more bubbles. Textured, settled but unfiltered. Warming alcohol that's unoffensive. Fun. Reminded me of Enlightenment Wines Dagger mead.
djd07 (28882) reviewed Dry from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Can. Pours golden with medium white head. The aroma is apple, pear, oak. Thin body, apple, oak, light tartness, crisp finish, good.
SaltyGrog (4618) reviewed Luna from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9
Cloudy bottle from their cider club. Two months of settle time in the fridge did it good. Low-ball glass @home. Slightly dull, but clear gold pour. Sharp, grape-y, cider vinegar, fat, bitter greens. Strong overall scent. Sharp, spicy, lots of parsley. Lots of grape skin. Apples are recognizable as Spanish, with a solid amount of dryness, funk, onion & bubblegum. No info on the bottle if this is wild fermented. Vinegar is low but noticeable. Yeasties give some faded orange flavor on the second pour. Grapes feel like they are heavy & not just a delicate afterthought. Lingering skin on tannins. Second night might have been slightly more bitter. Shacksbury has used these same grapes multiple times, but there's more acidity here than in any of the previous bottles, & I always lean towards that. ABV is a hard 9.5%, maybe more. Not thin, not a Slurpee. Drinkability is naturally high because of taste/want, but gets lower because of potency. I did not want to drink this all in one sitting, but maybe I could. Very tasty. Cheers.
djd07 (28882) reviewed Arlo from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
On tap at Pinthouse Round Rock. Pours a hazy yellow with no head. The aroma is apple skin, citrus, straw. Slick body, green apple, citrus, light dry finish, good.