SaltyGrog (4703) 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 (4703) 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.
SaltyGrog (4703) reviewed Deer Snacks V from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
Cans from Shacksbury. Highball @home. Murky green tea gold. Tart, prickly nose. Sour pickle. Sweet kiwi. Soggy flowers. It honestly smells good. Taste is a less intense Sidra. Less off-dirty funk, more saturated apple & plenty of citrus acidity. Just under seriously dry. No rubber, maybe some negligible plastic off flavors. Yeasty, papaya-ish lingering finish. Better than last year's. Prickly, strong carbonation, yeasty feel, parching tacky end. Good.
SaltyGrog (4703) reviewed Light from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
Relatively cheap 12 pack direct from Shacksbury. Lowball glass @home. Clear, amber gold. Color is darker than I expected. Bit of a candied pineapple whiff off the top. Sweet juice box apple. Taste is bitter apple, then green apple candy tartness, with a lingering tropical essence alongside that initial bitterness. Maybe a hint of vanilla if it gets warm. Sulfites. Might be in my head. I saw natural flavors listed & now I'm getting all these ideas. I reached out & asked. Will edit when I hear back. Moderate carbonation, not completely dry, touch of yeastiness, feels stronger than the listed 4.2%. Meh. I will admit that a dry, low abv cider that's actually good, seems difficult to make from the outside looking in.
SaltyGrog (4703) reviewed Radicle Apple from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle from the club. A week or so settling in the fridge, since Shacksbury ships some of the bottles upside down. Lots of yeast in the neck to shake loose, paper labels get all torn up, occasional leakage, always an adventure. The cans they ship though, in awesomely secure & innovative, minimalist boxes. Slurped @home in a stemless wine glass. Dark, peachy yellow, still faintly jellied brew. Yeast, cream, wild flowers, apple cider vinegar, wet leaves. Taste at first was very much Sidra. It seemed like it just needed to breathe some. Subdued wild notes give way to a very yeasty/baked still fermenting scrumpy character. It's still juicy sweet, with good acid, but subdued tartness. Light plastic. Lingering leafy bitterness & a smaller vinegar footprint that dries out till there's just intense apple-y acid left in your throat. Carbonation is very meek, almost as if the bottles aren't ready. Chewy, despite the yeast drop, ABV seems on point. Not crazy about it, but it drinks fresh.
SaltyGrog (4703) reviewed Doubles from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Drank 11 of these before I noticed my local was out & FOMO got me to write some notes down. We got a few four packs direct from Shacksbury before these dropped in stores April 2021. So this one has mellowed a tad. Pint glass @home. Most of these drank better straight out the can btw. Purty, clear amber, very lux & meringue head for a cider. Smells of sticky pine, oatmeal, viney weeds, asphalt, buttered toast, old apple sauce. Hops provide an odd, dirty, bitter veggy note, over a dark, macerated subtle apple & corn husk sweetness. When fresh, this was borderline sour hops & onion sweetness. Straight from the can, it's halfway onion, but the carbonation flushes it down so well. The finish slips away, but leaves some residue. It's bitter, but not dry enough to eagerly invite you back. Carbonation falls flat very fast outside the can. Booze hits a little too hard. Hopped a little too aggressively. Hops melted into onion juice too fast. Straight aluminum is frothy & smooth. I enjoyed this with a little age on it, but never in the glass. Meh.
obguthr (12524) reviewed Rosé from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
Buttery grape nose. Clear salmon. Sweet apple, grape. Delightful honey finish. Light body, easy csrbonatoon. What a fun cider!
obguthr (12524) reviewed Dry from Shacksbury 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Slightly aged apple nose. Clear amber. Slightly tangy apple but mostly dry. Light bidy, easy carbonation. Good balance. Quaffable.