Can from 604. Stemless wine glass @home. Pale white wine with a good spritz. Bit of a stink out the can. After it settles, strong herbs, skunky weed & fermenting onions persist. Easy consistency makes it easy to take a large gulp despite the smell. Taste is of bitter leafy hops, onion soup, cheap flowers garnishing my salad, tannic acidic apples, pineapple juice. Lingering bitter cig, white wine & a grapefruit pith numb feeling that might be the lime rind. Texture is surprisingly excellent & I drink it fast despite the bong water description. A six for mouthfeel if I could. Thin, moderately carbed, slightly slick but not greasy, fresh acid to clean it up. Drinks like a skunked snakebite. I didn't hate it.

Guest tap @ French Broad Brewery. Murky cranberry-colored pour. Smell is sweet, natural strawberry with hints of fresh basil. Taste is intense with very honest flavors of both strawberry & basil. The leftover bittersweet apple base comes out & mingles with the basil a bit to make a fun mess. Carbonation is low & everything was shook up. Brewery probably bowls with guest kegs after hours. This is barely a cider, but the flavors were so fresh, it made a great aperitif. --- Beer aliased from original tick of Strawberry Basil on 18 Dec 2021 at 06:38 - Score: Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5. Original review text: Notes: Guest tap @ French Broad. Shortie 10oz glass for $6. Feels like I rated this already. Dark copper with a reddish hue. This has been on tap twice & was slightly darker last time. Smell is arid apple base with intense fruit strawberry jam & a little basil leaf. Flavor is predominately basil. Lots of oily, concentrated basil with a secondary strawberry backup. Cider takes a sweet, but non-descript backseat. Super intense flavor & unusually bold for UO. Standard carb for everything in the house, some texture, sweet, no residual or much heat. I loved it, but it wasn't a great cider per se.

Growler from the brewery. Stemmless @ home. Clear, red body with a slight orange hue leaking out. Looks lighter than Ocean Spray. Smells of diluted cranberry juice, mellow lime rind, menthol, arid apple, gum. Strong flavor of tart cranberry & bitter lime leaf. Leafy note can't compete with the lingering zip upfront. Some bittersweet apple leaks forth, but quickly disappears. Some veggie at the end. Hardly notice the booze. Just under crispy. Tacky. Dry. Hops need to be more potent. Too tart.

Plastic cup under UO's triage tent tarp. Clear, pale, watermelon color. It was a sweaty, uncomfortable day. Smells of light florals & cherry cider. Taste is much the same. More cherry than the advertised cranberry I felt. Thin texture, spritzy but not too much. Some flowery honey notes if you really search, maybe not. Residual yeast. Off-dry. Alcohol is about right for a weaker cyser & soda style beverage that I've seen pop up elsewhere. Honey needs to be upped, as it's not really evident at all. Okay. Needs a bolder yeast strain. House yeast just bores me sometimes.

light yellow, no head. bread-forward. smells really good like super floral forward. wine notes, reminds me of al alcoholic grape juice with pickles and flowers.

cloudy, blood-ish red. no smell at all. ...not sure why they have techno playing at this cidery? it's super weird. Flavor is grape and strawberry. supposedly this has hops but I'm not getting those at all. very dry

very pale yellow, ultra-filtered. baby diaper and sulphur smell. very crisp, lots of honey and pear. 'spritz' comes tom ind. some cherry and toilet finish. has a sourdough flavor

On tap @ Urban Orchard OG. 12oz goblet. Clear, pale, still, straw brew. Smells of watermelon rind, brine & flat champagne. Taste is watery apples & very strong cucumber with watermelon rind. Soft carbonation, residual yeast. Needs better apples, but the natural watermelon flavor is very forward & refreshing.