Our Cider
Come enjoy a taste of the heartland at Winterset Cidery! We make craft hard apple cider right here in Iowa. Our ciders rely only on the apples themselves; we do not add any sugar or water like many mass produced hard ciders, and our hard ciders taste crisp and fresh. In addition to our own orchard, we also source fruit from area orchards here in the Midwest. After fermentation our ciders are aged several months before we serve them to bring out the best flavors possible, never rushed or mass produced. When we do add other flavors, we use real, all natural ingredients, and we blend them on a small batch basis to better control the flavor of the cider. We never use artificial flavors or ingredients.
In our orchard we grow many, many different varieties of apples, including true “cider apples” that have more tannins and can be bitter sweet or sharp. When blended with other types of apples they produce a very special tasting hard cider.
Our hard cider is wholly dependent on the apples, so it is subject to seasonally shifting orchard blends. The cider we make in 2019, will not taste exactly like that made in 2018, or that to be made in 2020. However, there will be similarities in some flavors, particularly those with added fruit flavors or other ingredients.
Our 2019 Flavors
This year we expect to serve the following flavors of craft hard cider:
Winterset- Our signature, medium dry apple cider made this year from a blend of Sweet Tango, Macintosh, and Cortland apples; it’s crisp, refreshing, and not too sweet.
Semi-Dry- A dryer version of Winterset, same apple blend.
Cherry-Vanilla- Hard apple cider flavored with Montmorency cherries and just enough French vanilla to reduce the tartness of the cherries.
Raspberry- Hard apple cider with an explosion of natural raspberry flavor.
Perry- Hard apple cider flavored with pear juice for a sweeter, fruity taste.
French Kiss- This cider is made with a blend of French cider apples and local favorites giving it some tannins and a unique aftertaste.
We also produce smaller batches of several other seasonal and fun flavors that we change frequently during the season, e.g. Apple Pie, Hopped, Spiced, Ginger, Habanero, and barrel aged ciders, to name just a few. Our customers really enjoy tasting the new creations.