Dry 6.5% alcohol 1,615 bottles and 4 kegs made
Tasting Notes
Hey, trendy urbanites, this cider’s for you! Named for Wassily Kandinsky’s most distinctive modernist painting, it’s made from modern connoisseur apple varieties from around the world, offering sassy counterpoint to our heritage ciders.
Sky Blue offers a few parallels to Spanish-style ciders (known as ‘sidra’), which are hazy, sour and a bit funky. We went light on the funk and moderate on the acid and haze, but this one still provides a contrast to our other ciders.
We figure if bearded hipster dudes think hazy IPAs and sour beers are cool, then a Spanish-style cider like Sky Blue has got to be worth trying.
Cidermaking Notes
Harvest and pressing: We used 100 per cent modern connoisseur apples in Sky Blue, which we crushed and pressed between September 13 and October 15.
Fermentation: We allowed a wild yeast fermentation to get underway (to contribute some mild funkiness to the cider), before adding a French yeast that’s often used in some of that country’s great white wines.
Aging: We transferred our modern variety cider base into its aging vessel on November 21 and allowed it to age an unusually long time, all the way into mid-May.
Blending and carbonating: We moved the base into our bright tank in mid-May and added apple juice to give the finished Sky Blue cider a hint of sweetness. Then we added a moderate amount of carbonation and bottled, pasteurized and labelled.