3 High-Altitude Ciders For Fall
Western Colorado fall creates the most beautiful atmosphere: the changing color of Aspen tree leaves, the crisp and cool mountain air, the full bloom of apple season. Curling up in front of the fire with a refreshing hard apple cider is the perfect way to celebrate the changing of seasons.
Colorado is known all over the state for its incredible hard ciders and unique flavor profiles that come with them. Moving beyond the taste of mass produced, ultra sweet ciders as you may know them, apples grown in the high-altitude environment of Colorado yield ciders with globally recognized, unmatched flavors. This fall, support local businesses and indulge in these three novel high-altitude ciders.
SNOW CAPPED CIDER
A family business with over 109 years and five generations of apple growing and cider experience, Snow Capped Cider’s apple orchards reside at 6,130 feet elevation. With multiple prestigious awards from the Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition, the highest-level contest for ciders, Snow Capped knows the importance and success that comes from selecting the perfect apple, paired with high altitude growing conditions.
“We grow heirloom apples or heritage apples, which are older varietals that aren’t sold to grocery stores any longer,” explains Kari Williams, brand manager and owner of Snow Capped Cider.
“Heritage apples have more tannins, more complexity and some have higher sugar content or acidity. Then, throw that into growing at an elevation of 6,130 feet where the exposure to UV rays causes the trees to be in distress and the trees pump acid throughout themselves, and our fruit comes in with an extremely high sugar content and low pH. That’s how we get the flavors of Snow Capped Cider.”
Fall Recommendation
“This fall in our specialty line, we are releasing a Bourbon Barrel Aged Spiced Peach Cider in a 375 milliliter bottle,” Williams shares. “It is made with the English cider apples, our own Colorado peaches and aged in bourbon barrels for nine months whole-spice.”
“Our Ashmead’s Kernel bottled cider is another one of my favorites right now. Made from an English bitter sharp cider apple, it’s very rich and layered with flavors,” adds Williams.
RED FOX CIDERS AND CELLARS
Based in Palisade, Red Fox Ciders and Cellars provides a tasting room experience for any cider drinker. Red Fox creates a comfortable environment with a rustic back patio, serving in-house cider and wine cocktails and chilled carbonated ciders on-tap.
“Our philosophy is that we think a little higher alcohol percentage and higher carbonation makes for a better cider. We always age our ciders a minimum of six months, and we like to age them with a little bit of oak as well,” explains co-owner Scott Hamilton.
“Our hard ciders are different from most in the state. A lot of people don’t realize there are two types of hard cider, being French, which are really sweet, or English, which are dryer or semi-sweet. We chose to go the English-style route, which seems to be the most popular style for the craft cider industry,” he adds.
Fall Recommendation
“Our Pear-lo has been super popular. We do a lot of experimentation — one of our best-selling wines is a bourbon-barrel-aged merlot. Pear-lo is a perry or pear cider that is aged in one of those merlot bourbon barrels,” says Hamilton.
FENCELINE CIDER & WINE
With cider flavors ranging from Elderberry to Sweet Rose, Fenceline Cider & Wine’s Tasteroom in Mancos has a food truck and live music overlooking the Mancos River for the perfect cidery experience. Using wild apples from Southwest Colorado, Fenceline offers high-altitude flavors with a unique story to its production.
“Fenceline was originally created to find a use for the hundreds of thousands of pounds of Montezuma and La Plata County apples that used to go unused each fall. Southwestern Colorado used to produce more apples than the whole of Washington State, and many of those historic orchards are still alive today,” shares cofounder Sam Perry.
“The Old Fort Lewis Orchard in Hesperus Colorado sits at an elevation of 7,612 feet, and we have harvested apples with sugar concentrations of 22 Brix or higher. This is a very high sugar content for any apple,” he adds.
Fall Recommendation
“I like the Windfall. It’s our French-style Bittersweet cider with a wonderful blend of fruit from Atomic Orchards,” says Perry. “It is super high in tannin and has a robust mouthfeel that rivals red wine. It is aged in French oak for over a year and is a big cider that can stand up to any meal. Look for our whole skin Hermosa Cherry cider coming out as an exclusive release for our fall cider club allocation.”
Colorado’s high-altitude cidery roots are deeply embedded in the Western Slope, with sweet and light or deep and robust flavors that are only achievable through the high-altitude apple orchards. This fall season, take time to appreciate and indulge in the finer things that Western Colorado has immediate access to.
“There’s a lot of different ciders out there now, but the consumer is becoming more aware of what apples make the best cider,” suggests Williams. “There are more people than ever discovering how cider really should be made.”
Photos courtesy of the cideries.
Originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of Spoke+Blossom