Kyle Lerfald asks...
The Suggestions
Ginger Johnson
Adam Quinan
Astrid Bear
Bob Kegel
Don Myatt
Kyle Replies to Don
Karen von Bargen
Kinds of Apples
Astrid Asks...
Kyle Replies
Mary S. Adds
Don Myatt's Russets and Apple Trivia
Distillation and Fermentation
Larry Finch
Greg White
Mary S.
Jean A.
Mitch Schwartz
Jean A. and Apple Jack
Cider and Perry Websites
The Real Cider and Perry Page
Woodchuck Draft Cider
Kyle Lerfald asks...
As many of you know, I took up the homebrewing hobby (through the inspiration of the brewers on this list!) and have named several different types of beer after POB-related things...my first batch of a British Bitter recipe bore the name "Polycrest" (by way of calling it an experiment y' see) an Irish Dry Stout became "Surgeon's Special" and so on...
Now I'm brewing an apple cider - but no mention (not even in Boston!) do I find of cider - any suggestions for a name?
The Suggestions
Ginger Johnson
Perhaps "Hornpipe"?
Adam Quinan
True West Country cider is supposed to be fermented using wild yeasts. Some people claim that for added flavour or to provide a source of yeast, a dead rat was added to the apple juice to start it off. Perhaps you could call it Miller's Merriment.
Of course if you chose to make perry from pear juice, you could call it The Erie Commodore.
Astrid Bear
How about Sophie's Cider? Hard cider is a good country drink, and likely Jack would have same apple trees in the gardens at Ashgrove Cottage. In fact, that is likely part of what the bees were there for, to pollinate fruit trees. Apples trees aren't mentioned in the beginning of TMC, during the hilarious tour of the garden, but I'll bet there would have been some.
Bob Kegel
In The Letter of Marque Jack questions his Sethians as to their drinking habits and learns they consumed "slightly over a quart of beer or cider" with their dinner.
Sethian Cider?
Don Myatt
I cannot provide as good as suggestion as Astrid, but perhaps Carronade for a cider with a bit of authority.
Kyle Replies to Don
Carronade - the Smashing Cider?
Karen von Bargen
There was a charming little old man who was picking up on my grandmother when we were in Exeter, the one in England, not the one in California. They were both drinking cider and the man kept telling my grandmother to take it easy, it goes straight to the knees. What fun we had! Perhaps Weak Knees as a good name, gets a POB-ish reference in as well as a clear statement of fact.
Kinds of Apples
Astrid Asks... What kinds of apples are you using, Kyle?
Kyle Replies
I'm using a mix of different apples-Beacon, MacIntosh mostly, although I'd love to someday get my hands on some Roxbury Russets. I'm using a New England recipe as a guide line, and I'll be adding some raisins and oak chips as well.
Mary S. Adds
Re [...I'll be adding some raisins and oak chips as well.]
For a chunkier cider.
Don Myatt's Russets and Apple Trivia
I know little about apples and less about cider. I was however stuck by your comment about Roxbury Russets. I don't know if they are similar but my favourite apple which I wait eagerly for each fall to appear in the markets of the Ottawa valley is the russet. It's smallish very hard, white flesh, brown nearly scabby looking skin with hints of green. A delicious tart yet earthy taste. Is that you russet too? They come off the trees very late, usually near the first frost in mid-November.
Google yields much information about Russets and pictures too, at Wikipedia: Russet apples. A second point of apple trivia is the macintosh was created near here at Dundela, Ontario. It was on the farm of Mr. Macintosh. Sadly the farm was recently sold and I believe the last tree is now gone. There were several when I first visited the place in the 70s. It was fallow then but in the family. There are no historical markers.
Distillation and Fermentation
Larry Finch
When I was in college (too many years ago) we would buy unpasteurized cider jugs from local orchards (around Troy, NY) and leave them on the window sill outside for a month or so. Until the first hard frost, when the water content of the cider would freeze, and we could pour off the alcohol content. Primitive, but effective.
Greg White
[Pasteurization] will prevent fermentation, unless you leave the cider open long enough for some yeast to get in there. Unpasteurized cider is readily found in New England during the fall, though.
Mary S.
As for Jack Aubrey Meyn's "distillation by freezing," I remember about thirty years ago when we used to drive out to a cider-press farm and buy their slightly hard cider which they sold in large waxed containers like milk cartons, and kept in a deep-freeze locker. We would take this home and let it thaw just slightly - the water remaining in the form of crushed ice, and the chilled cider being a potent potable indeed.
Jean A.
For about the 40th year in a row I bought a gallon of sweet cider, unpasteurized, from our local orchard. (It is produced under sanitary conditions. No drops are used. The apples pressed are picked from the trees.) On the label is this verse:
"Keep me cool
to keep me sweet,
But to have some fun
leave me in the sun."
Mitch Schwartz
[Cider must] be carefully drunk ... and topped off with fresh cider constantly to maintain a pleasant low proof. I did this once in college, keeping a nice 10-proof buzz in the cider for about two weeks. The bottom contained a lot of precipitate, but it settled out between glasses. Beat the heck out of beer!
Jean A. and Apple Jack
A memory of how one makes apple jack has surfaced. (I don't vouch for the accuracy.)
You put a container (I don't know how big) of applejuice someplace cold, like your back porch, and let it freeze.
Eventually it will be all frozen except for a reservoir of Apple Jack in the middle, unfrozen because, of course, alcohol doesn't freeze at those temperatures.
I have been drinking unpasteurized apple cider from a local orchard for over forty years, as have thousands of local people.
I believe the trouble with botulism came from "drops" being used and from insufficient washing of the apples before putting them in the press. Local school children have visited the orchards for years to view the cider-making, and drink the fresh cider.
In spite of the spotless records of local apple producers, they will be undergoing hardships because of the enforcement of the new laws.
Of course, if lives are saved because of the new rules, they will be worth it, but a lot of conscientious small orchards will suffer.
Which it's the Patrick O'Brian list of the world!