A classic case of homebrewer going mainstream, Baird & Dewer Farmhouse Cider is the brain child of wine guru Zeb Dewer and farmer Trevor Baird’s Baird Family Orchard’s heirloom apple varieties. The Salem, Oregon label’s mission statement is to create traditional vintage ciders, and nails that goal on its head with its 2012 Constitution.
The pour starts out as a very clear, light yellow color, but as it is an unfiltered product, each pour becomes progressively murkier. Its nose is very sweet and woody with hints of pineapple and brown sugar. Likely stemming from its high effervescence and the use of raisins in the aging process, Constitution has a very winy and Champagne-like profile, a woody taste stemming from the oak-barrel aging and use of Newtown Pippin apples (which can give cider a pine-wood taste) and finishes dry with mild spice notes like cinnamon and nutmeg. All of which is neatly packaged in an attractive 750 ml bottle with a classy, Prohibition-era label, a cork and cage, and a very fun 9.1 percent alcohol content. What’s not to like?
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