The whole fruit and botanicals that go into making the small-batch, artisan-quality ciders of WildCraft Cider Works are all Oregon-grown. The ciders are fermented with wild yeast strains, finish on the drier side and are unpasteurized and bottle-conditioned. The inventively fermenting taphouse is a stone’s throw from the University of Oregon campus, in the heart of downtown Eugene, and pulls a large amount of its business from the burgeoning community. The hospitable cidery hosted its inaugural community apple drive, where residents across Oregon donate apples and, in exchange, the cidery swaps them juice or cider. To further the dedication to producing from whole fruit, the cidery also recently installed its own custom-built fruit press, made by Eugene’s Elliott Specialty Metal.
No exception to the whole fruit rule, the Snack River Rye is barrel-aged for three months in American oak casks from eastern Oregon’s Stein Distillery’s rye whiskey production. As a result, the cider has rooted whiskey notes with a finish that is predominately oaky yet pure in apple fruit. Underlying are complementary flavors of vanilla combined with apple aromatics that create a lingering scent and flavor of familiar cider.
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