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Episode 148 - Michigan Hard Ciders (and a beer!)
63 Plays1 month ago
This week Brandon and Tony sample some hard ciders and an IPA from the great state of Michigan.
Featured Beverages:
Diamond Lake Orchards - Sandbar Hard Apple Cider Cinnamon Flavor
Lehman's Orchard - Apple Cherry Hard Cider
Lehman's Orchard - Bourbon Barrel Hard Cider
Cassopolis Beer Company - Noseplugger IPA
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outro provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Tasting
00:00:01
Speaker
Right. I'm ready for this. Ready when you are. Are we recording already? Yes. Jesus Christ. These are always fun to go back and listen to, but then I'm also like... Where do we start? This week, we sample hard ciders from the great state of Michigan.
00:00:49
Speaker
doing buddy? Good man, how are you? Pretty good. I like that you have a Nightmare on Elm Street on. They are celebrating 40 years, which means I'm younger than a Nightmare on Elm Street. No wait, I'm older than a Nightmare on Elm Street. Yeah, this came out when I was two? Probably. I thought i thought it came out later than that, like 87 or something like that.
00:01:13
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. We were at Six Flags yesterday and they had a, um, they have a, a Saw, like haunted house that they're doing. And I saw, it it said Saw's 20th anniversary or something like that. And I was like,
Horror Movies and Robert Englund
00:01:30
Speaker
really? It makes sense. There's like a hundred Saw films. Yeah. And I will say I've never seen a single one. Seriously? yep Not even the first one? I don't think so.
00:01:38
Speaker
Dude, you've got to see at least the first one. Well, I know. i like It's not that I've been avoiding it. Should've put it on. Just never, I don't know for this screen if it was. um But yeah, I don't know if I've, and again, if I was going to watch it, like this is not the time. I like playing in the ones that we've seen before, just running in the background. um Oh, she ripped off Freddy's face. Yeah. Oh, and that too, speaking of that, like, did you, you watched the thing I sent you, a thing about Robert England today. They talked, I sent you a text. Oh, I hadn't watched that one. Yeah. I watched the thing about the Michael Myers master. They were trying to. read Yeah. Oh, that was cool. That was awesome. But the.
00:02:12
Speaker
There was a TikTok about Robert England talking about his whole process of getting in the face and stuff like that. And then one day he got super hungry and decided to just go across the street with the crew. And somebody flipped out. It's pretty funny. Was that during the first one or after they had done it? I don't know. That's hilarious. But he was like, somebody was there and did not know what was going on and just lost their shit. I saw that there was an interview uh with somebody else like someone from the first one they were talking about like the legacy of it and that the only way it wasn't in the interview but i read something else that the only way he would play freddy again would be like a really well-made like animated like nightmare in elm street which i don't know how that would work with like an animated nightmare in elm street work or any or maybe work is animated and he says he can't move as fast as he used to still do the voice i think they
00:03:04
Speaker
I think it just means write a bigger check. If you want me to do all this, I need more money. Because I'm not going to be um around much longer to spend it. So I want to spend it all now.
Michigan Cider Adventure
00:03:18
Speaker
no amazing Yeah, I mean, I don't know much about Robert England. He's been a ton of money. I'm talking about like if he's got like a wife for kids, family, grandkids, whatever. Like maybe he's got to leave a nest egg. Welcome to the Robert England podcast. ah No, we're not talking about that anymore. Brandon?
00:03:34
Speaker
Guess where I went? Michigan. I went back to Michigan. I know it's crazy. This is like the 30th Michigan episode. But would then the difference is, is that I came back with cider. Well, three ciders and one beer. Nice. So I'm pretty excited. I only tried one of the ciders I tried it last night. One of the hard ciders from one of the apple orchards I went to. The first one they were having,
00:04:02
Speaker
Is an orchard but it's not a you pick they pick all the apples they have honey They do their own wine and they've got cider hard cider. Okay. I think that's it um It was cool. It was a nice spot. It was a beautiful day um Was a little disappointed that I didn't figure out that I could pick the apples Yeah, it looks what do you go to do on the website? They showed like what apples were available. So yeah, I I didn't even think to like look into it. yeah I don't know. I mean, I don't understand them why like places wouldn't do you big. So when we were talking with the owners, they're very nice, a very nice older couple. ah The maintenance of it, the manpower that you need and like not having people like break their necks going for apples. Yeah. he said And she was like,
00:04:47
Speaker
Well, there's a ton of other orchards where people are not breaking their necks. But it's probably a liability insurance you got to get. And, you know, they had a ton of apples there. And the main focus was the wine and the hard ciders that
Cider Tasting Analysis
00:04:59
Speaker
they had. So. OK. Did a flight of the fruit wines. um Nothing there is sweet, except for the regular cider. OK. Everything else is pretty dry. And as you can tell, because I saw you took a sip from this, like This is pretty much like how the hard cider was and how the wines were, which was interesting because I tried a cherry wine.
00:05:20
Speaker
a pear wine and a peach wine. Okay. I bought a bottle of the cherry wine. Nice. And the gentleman whose name I don't remember, he says that it's best to pour over ice and read a book while you're sitting by the lake. And I was like, it's interesting. So he poured me a little sample with ice. Like, dude, you are getting wrecked because this is too easy to drink with ice. So I will not be doing it with ice, especially because it's a a red wine, but it's really good. And the name of the place is Diamond Lake Orchard. It's in Cassopolis, Michigan? I think it's just right there or right outside of there. That's what I was saying. Their hard ciders are not carbonated. Not sure why. Didn't get a chance to really talk about that. The three hard ciders that they had was a regular apple cider, cinnamon, and cherry. Okay. and Tried the cherry. Cherry was great. We are having, apparently, what is the most popular hard cider that they sell, which is the cinnamon. What do you think about it?
00:06:20
Speaker
Um, I get the cinnamon, I get the apple, but it's, it's, it's kind of watery to me. Like thin. Yeah. Very, very thin and and a little bit flavor wise. I don't know. I get a lot of apple juice. Yeah.
00:06:38
Speaker
I mean, it's more like apple juice than anything else. Yeah. But I'm getting hints of cinnamon. When I smelt it, I said it smelt like che ah apple pie. Whoever smelt it dealt it. And sorry. So the the flavor is not consistent with the aroma for me. I agree. Aroma wise, the cinnamon is like very much in your face. Yeah. In a good way. It's not like. Oh yeah. Oh man, it's too much. but then
00:07:10
Speaker
It's more of like a cinnamon apple juice. Yep. I'm not mad about it though. No, no, no. What's the, is there an ABV on it or no? I'm gonna hand you the bottle because again, I've not brought it like this. Oh, 6%. Okay. That's surprising. Yeah, it doesn't drink like a 6% cider. I think the other thing is that,
00:07:35
Speaker
Also, this is not sweet. It's more on the dry side. Yeah, I think what would complement this is carbonation Indeed. I think it would help make this into a real solid cider. Yeah. Because I've never had a non-carbonated hard cider. Neither have I. I mean, it's interesting. Yeah. I feel like if I put this over ice, suddenly now you have, like, a drink. Maybe use this for a cocktail. Yeah. Remember? I guess he's mixing this with some bourbon or? I was going to say, remember for a Halloween party where you make, he's got bourbon folks, we might know it.
00:08:10
Speaker
um When I had the Halloween party, you made your cider, your hard cider. yep And then you also brought over a bottle of Fireball. yep Clark's wife enjoyed those a lot. Maybe too much. But that was great. That was fantastic. I'm wondering...
00:08:28
Speaker
People might like it just like this, and I'm wondering, I might, I have three more of these, and maybe I might, he's getting the bourbon. I might ah use this for cocktails or something, because I don't think it's a bad idea. it's so Okay, a little splash of bourbon in there. I wanna know what you think. I'll let you know if it's good. Yeah, tell me first, and then I'll come over there. He's using Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
00:08:53
Speaker
He takes a sip. Switches it around. You know what? He looks back at me. It's weird. Like, it dilutes it. It doesn't make it any better. It doesn't make it any worse. Interesting. What do you mean dilutes it? Like, the bourbon takes over? Yeah. But, like, huh. Both are diluted. Like, both are very diluted. Just put put a splash in. I saw how much you put in there. I'm going to thaw up the entire blood. Yeah, it's crazy. It's... it's...
00:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's a little more. But yeah, it's... Make sure you swirl it. Yeah. But I can smell the... Yeah, I actually... Now it smells like an oaked... Yeah. Apple pie. You can like, yeah, like bourbon and like whatever, but I feel like everything is muted. I see what you're saying. Everything's muted. That's weird. Yeah. I'm not opposed to it though. No, and I didn't expect that. I wonder...
00:09:52
Speaker
You know what I wanna do? And what I'm gonna do is maybe make an old fashioned with one of these. Oh, that's a good idea. And maybe like, I don't know, some type of, cause it's not sweet so I can still use some type of like simple syrup or sugar or something. Yeah. I'm wondering if like, I'm sure there's like a cinnamon simple syrup recipe. Oh yeah. That might be really good. Yeah. This is interesting. Like I was expecting more flavor. Yeah.
00:10:23
Speaker
I think carbonation would help this though. I think that that would make this a thought. Yeah, that's truly what it's
Cherry Cider Exploration
00:10:28
Speaker
missing. Now, as I sip this, I wish there was a couple of ice cubes in here because now I feel like I'm drinking a cocktail without any ice. Yeah, there you go. Because the bourbon now is kind of like giving like a slow burn down the chest here. I think I might like it more with bourbon. It's definitely better with the bourbon. So this is from Diamond Lake Orchard, Brandon. How many diamonds are you giving this?
00:10:53
Speaker
Um, based on what it is, I'm going to go three. Okay. Fair enough. I mean, it's, if somebody gave this to me and told me it was just an apple, you know, a cinnamon apple cider, I'd have been like, great. Cause that's what it tastes like to me. Um,
00:11:13
Speaker
knowing that it's a hard apple cider, um I think it just, failed like and it's truly just missing that carbonation. like you know like The bubbles do stuff that people don't understand. I and hope I remember what you just said, because that is for sure the beginning of the episode. The bubbles do stuff. it is It's true, though. The the carbonation does like open up things. and And it and it's it's a play on your palate too, like with the bubbles and stuff, you know? Like, you know, this isn't a double chunked chocolate cookie, aren yeah but this is... It's better. It's more like a chicken bake. yeah hour guys neverhead We're Of course we're going to have a bourbon-barrel-aged drink on our episodes. Yeah, and we just made Yeah, so I'm going with three just because I feel like sure if if they added the carbonation I feel like that would up this a little bit more because even then like to dream this and somebody telling me it's 6% I'm a hard almost that isn't almost No, this is a six. Yeah, this was the other ciders that I have are um I'm hard-pressed to be like this is 6% like this. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. Yeah I'm gonna go ah
00:12:31
Speaker
3.45. Ooh, look at you, fancy pants. I i like ah ah like big butts and I cannot lie. With this cider, I appreciate that it's something different for a hard cider as far as something that's not being carbonated. I think it would be better if it was carbonated. But the flavor is good enough for me. And I mean that in like the most positive way, like it's like good enough I don't like not poo-pooing it.
00:13:03
Speaker
It's a, you and I have both made our own hard ciders. And I've liked both of our hard ciders. I use like cherry concentrate juice in mine for the most part when I do it. And your hard cider is just fantastic. That's kind of what I'm like in my head using as the, what's the word I'm looking for?
00:13:22
Speaker
The benchmark. Thank you. Sure. Benchmark works. um Like that's where I'm starting with, like yeah your hard cider, because I think where your hard cider is is like, but so I should also say that I'm not sure how long that they, had that he has been like doing wine or or hard cider. But he started like us with, with kits. He got a winemaking kit and okay just like us, it started with a kit and it turned into an obsession and now they're doing their own thing. Like they have regulars that come in there all the time.
00:13:52
Speaker
I should have bought another bottle of wine because that would have been fun to to try. The cherry wine was my favorite, but I feel like because of what they're doing and sorry what they're, what they have,
00:14:05
Speaker
I like it. I would get it again, like stopping by. I do want to try just the regular one. And I think for the time being, the three that I have left, I think um'm I'm going to use them for cocktails. I'm going to maybe do like an old fashioned or something else. yeah Uh, yeah. So 3.45. Very good. Okay. steve And it's a nice place and they were really nice and kind and gave me a bunch of other free samples. That's all that matters. As long as you have free samples, you're good in my book. Brandon, do you want to do, you want to save the beer for last? Sure. Yeah. I mean, just cause the glass is Apple tinted. True. True. True. Uh, I think it makes more sense for us to do the cherry hard cider first. Pass it to you.
00:14:49
Speaker
This so when I went to the apple orchard to now mind you the week before I already went to an apple orchard But I needed more apples, baby. I just needed some i see a Michigan apples So while diamond did not have the you pick the next day in the town over Le Mans orchard did have you pick. It was very interesting. ah There was apples on one side that you can get and then apples and fruit on the other side of the road that you could get. I was gonna pick some blackberries but I would have to have walked like way down the aisles that they have where like the trees are and then the blackberries in the middle. There was a lot of bees. I was like no thank you. and
00:15:39
Speaker
A bunch of apples on the ground did not want to roll my ankle and then have to drive back to Chicago. So once I purchased my apples, they had peaches too. You want to talk about rolling your apple or your ankle and driving? What's on top of that? I don't know what you mean. I don't know what you mean. No, neither one of us has ever done that before. I shouldn't have said that. Fuck.
00:15:59
Speaker
um So in, in, they had a bunch of wine in there, uh, in their little shop, uh, and it was a great place. Like it was, it was nice. I, they said there was peaches across the street. Did not see peaches, millions of peaches, peaches for me. When is, I don't even know when peaches. I don't know either. Uh, but I was like, Oh, that would be cool to get a couple of peaches, but I didn't see it anywhere. And you know me, I'm not going to ask like, where are your peaches? Um, for me inside their little shop, there was a bunch of wine, a bunch of,
00:16:29
Speaker
apple cider vinegar and then a bunch of like fruit syrups that they made and then there was nice so not only so this these are the 12 ounce cans like I just saw Based on the different apples that they had, it looked like they had one that was called Golden Rush, one was just called regular apple. It looked like it was based on different apples. The two that stood out to me that I really wanted to try were was the cherry, the one that we're about to have, and then a bourbon barrel aged version of just the regular cider. They also had like 22 ounce bombers of cider. Okay.
00:17:07
Speaker
kind of regret not grabbing something else and maybe just doing like a mix pack where I could have done, you know, we could have thrown in some ciders for October to try, but these are the two that stood out and I'm standing by it. Oh, that's okay. Thanks, man. I've taken a sip. What do you think about the aroma and taste?
00:17:24
Speaker
um i So the aroma, I'm getting... There's still some cinnamon in my cup. I don't know if I'm necessarily getting cherry, but I'm getting a lot more sweetness in the aroma. Yes, this is not a ah dry cider by any means.
00:17:38
Speaker
um But super juicy, um and I'm getting... I think I'm getting more cherry like on like you know on the tongue. And I will, I mean, I will say right off the bat. I like this better than the last one. Sure. um There's more flavor. i I enjoy the carbonation. Yes. um And it's not like heavily carbonated. Let's say with the ABV. 6.8. Which again, I'm like, when I opened it up last night, I was like, this is a 7% hard cider. I was trying to take it easy. Yeah. And so I'm getting at the back end. I don't want to say booziness, but I'm i'm tasting
00:18:19
Speaker
there's alcohol in it. i like i can More than the last one, I can tell like this one's got some heft to it. Like, just tasting alcohol or whatever, is' like it's probably not the right term to use, but ah I'm getting that, yeah. There's something there, yeah especially like the back of the the tongue there. I don't want to say bitterness either. but Because it's not. Yeah, it's not bitter, but it's like there's alcohol in there. Oh, indeed.
00:18:45
Speaker
yeah But it's fantastic, very well done. um I don't know, are the cherries from their orchard as well? Yes, because they also had... I don't know how much it was as far as like fluid ounces. It wasn't very big, but they had like pure cherry, cherry juice. You're dead. They had pure cherry juice concentrate and it was like $34 and it was, nobody can see this, I'm showing Brandon. Probably like if I was holding it in my hand like this, if I was making a C. Is it like an eight ounce, 10 ounce jar or something? I've wired it so bad though.
00:19:21
Speaker
and like Just pure cherry juice like that? Just like the applications for that. yeah It's insane. you know um so like In my head now, out of your head dude totally away from the cherry juice stuff, but I've been trying to think of things to do for Christmas because We host Christmas Eve at my house every year. I've never been invited that time. Dude, you've always been invited. Fuck. You just always got plans. Oh, he's right. um So like this year, like I was trying to think of, OK, what beer can I brew? What beer can I brew? Because I'm going to take these older rings off. I think one of them is just about done. So I'm going to plan a weekend to just wheeze the juice or something. I don't know. I can join you. um
00:20:10
Speaker
And so I'd been thinking about doing a beer and because i really want I really would love to brew again. yeahm i'm By the way, i'm I'm also in the same boat. like But then I was like, oh, man, a good fucking cocktail? like so like Put a cocktail in? Oh, yeah. So I really have been thinking towards like an old-fashioned. like Not opposed to that. Double Clutch has one on tap. Yeah.
00:20:38
Speaker
So I really kind of want to do that. So I think that might be the way I go. I am taking the two days after Christmas off. So if you need someone to come by to hang out with that Thursday afternoon. Yeah, I'm off all week. Yeah, I'm only going to work the other two days. The in-laws will be in town. That sounds like a great time. I think they're coming in on Christmas Day. Nice. I'm sure you can swing that. Anyways, yeah, if you do that. Anyways, so the cherry juice thing, I was like, man,
00:21:07
Speaker
Just make it like a cherry old fashioned, something like that. Oh, maybe fantastic. Yeah. Anyways, back to this beer. Cider. As far as like ciders go, I feel like this hits everything that I'm looking for in a hard cider. It's not a lot of carbonation. It's like that Let me take one more sip to remember. No, it's the perfect carbonation. It's like those little bubbles. Yeah. And that's what you want, because to me, cider should be reminiscent of champagne. Yes.
Holiday Brewing Plans
00:21:40
Speaker
There's similarities. But with a little less carbonation, because there's some pretty hefty
00:21:45
Speaker
Yeah champagne's and there's some pretty light ones but this is like on the light end of a champagne you know you know carbonation wise ah the apple comes through the cherry comes through the sweetness is there it's It's not super sweet. Like it's not like, here's like, you know, some ciders, not hard ciders, but regular cider can be pretty sweet. Like I love getting the half gallon of cider, but it takes me forever to finish it. Yeah. Yeah. i can Yeah. And that's, and that's my problem with brewing ciders. Like, you know, like if I'm brewing in five gallon batches, it's like,
00:22:18
Speaker
god like i think you need to experiment with like i gotta do smaller batches well not even i mean if you wanted like yeah probably a smaller batch or maybe maybe do a smaller batch where you experiment with trying to make it more of a drier drier cider instead of being sweet. The way we do it, though, if you go back and listen to the episode of making cider and breakfast beers, that was like way early on, like in the 30s, I think. Yeah. One of our most popular episodes, which is crazy. Yeah. That's the first time we did like a live. Yeah, that was pretty it's fun. ah But we use like 100% apple juice for that. So I'm wondering, might need to get like, I don't know,
00:23:00
Speaker
find a place that does like a dryer cider or... My brother-in-law, Mike, still has the Apple Press. He has an Apple Press? Yeah, he's got the Apple Press. Who the fuck does he have an Apple Press for? We were going to try and do cider, and we never did it. Look how he just commits and just buys shit. I want to do this, and then we never did it. So something to think about maybe around next August and September when apples start coming out. We need to do some research on what apples are good for a cider. So overall, Brandon, how many
00:23:37
Speaker
Pints of cherry juice. sweet That's awful. How many cherries are you giving this? ah I'm going to go 3.8, I think. I like that. I'm going to join you in that, because I think 3.8 is a, again, I should have said this in the beginning. I don't drink a lot of hard ciders. Yeah. This is the time here, though, where it's like, oh, that sounds good. I like regular cider. I do like apple juice, but not enough to ever buy it and drink it. If your son has apple juice juice boxes lying around,
00:24:04
Speaker
I might steal one and drink it. That's about it. He doesn't. We've got some mots in the fridge though. Like ah for like a big... Is it mozz apple juice though? Oh yeah. But it's, it's, he's got mozz for tots, so. So I can't drink it is what you're telling me. No, you could, but it's like, I've had it and it's like, ooh, this is kind of, water it it it tastes watered down. It's way less sweet and less concentrated. Yeah. That makes sense. It's got more vitamins pumped into it. and Oh, so we should be drinking. You and I should be drinking it from me. We should be drinking it. Maybe we should make cocktails with that. Ooh. Tons of vitamins, also a little bourbon, not a bad idea.
00:24:39
Speaker
And that's how we do it, folks. um All right. Well, we've got one more cider to go and then a beer. I think this is a really good time for us to listen to a commercial because nothing says, hey, beer show, take a break. Here's a random-ass commercial based on your algorithm. Great intro. If I open that and then you said, and we're back. Welcome back, everybody. This episode is three ciders and a beer because I sent my ass back up to Michigan. Why?
00:25:09
Speaker
Because I love it up there. Here you go, buddy. I don't know. I think i think there's enough in there. I think I poured yeah well. i was I was basing it off of how we did the last one. Yeah. That looks pretty good. So we are still drinking lemons or lemons, orchard, hard cider. The last one was the apple cherry hard cider. This one is the bourbon barrel aged cider, which also comes in at 6.8%.
Bourbon Barrel Cider Review
00:25:35
Speaker
How is it? 6.8%? Oh. Like, barrel aging usually knocks it up a little bit. I'm getting a cider, but there's something else there.
00:25:48
Speaker
Children. There's children in this pair. OK. Did you take a sip yet? I did. Don't say children. It's because you're watching. That's the only reason I said it. All right, I'm gonna give you my first impressions first. You do. You do. I get a bunch of cider up front and then there's something in the back. Yeah. There's also something that I feel kind of warming in my chest from that one. Could just be because of the acidity of apples, which I know is low, but you know, I tend to have heartburn sometimes or acid reflux.
00:26:26
Speaker
I wouldn't say that this is bourbon barrel aged, but there is a little bit of that. Remember when we did the first cider and then we added the gym beam to it and we talked about, well, no, we talked about this with hard cider. There's like that little bit of like bitterness in the back of my tongue. Yeah. I'm getting that with this. Yeah, a little bit. But it's straight up a hard cider. Yeah, I'm not getting, I don't know.
00:26:57
Speaker
I don't feel like I'm getting a lot of barrel character. Yeah. But there's a difference. so There's a different aroma. Indeed. ah Again, this also isn't cherry though. But I didn't get a lot of cherry on the, I mean, I got a little cherry on the last one. Got a little cherry on the cherry. Yeah. But the flavor is just kind of like, yeah, it's a hard cider with something in the way back that is yeah very small. If you would have poured this for me,
00:27:26
Speaker
and not told me it was a barrel-aged cider, I would say, oh, it's a hard cider with a little bit of bitterness at the end. Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't have known either. I will say, it's a very good hard cider, though. Agreed. Yeah. Otherwise, the juice is good. Well, and that's what, and before I even took a ah sip, like knowing that this is like clocked in at 6.8% and the other one was 6.8%. I thought the same thing. like Why is that? How?
00:27:54
Speaker
like there's In the beer world, very seldomly does your ABV not go up. Well, and also they use higher alcohol for those as well, specifically. Yeah. but yeah Well, because that's important because. And how long they sit in the. Yeah. So I mean, so. By the way, even burping, you know, you can kind of get an idea of. Bourbon barrel, like my question, I would love to talk to them and be like,
00:28:27
Speaker
How'd you do it? Because maybe they just wash it. The bourbon barrel in the drink. Maybe it's just kind of in there for a little bit. We've got enough time from when this episode actually comes out to maybe even reach out. Yeah. I mean, I would be really curious to know what the bourbon barrel process is. Because it says bourbon barrel hard cider. It doesn't say bourbon barrel aged.
00:28:48
Speaker
But good point that could just be semantics. and like that it's you know And there were some, I did see some barrels outside of where you pay for everything. I could have been more proactive and and asked questions, but the kid that was taking care of us only really knew about the apples and he did a great job. Somebody yeah somebody asked him a question about the fruit. he He was like, you know, I really don't know much about the fruit, but I can tell you everything you need to know about the apples that we have out there. So kudos to him. He was very nice.
00:29:15
Speaker
yeah so because i've had i've got every Oh, Mittens from when virtue did Mittens. Oh, yeah, like that was like you got barrel. You got Apple. You got everything.
00:29:30
Speaker
I feel like there was another barrel-aged cider. And i'm sure theyre I'm sure we've had more, but... I was more curious to see how, like bourbon, again, i mean we did add bourbon to one of the ciders, so I was just you know curious, like, ooh, I want to try this. Yeah. I don't regret it. It's a good hard cider.
00:29:51
Speaker
Maybe I try this in a cocktail as well. I don't know. I can drink it straight up. If it didn't say bourbon barrel on it, yeah I couldn't have told you that there was bourbon barrel in it. Same here. Yeah. It's very interesting. It's a very nice cider. That's the unfortunate part because now I'm going to ask you, Brandon, how many barrels are you giving this? Because it's supposed to be a bourbon barreled hard cider,
00:30:20
Speaker
I'm gonna go 3-2. I'm going 3 on that aspect. I almost went 3, but yeah. If, again, I don't like this. If I was just going on the cider aspect of it though, because I feel like this is the closest thing we're gonna get to their regular cider. Yeah. I give it like a 3-7. Okay. Or just the cider part. Yeah. But because it says bourbon barrel age and we're not, or bourbon barrel.
00:30:40
Speaker
Not getting a lot of that bourbon barrel. It's definitely like a a three. Yeah. just Just missing it. But
Michigan Cider Market Insights
00:30:44
Speaker
it's delicious. Yeah, no, I agree. I'm interested. I really do regret not buying a mix of the cans and we could have just done a whole episode on yeah and this place. But between the two, hey, I'm not going to kick these out of bed. If somebody offered me these hard ciders, I wouldn't be like, no thanks. Yeah. Both of these are are very tasty. Yeah, very good. I like it. I was surprised how much wine and cider was within the small amount of traveling that I did in lower Michigan. no du That's like their forte apparently. I didn't realize that. I just go up there for breweries. Yeah well I mean like there's just there's a market and people know that that's the market and they're trying to get into it so.
00:31:32
Speaker
I like it, I mean, like I said, especially this time of year, grabbing some hard cider, perfect time, perfect time to give it a try. I do tend to lean towards cherry ciders. I just like, that's what I make. There's just something about yeah cherries and apples. Yeah, cherries good. Oh my god, the ciders though are really getting me.
00:31:52
Speaker
good was the most ever burped out episode and I apologize everybody. He apologizes. He's pretty sorry. Alright. So, the very last thing that we have is a beer from... I really hope I'm pronouncing this town properly.
00:32:12
Speaker
Casopolis, Michigan Brewing. So this is Casopolis Brewing. Apparently they... it had taken some time for them to open, I guess. Okay. Because they had t-shirts up that said,
00:32:23
Speaker
It was worth the wait 2024. So they had just opened up this summer. So I had nothing about it. I had happened cause I knew where I was staying and I was like, there's gotta be a brewery nearby. This place was opened up. Uh, nice little place. Uh, they had four beers on tap. They had a light lager. I forget how they described it. It was maybe like a first runnings or something like that. I I'm I know that's not correct, but they had a light lager.
00:32:51
Speaker
regular logger, a porter, and a West Coast IPA. Okay. As much as I wanted to do the porter, because you know me, you got me a good porter. I was like, let's let's judge this on the West Coast IPA. And this is nose plugger IPA, which is 6.9%. I'm going to turn the glasses for this one. That's all right. I'm going to talk about this place real quick. now My experience there. It was very cool. It's a small place, but they have a giant patio. They had some TVs on, not all over the place, but
00:33:24
Speaker
you know, small town Michigan, people are going to be watching college football on a Saturday and that's exactly what was happening. Everybody was super nice and I, with servers going in and out of the kitchen.
00:33:37
Speaker
I got to see the inner workings of their kitchen, and it looked like a serious kitchen. I'm talking about, you know, chef and and line cooks with like the black coats on and everything, and the the food menu, they had a lot of small plates. ah Looked very good. The first thing they had on there was Brussels sprouts with balsamic glaze on top, yeah just like how um old Irving has. who There was my old Irving mentioned. You already did one so I had to do an old Irving mention as well. um But I decided to go with the pizza because I saw the pizzas coming out and I'm pretty sure it's like a
00:34:16
Speaker
I don't know if it's a wood fire pizza or they had a pizza stone or they just, even if they have like what you can have at home, like an oni or something like that. Pizzas look great. So I got one that had pepperoni and it wasn't like pepperoni slices, like the circles. It was like cut up like strips of pepperoni and fresh tomato on there. Nice. my only um It wasn't huge, but it was perfect size. My only problem with it is that they, I think they threw the basil on while it was baking.
00:34:43
Speaker
o So because it wasn't burnt, but it it definitely got charred. Maybe they threw it on at the end. So I mean, it wasn't bad. Yeah. But I like and basil goes on a pizza like that. I like it to be fresh. But yeah,
Casopolis Brewing Experience
00:34:55
Speaker
it's crispy. So it's kind of cool for the texture. But there was yellow and red like tomato slice on it. There's like four slices on this little pizza. OK. It was actually really good. I really liked it. um Everybody there was really nice. And I'm going to pour this.
00:35:10
Speaker
I already have my opinion on it. Now, I did have to travel with this unrefrigerated. Ooh, would you hear that? I think we're OK. It stayed cold. um Brandon, I want you to give me your impression on it. Also, I'm going to let you keep this here to drink this week, if you would like. It's all great. You've got plenty of cooler light by me. If you don't want it, I'll take it back. But we'll be the judge of this ah after we we finish this beer.
00:35:39
Speaker
That was pretty good. Yeah, because they still smells good, I didn't know that they had just opened this summer. Yeah. I was hoping that maybe they had like some four packs to go. And I asked, I said, do you guys have anything to go? And like, we do a growler. And I was like, OK, I'll do that. I figured go with the one beer that I tried from there. I did. Actually, I take that back. I did try the light lager as well. I had a little sample of that.
00:36:07
Speaker
It was good. It was definitely a lighter lager. I want to say it still came in, I think, between four and a half to five percent. It was very bready. And that's not a bad thing. Just not something you expect from a light lager. It had like a taste of a regular lager, but lighter. Does that make sense? Yeah. No, I get it. So I got this. It's an amberish brown color. This looks like a Good old-fashioned IPA from back in the day. Let's give a sip.
00:36:42
Speaker
That held up to me. It's good. I would say also take another sip or some water because we just had cider. So it's kind of messing with my palate because, and it's not ice cold, so I apologize. Yeah, it's OK. I was really impressed with this beer. like I like it. Yeah, it's it's a good beer.
00:37:03
Speaker
especially for a place that just opened up. And my first impression was this beer, which once I saw it, or once I tried it, I was like, this is the beer that I want to take home. Yeah. What's the, do you know the ABV on it? 6.9 according to the tag. Okay. It feels like it would be heavier. Yeah. It's it's got a nice multi-body to it.
00:37:23
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And i wantt you're always someone who's good at like pointing out maltiness and IPAs. And like when i sat when I tried it, I was like, I think Brandon might really like this one. Yeah. And I was going to say, it's got that that it's got a huge malt body. um And it's it's bordering on breadiness. But I feel like it's not quite there. There's some bitterness that comes through. I don't know if this falls into the category of a true West Coast IPA.
00:37:54
Speaker
But it's a fucking great beer. Yeah, I feel like.
00:38:02
Speaker
I mean, again, we're dealing with semantics here now. We're dealing with the bitterness. Growler, traveling, it's been a week. like When I had it, I gave this a four, a solid four. OK. Delicious West Coast IPA, glad I stopped here.
00:38:19
Speaker
um It wasn't ice cold, but it was colder than this. Yeah. And I feel like the, it just reminded me of like when I first got into craft beer. Yeah. And it feels like mouthfeel. It feels like super thick. Yeah. Like there's a, there's a, there's a nice mouth. Huge. too Yeah. Huge body. and thick body yeah Not like fixed out. Yeah. But but no, it's it's there. It's hefty and it's, dude, it's fucking good.
00:38:43
Speaker
there Some of the reviews they had on untapped was, I almost only want to drink this one when I'm here. My check-in, delicious West Coast IPA, glad I stopped here. Somebody else just gave it a 3.75, there's a 4, there's a 4, and there's, I mean, it's it's a brand new facility, and like I said, it's very nice, nice little place, everybody was super cool, too many bees outside, so I had to come inside, especially when I got food, I was like, this is gonna be a bad idea, they'll swarm me.
00:39:15
Speaker
um I will say that this is a place that I think it's very cool that um if I find myself back up that way I would like to see where they land in a
Closing Thoughts and Social Media Shoutout
00:39:27
Speaker
year. Yeah. Like I said they had four beers on tap and they had some other things as well. Maybe some guest pours or something but overall I was really pleased with this.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. um Really well done. um It's got a perfect balance of bitterness. that That's the one thing now that's like, maybe not that much West Coast, because the maltiness is like so prominent. So that's what I think about when it comes to West Coast IPAs is that there's a big multi-body, but then there's a big. Big, bitter, like, yeah. So that's where,
00:40:06
Speaker
I think we're missing that. I think, I do think that maybe, although I would say that if we had like sweet cider, the bitterness would pop up more. Yeah. I didn't feel that way about it when I had it on draft fresh, but I have that now. And again, whether it's from the travel from two days ago or whatever, overall still a solid West Coast. Yeah, not not taking away from this beer. It's very much a very good beer.
00:40:34
Speaker
And I think when someone says, hey, we're gonna, my mic is still working. I did not, I knew it. I brought it back bar back. Sorry about the last episode or not the last episode, but you know, a couple of episodes ago. For someone to say like, or for a brewery to say like, hey, we're doing a West Coast IPA, especially in these days of like hazy IPAs and Actually, just hazy and juicy IPAs. Yeah. If you're going to do that and someone orders it, it better be like a West Coast IPA. Yeah. I'm not disappointed with this one. No, no. Color and aroma. Could the bitterness be a little more bumped up? Sure. Yeah. But overall, very tasty. I like this. Agreed. How many dying wasps are you giving this? Because all these wasps were going crazy. I'm going to go four.
00:41:23
Speaker
I'm going to sit with my four as well. It was very good. Um, I would like to head back up that way and, and, and see what else they have to offer. Cause it's very good beer. And, uh, God, if they can do a West Coast IPA like this, I'm wondering how good that Porter would have been. Yeah. I wish I could have got like a crawler because I didn't want a full, you know, two growlers of beer. Well, I mean, maybe next time there, you know,
00:41:50
Speaker
We'll just drive out there together, me and you. We'll do it. Johnny Brandon. Fuck Clark. Go to the same Airbnb that I stayed at. it You and I can swim in the pool together. We go in the hot tub together. There's a pool? There was kittens. What? Kittens in hot tubs and pools? I know how to pick Airbnbs. What? Yeah. It's pretty great. Also, I had cornfields, so I thought maybe the children in the corn were going to come and get me at one point. Maybe they did. Maybe they replaced me. And I'm telling you here on the episode. Oh, god. He's going to die. Brandon, but if we had to rent these, as we sometimes do,
00:42:21
Speaker
Not talking shit about any of these, but for the evening, how are you ranking everything, buddy? I'm going this beer that we had first. Yes, I'm with you. I'm going to go the cherry cider second, I think. Are you going with you guys there as well? The other cider. The diamond or the barrel?
00:42:40
Speaker
the the barrel cider second, and then the other one last. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm ah i'm with you on that. We basically just went backwards order from how we drank everything. Yeah. You go and save the best for life. you did. And again, I thought everything was delicious. There's nothing here that was not bad. I'm very happy with everything that I purchased. Um, I got that cherry wine. We got a You know, we talked about this, so we need to sneak that into an episode. I still have root beer brats to to eat with you. Now I got cherry wine to drink with you. Yep. Everything I bring from our neighboring states, I'm thinking about you, buddy. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. Always, man. You're always in my heart. When I was in the hot tub, I was like, wish Brandon was here.
00:43:27
Speaker
ah Oh, man. ah Yeah, so I would say something about a Great American Beer Fest, but that episode has already come out, and hopefully it was a good time. I can't imagine it not being a good time, right? Yeah. That's one of his dies. Am I going to die there? You bite. I don't know. I don't see you dying. I see maybe it's me. Yeah, probably. So if I did die, hey, everybody, this has been awesome. And as always, Brandon, I love you. Love you too, man. And we'll see everybody next week. Unless I'm dead, it'll just be Brandon. Bye.
00:43:58
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Hope Chicago. On Twitter, The Ace of Hope Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three. Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and the hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.