To make a sour cider is to welcome the wildness of nature into the cider barn — where the fruit of the harvest is gathered, introduced to select microorganisms renowned for stirring up delightful complexity, and then blended from tank and barrel. Sour ales are as old as brewing itself and we reach back in time to the wild multi-organism fermentation traditions developed over the centuries – using a variety of tools and techniques: family paddles, monastery barrels, and now commercialized yeast strains – to ferment ciders, beers, and meads. We hope you will find surprising joy in these dynamic, and sometimes provocative, ciders...
Our Pome & Stone sour cider is a blend of ciders fermented in barrels and steel tanks and then combined and finished in a ‘Lambic’ style. Historically, a fermented sour beer, called ‘gueuze,’ is fruited with the brewer’s choice of fresh fruit. This fruit ferments on top of the beer and adds a fresh and sharp fruit profile to the nose and the palate. At Finnriver, we added 100 pounds of Tonnemaker Farms whole organic apricots to a blended tank of soured cider (our gueuze)and let the resident yeast/bacteria finish their life on ripe apricot goodness. Gently carbonated to let the funk shine through and pasteurized to hold the sweetness. Fermented with three strains of Brettanomyces yeast, then soured with Pediococcus and Lactobacillus, the blend was gently oaked and completed with a lambic style, fruit finish.
Reviews
Dry apricot cider. Bitter and murky.