VALVERDE — I am at my best when the weather gets cooler.  Sure, you get short days, but in return, you are rewarded with bracing, chilly solitude. This year has been the exception to the rule: we have hardly had a touch of true fall weather.

There’s a beverage designed for this time of year.  It’s cider. When the whole world is going gaga for pumpkin spice, I will turn to cider, any day. Apples are my real fruit love, and while they arguably do not belong in beer, they have a higher calling: Cider.

My curiosity about Colorado Cider was sparked when I tried their tasty brews at a recent festival.  I looked on their website, a lo, a real cidery!  They’ve planted trees on Colorado’s Western Slope and this year gave them their first harvest so look for a specialty cider “Block One” in late Spring of 2017.

On our recent visit, we tried the whole gamut, starting with the traditional: Glider Cider.

Glider comes in at 6.5% ABV and is spicy, lightly acidic, clean and light. 

Glider Dry still clocks in at 6.5% ABV and is decidedly less spicy and more apple forward.  I love dry ciders, and I found this quite tasty.

The Rad’lah was next, 6.9% ABV. Super herbaceous, this tasted minty and clean like lemon balm, with a smack of lemongrass. 

My husband really enjoyed the Pearsnickity.  At 6% ABV, this was dry, lightly sweet, and tasted like “crushed pears and fresh rain.”  Sidenote: this is among the reasons I married the guy!

The Cherry Glider (again, 6.5% ABV) was next and arrived pale pink and rosy.  You could taste the light almond from the cherry pits.

Grasshop-ah was next, again a light lemongrass and a hint of hops.

The Pome Mel (6.5% ABV) was amazing.  Not too sweet, it has a flavor like rosemary and lavender. The color was paler than the traditional Glider.  I liked this one a lot.

Ol’ Stumpy, (6.5%) was made with bittersweet cider apples and aged in a chardonnay barrel.  The Chardonnay imparted a nice buttery kick to the apples.

Now, the experimental ciders:

The Uuvana was fabulous. At 6.9%ABV, it was a bit higher, but the drink was clear, bright and slightly tannic like grape skins.  A great marriage!

The Bear Mel was next, at 6.5% ABV.  I liked this one, while my husband found it to be too sweet.

The Pipzarro (6%) was aged in rum barrels.   This was such a tasty cider that I took some home.  I’d never even considered rum and cider, but on balance, everything worked together pretty darn well.

The Rotating Tap was the Glider, with FRESH Colorado Cascade hops.  I loved this.  The cider itself was slightly cloudy from the hops, but the flavor and aroma were game changers.  I hope it’s there when you show up because it is GOOD.

The Fluchtling was made with Newtown Pippen apples and fermented with Berliner Weisse yeast.  You could taste the apples, along with the lactic tang of the yeast. 

I can’t wait for their crop of apples to come in, according to their website, the first batch will be ready in Spring 2017!  I highly recommend a visit to their website to check out the photos of their orchard.  It’s like a mini-vacation. https://www.coloradocider.com/our-orchard

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to Colorado Cider.  The people were friendly, the music was great, and there was a little spotty cattle dog wandering around the place.  I have but two pieces of constructive criticism: Colorado Cider needs a sign on the sidewalk because it’s in a super industrial location.  They may also consider turning up their heat just a touch because it was chilly!

Colorado Cider
2650 W. 2nd Ave #10 | Denver, CO 80219
https://www.coloradocider.com

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