Cider Tasting

My people come from Virginia. Like, can trace them to boats landing at Jamestown, Virginia. As most of the family still lives there, we travel north for Christmas. After a few days in very close quarters with loud, loving family.... it's time to head out and try the local breweries, distilleries, wineries, anything really. 

In addition to the many wineries that produce lovely Virginia vintages, new breweries have popped up all over the Shenandoah Valley and are a wonderful addition to the community and the previously empty farmland. 

I love beer, we know, we've established this. So when someone suggested we go check out the new cider (brewery/distillery (?)) I made quite the obnoxious face 'Ugh, gross, cider is for girls (insulting my own people), it's too sweet, why would I want to do that?!'.... My face is very expressive. But when my cousin added 'After that we'll go to that brewery you love and play cornhole.', I was in. It doesn't take much.

So off we went to Bold Rock Hard Cider.

Bold Rock opened just last year in Nellysford, Virginia and is a collaboration between a local Virginian and a cider expert from New Zealand. The farm is beautiful and on a sunny, warm day you can bring a picnic basket and wander into the orchards for some lunch.

They've done a really nice job with the temporary tasting room space, it's a timber barn built with recycled materials that serves as both the tasting room and cidery, but they are currently under construction on the official cider tasting room.

"We’re using recycled materials in our new construction, like handmade bricks from an old house demolished in Batesville.  Our new building will have SIPS panels that insulate with a higher R value than required.  We got EPA approval for our septic plan, despite cideries having very low BODs when compared to breweries. We use local Virginia apples in our ciders and they come from within 20 miles of our cidery.  The pomace that remains from juicing apples goes to feed pigs and cattle of local farmers or goes into compost to fertilize our orchard. We have an award "For Exceptional Environmental Stewardship" for letting the state put a wetland and boulder pools to stabilize the river channel on our land."                     - Bold Rock Hard Cider Website

I like a business that respects not only the environment they occupy, but also the land surrounding them and the local businesses and farms that form their community. I was impressed already, and I hadn't even started drinking yet.

Inside we went for our cider tasting. The bar is nicely situated and the tasting is FREE. Plus we had the nicest girl do our tasting, she was polite, kind and very well-informed on the process and product of the cidery. 

I should also add that I was 100% completely wrong with my earlier mad facial exercise. Everything we tasted was absolutely delicious and completely worth a drive to the gorgeous Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains. I didn't know I could love cider. But I loved this.

We began with the Virginia Apple. Best served ice cold, it's crisp, sweet but not too sweet, the ideal beverage on a hot day, or, as our tasting helper informed us, also good in a camelback and sipped while snowboarding. I would agree that it was very refreshing. 

(photo courtesy of nelsoncountylife.com)

The family agrees too

Next was the Virginia Draft. More mellow than the first, but more depth as well. I would still want to drink this as cold as possible, but it reminded me a little of hot apple cider. This was the favorite with the boys.

(photo courtesy of localbeerblog.com)

I took a moment to take some arty shots around the cidery...

Look! My legs reflected in the tanks! Clearly I needed more to drink.

Now we moved on to the fancy cider. 

We tried the Crimson Ridge Dry first, and though I would drink this without hesitation, it is quite dry and was probably my least favorite. But that is a personal preference. I don't like really dry Champagne either. If you do, buy this.

The Crimson Ridge Vat No. 1 was amazingly well-rounded, full of body and depth and not your typical cider-sweet. It tasted more like a sweet Champagne, fruity yes, but not over powering- absolutely delicious.

We liked this very much...

Pinky finger in the air. Aren't we fancy.

Finally it was time to go play cornhole, but for our last and final tank shot... my favorite by far.

Christmas card in the making. Or an album cover.

Bold Rock was the perfect family outing, I look forward to visiting again this summer and maybe having wee picnic in the grass... after purchasing cider on site. Maybe more like a lovely post-food and cider nap in the grass. That sounds nice too.

Bold Rock is open 7 days a week from 11am - 5pm. Go for a visit and buy lots and lots of cider!