Cider!

We brewed a cider! We didn't press the apples ourselves (maybe someday...) but the fermentation and bottling was all us. We used 2 gallons of orchard-fresh cider and champagne yeast, which gave it nice small bubbles and a really clean taste. We dry-hopped one gallon -- poured the cider over a bag of dry hops as we bottled it -- and you can taste the piney hops a little bit. It's strong, too, and extra dry. 100% fermented success on the first try!

We're planning on doing many more batches, so if you have any creative ideas, send them our way! A ginger cider/beer, pear cider, and honeydew melon cider and are potential next batches...

We have one more batch fermenting in the closet right now: 3 gallons of Apple & Eve apple juice dumped on top of a German yeast cake from our last batch of wheat beer. It's pretty stinky... fermentation looks healthy, though!