I went with my friends brew club to an apple orchard in Jan. where we washed, ground, pressed, then bottled 5gal carboys of fresh cider--the smell in the "cellar" was divine.
This was my first attempt at
hard cider and I'm very pleased with the result. Very refreshing, cheap, and delicious.
My friend needed to bottle his Cascadian Dark Ale (fancy name for Black IPA) to send to a competition in Portland, so I went over to "help" him (drink it, that is).
I'm not a fan of B Ipas but he nailed this one. Super hop forward, with a semi-sweet chocolate finish/aftertaste. Went great with my Illusione 88.