Ace Perry

Last night I took advantage of the Sanctuary‘s weekly three dollar “pint” special. Note these are not full 16oz pints, but rather on the order of twelve ounces.

I had a glass of the pear cider from California Cider Company (Ace) in the Sonoma region. Micro cider is starting to become a big thing. Just offhand I can think of four other cideries: Fox Barrel also in California, Sutliff here in Iowa, Warwick Valley in New York, and the Spire Mountain ciders brewed by Fish Brewing in Washington state. I’m sure I am missing scores of them. Perry is a cider made with mostly apple juice and some percentage of pear juice, and usually has a pretty strong pear flavor.

The Ace Pear Cider pours a brilliant yellow (I won’t mention what is also this color) with no head at all. Some ciders will pour a wimpy head that sits for a moment, but the Ace is entirely head-free. The aroma is very light, but I can surely detect fruit: apples, pears, and also berries. This cider is very active, with an almost painful carbonation. That did serve to bring out the light flavors of pear, but may not have been worth it. The taste is very cidery, with a clean, dry apple flavor and just a hint of pear (unfortunately it doesn’t taste at all like Bosc, the king of pears, and my favorite variety). Overall this isn’t that bad, but I, like many beer drinkers, really have to be impressed by cider.

+/-Ace Pear Cider

2.7 (2-5-6-3-11)

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