Coffee beer is so 2020. Espresso martinis are the thing of 2022. 2023 is the year of coffee cider, or at least a few months of it are anyway. That’s thanks to Locust Cider, who are doing a limited release Cold Brew Hard Cider, and it’s so crazy it just might work.
Brought to our attention by King 5 News in Seattle, the latest quaff is from nearby Gig Harbor’s Locust Cider, who have teamed up with neighboring coffee roasters Cutters Point. The rather unique collaboration—made with Washington apples and a blend of coffees from Colombia, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua—is described as “coffee forward” and having notes of “toasted mallow, baker’s chocolate, amaretto, and light spice, balanced with hazelnut and vanilla.” Even still, the 6.3% ABV hard cider has a pale golden color.
“That’s what I’m hearing the most is how come it’s not dark? The honest answer is it doesn’t need to be,” Locust Cider head cider maker Eric Smith tells King 5. “The coffee that we’re using has a really rich profile and that flavor carries a long way without having to use a lot of it.”
At first blush, cold brew and cider seems like an odd pairing. (The obvious choice here would be a cascara cider, which if any cider makers are listening, make a cascara cider, please and thank you.) But if you really think about it, there’s a lot of tasty potential there. As Tiktok taught us—and every Gen X cafe owner shortly thereafter haranguing that they did it first—espresso and orange juice is a very good drink. Ciders need not be of the tart, crisp variety. Like apples themselves, a good cider can have a range of flavors, including something more conducive to warming spices and say, coffee. Have you ever split an elegant, semi-sweet bottle of perry at 2am in East London? It’s a magical experience. Let’s hear ‘em out is all I’m saying.
So if there are any adventurous cider drinkers out there looking to add a little buzz to their booze, Locust Cider’s Cold Brew Hard Cider is available for a limited time starting this month and going until it’s gone. Locust has taprooms across Washington as well as a few in the Denver area and one in Fort Worth, Texas. For those living outside those regions, six-packs of 12oz cans can be purchased directly from the cider company online. For more information, visit Locust Cider’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
