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Traditional Method Semi-Dry Cider
$18 | 750 ml

The Story of Kingtown Spigold 2016

2016 was a terrible year for making money off of cider, but the ciders themselves were fantastic. Every apple that made it into a bin was special. A spring freeze knocked out a large portion of the crop and was followed by the worst drought in living memory which caused deep damage to trees and dehydrated the fruit.

Towards the end of the harvest season, with only a third of our tanks filled, we got a call from a neighboring orchardist. He had Spigold drops he wanted to sell us off of his large, 35 year old trees. Since we had the tank space, we took them on a whim, curious how they would taste as cider.

Spigold is the daughter of Northern Spy and Golden Delicious. As a commercial eating apple it was totally useless given that is bruises as easily and has as much acid as it's Spy parent. There are how ever, a few Spigold trees here and there in the world. In 2016, Brayton Foster's Kingtown Orchards Spigolds were glowing orbs of sugar and acid. By winter of 2017, the cider they fermented into had a balanced acidity with plenty of dry extract and overt tropical aromas. We decided to put it down for a secondary, in-bottle fermentation. When it came time to disgorge our estate ciders in summer of 2017, the Spigold was quite simply too fruity for our tastes so we let it be. Fruit is nice. We want fruit. But above all, we want balance and balanced this was not. Is was a loud, fruit bomb and with a structure that could not support it.

Finally, after 18 months in bottle, on the lees , this cider has come into it's own. The fruit is still there, sharp and bright, but softened against a backdrop of creaminess, and now balancing perfectly with lively acidity and the most tiny, elegant, persistent bubbles around.

Autumn Stoscheck Cider Maker/ Orchardist