Bourbon Barrels for Cider
Until stainless steel tanks came along, fermenting cider in oak barrels was the norm. Borrowing a page from inventive craft breweries which use spirits barrels to age beer, Left Field Cider Co. of Mamette Lake, B.C., makes use of a bourbon barrel to ferment its premium, Winemaker’s Select, small batch, English-style cider.
Left Field cider maker/co-owner Kate Garthwaite explains the story of bourbon barrel fermented cider: “When I was working in England, for Ross-on-Wye Cider and Perry, they produce a number of ciders that are fermented in both Whisky and Rum barrels. I always quite enjoyed them and when we started Left Field Cider I thought it might be interesting to try some small batches of cider fermented in spirit barrels. Once I started looking around I discovered that in BC whiskey and rum barrels were rather hard to come by, but there was an abundance of bourbon barrels available as they can only be used once in bourbon production. I thought that the smokiness of the bourbon would pair nicely with cider so we produced a small batch of bourbon barrel fermented in 2013. It was so well received that we decided to produce another batch in 2014.” The barrel influence adds a bittersweet spice character to the clean, slightly yeasty, effervescent brew with freshly-picked, crisp, juicy apple flavours. Packaging consists of a 750 ml. bottle in the style of a large format, Belgian beer, capped rather than corked, and an iconic, partly hand-written label.
