Nose: Floral apples and earthy wet leaves.

Taste: Clean appley taste, light acidity and a hint of sweetness.

Overall: I like it.

Nose: Slightly appley.

Taste: Lightly effervescent, fairly dry with a nice malic tartness and decent apple flavour.

Overall: Light and refreshing, but there’s not much to it.

Appearance: Golden yellow, a slight haze.

Nose: Apples and alcohol.

Taste: Funky, apple-y, and dry. Some rubber and yeast notes.

Mouthfeel: Dry, some hot alcohol.

Overall: Definitely could do with some age (whoops, my bad). Though I try not to get tetchy about such things it's also way out of style for an apfelwein, being carbonated and much too strong.

Appearance: Very light gold body, nice perlage.

Nose: Dry acidic apple. Lemon and musky floral notes.

Taste: Tart and acidic with a light sweetness. Clean, crisp apple. Long finish with some Riesling-like diesel character.

Overall: Nice acidity, decent complexity, and a great finish. Highly recommended.

Appearance: Crystal-clear body coloured a deep coppery orange.

Nose: Acidic apple character displays some mustiness.

Taste: Lightly sweet front, mild tannins and medium acidity heading into the finish. Slight fruity esters and a mild generic apple taste.

Mouthfeel: Light and crisp with medium carbonation. A bit of astringency on the finish.

Overall: Not bad at all. Very refreshing, with a good balance of sweetness and tart acidity. Straightforward and well executed.

Recipe background: Formulated as a standard cyser, should end up dry to off-dry at around 14% ABV.

Ingredients:
4.5 gallons apple juice
10 pounds bakery grade honey

1 ounce yeast energizer (DAP, yeast hulls, MgSO4, Vitamin B)
WYeast 4134 Sake #9

Procedure: Juice came in six 3 quart containers. For each: poured one quart into fermenter (Primary #2), added 2 to 3 pounds of honey, shook for ten to fifteen seconds, poured another quart into fermenter, shook for ten to fifteen seconds, and poured the remainder in. First jug also had yeast energizer added. Once all of the juice was in the fermenter, capped and shook the fermenter.

OG was 1.104, pitched activated smack pack @ 65 °F ambient temperature.

2008-02-10: Gravity at 1.078
2008-02-21: Gravity at 1.064. Tastes great, but is way too sweet. Possible stalled fermentation. Let you know in a few days.
2008-02-26: Yep, stalled. Pitched rehydrated packet of Nottingham.

Presentation: Brown 22oz bomber with a crown cap. Pours a clear light amber. 6% ABV

Nose: Earthy apple aroma with perhaps a hint of acetic acid and yeast.

Taste: Sweet and tart with a mild acidity, a mildly funky earthiness and some bready yeast notes.

Overall: A bit on the sweet side, but the complexity and acidity balance that nicely.

Presentation: Green stubbie, pours a slightly green-tinted clear. 5% ABV.

Nose: Green apple and a light earthiness.

Taste: Slightly sweet; crisp granny smith flavour with mild tartness.

Overall: Clean, light cider. As a cider it's not very impressive, but it's certainly quite refreshing.

Presentation: Tall, 375 mL clear glass bottle. Spirit-style cork, rather than the typical wine cork. 16% ABV, pours a medium tan.

Nose: Apples and maple syrup. Hint of raisins and…tar?

Taste: Nice flavour profile. Nutty maple syrup with a background of apples. Definite raisin notes in the middle and a short, caramel finish. A bit too sweet.

Overall: Drinkable. Slightly unbalanced, but might be nice with soft to semi-hard savoury cheeses. I wouldn't pair it with anything sweet.

Presentation: 1 liter brown glass bottle with a screwtop.

Appearance: Pours very clear; light amber colour.

Nose: Apples and cinnamon with citrus (lemon?) notes.

Taste: Fairly sweet, with a light apple pie flavour. Definite lemon undertones. Long cinnamon finish, with some “earthy” tones.

Overall: Clean, simple taste; very nice in a warm mug on a cold winter night.