I have tried cider, in the past including pear cider, and I have even tried cider from this particular cidery (and even though autocorrect has tried to change it twice, that’s the word, it’s on the label) but two things stood out about this particular bottle: first of all – rhubarb and elderberry? Rhubarb okay, but the only other time I think I have ever heard the word elderberry is in reference to Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Second of all – it was in the vegetable section so I count drinking this bottle as having consumed two servings of vegetables.

Cider is one of those things I have always enjoyed but it’s played the roll of “starter drink in polite company” or “acknowledgment that it’s fall and I want to get something good out of the season rather than just raking leaves and dealing with the rain”. In terms of alcohol content, this is in the same neighborhood of normal beer at 6.5% but the way this tastes you do run the risk of it sneaking up on you and kicking you in the head the next day if you’re not careful.

The advantage of pear cider is that it eliminates the cloying sour aftertaste and the acidic finish in the stomach that one gets after drinking a significant amount of apple cider. The problem with pear cider is that it’s boring and not nearly as complex as apple cider flavor wise so amping it up with some other flavors is a no brainer.

In the end, I give this two thumbs up. Beer will still be my go to drink but this provides a nice alternative and I really hope it’s still around when we get into warm summer weather as it would be great to add something to the peche lambik for hot summer days sitting on the front porch with my wife. In fact it would be worth putting away a couple if I thought I wouldn’t drink them before summer arrives. Two thumbs up!