Best yeast and hops for dry dark cider?

I want to produce a very dry, dark, spiced, and heavily hopped cider (have posted a recipe that I'm planning to use) and I'm wondering if there are any yeast strains that would best facilitate this. I want to develop the body of a winter warmer but with out the syrupy sweetness. Something along the lines of this year's Anchor Christmas Ale (excellent!) but from a cider.

Any advice?

Oh, and I'm planning to use Simcoe hops, thoughts on this?

I've made a really good cider with a champagne yeast. It left it dry, with little residual sweetness. I have also made some with danstar Nottingham yeast but it was too sweet. As for the simcoe hops, it's totally up to your taste. Personally I wouldn't want a bitter piney flavor in my cider, but if that's what you're looking for go for it! Personally if I were hopping a cider I'd use something more floral or citrusy.

Thanks for the advice!
What kind of head did the champagne yeast create?

There wasn't a head on it with the champagne yeast that I can remember. It was more wine like unlike the well known woodchucks cider. But I also fermented it for close to a year.

I never get a head on cider. It is more like champagne.

Any yeast will dry it out provided you don't exceed the abv limit of the yeast, which is easy to do with adding sugar to a cider.

I think ale yeasts give more flavor than wine yeasts. I particularly like Belgian yeasts or Brett in ciders.

Not sure hops go with cider, but if that's what you want, go for it. Report back on the results.

Thanks NicoleBrewer and Calder. I've gotten foamy heads on cider using ale yeast and brief (a week) fermentation without aging (I call it a green cider, don't know if there is a proper name for it), maybe a secondary and brief fermentation with a heavy addition of juice would do the trick?

As for dry hopped cider, I thought that I came up with the idea the other day and decided to try it. Turns out there are a lot of breweries in the NW doing some dry hopped ciders. I just bottled my first batch tonight, and will indeed report back the results.

I have dry-hopped a cider with cascade and it was great. Did you ever do this and how did it turn out?