Angry Orchard

I picked up a bottle of Angry Orchard last week and it it my new quest for a cider. Any suggestions or recipes?

Hi, this got posted in the recipe database for ciders, where people can enter tried-and-true cider recipes. I've moved it to the Cider forum where you are more likely to get responses. Also, take a look around the Cider forum, lots of good info here. Cheers!

Havent had angry orchard. Is it like Crispin?
I do love Crispin.

I just saw them in the Grocery Store while I was picking up some Sweetwater 420s. $13.99 for a 12're of beer or $17.99 for a 12're of Angry Little Bottles...I bought the beer instead.

I have no clue what it tastes like.

dannyrodge said:

I picked up a bottle of Angry Orchard last week and it it my new quest for a cider. Any suggestions or recipes?

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No recipe suggestions here, but you mentioned bottle as opposed to bottles. Was this Strawman or Iceman by chance? I haven't opened my bottle of Strawman yet, but Iceman is fantastic. Iceman is an ice cider, like ice wine. So to reproduce that you would need to get an arse load of concentrate, preferably made from frozen fresh pressed apple juice.

I think a few people in here are trying to reproduce Angry Orchard Crisp and dry.

UpstateMike took a hydrometer reading on one of the AA ciders, with a final reading of 1.030 if that helps.

Yowza! That seems like it will be some sweet cider!

Pickled_Pepper said:

Yowza! That seems like it will be some sweet cider!

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Yes, Angry Orchard makes Wilford Brimley angry.

Unferth said:

Yes, Angry Orchard makes Wilford Brimley angry.

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Haha! Agreed! I have a taster diabetic friend who knows her sugar. AO has alot. If I have a few of those, I get heartburn and I don't get heartburn much at all. Not sure if it's the sugar/carbonation, but I just simply stay away from all those commercially produced ciders. I wish they didn't taste so fake and "commercial". I guess that's why I make my own good (as natural as possible) stuff with no chemicals and minimal additions. Don't get me wrong, I'll still have a couple of of those and then come home and cuddle up with the real good stuff!

Keep in mind there are five different types of AO ciders including Traditional Dry, Crisp Apple, and Ginger Apple. Haven't tried Iceman or Strawman. I happen to like the three I tried (compared to other commercial ciders at least) But if you're going to accuse it of being too sweet, please specify which one (or all of them if that's your experience) The Ginger apple is very different, and I think you'll hate or like that one for reasons other than just sweetness.

I did a reading on a the ginger, I think it was 1.020 its posted in another thread long lost to my memory.

As for a clone I am almost ready to try mine I need to rack it to my keg carbonate and will then do a side by side test with some AO Crisp that my wife likes so much.

Just as an observation, I noticed reading the ingredients of both Crispin, and Angry Orchard that they are slightly different. AO adds Citric acid to their cider, and Crispin adds Malic acid.

I overlooked that, my recipe is using malic and i think it tastes better which is a personal preference and its deffinatly to sweet so the choice of acid is important, I think I'll add some more malic instead of citric though.

Yes, I have tried both, and prefer malic myself. I feel its a more 'real' tartness.

I ve had 2 draft Angry orchard and i cant believe it made it to the market....Sharp and little, if any flavor to speak of. thankfully all our tastebuds are different.
I have about 25 different flavors in the cellar and will put AO to shame if you ask me and my friends.Thats why i'm going public,to educate about old world cider flavor!!!! My success is a success for us all!!!!!

Good for you Swamp! Good luck with your business.

swampcider said:

I ve had 2 draft Angry orchard and i cant believe it made it to the market....Sharp and little, if any flavor to speak of. thankfully all our tastebuds are different.
I have about 25 different flavors in the cellar and will put AO to shame if you ask me and my friends.Thats why i'm going public,to educate about old world cider flavor!!!! My success is a success for us all!!!!!

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That is awesome. I have already found my simple recipe has more taste than AO now I just need to convince my wife sweet is not better.

dr_al said:

I just need to convince my wife sweet is not better.

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I feel the same way. I love my cider. Its not unadulterated by mass amounts of sugar or anything else. My wife? She likes woodchuck...

If you can get your hands on some New Glarus Spotted Cow, mix that half/half with AO cider. Its delicious! We call in an Angry Cow. It may be hard to find Spotted Cow because I think New Glarus is only available in Wisconsin. It was my favorite beer, till I started brewing my own

To the sweet critics.....Are you really going to deny the benefits of having the ladies drink?

In my case it helps her tolerate my brewing hobby.


Brew on

my favorite is the crisp apple it is amazing that is what i want to make

On the bright side, after this batch which is less sweet than AO my wife thinks its to sweet but she still likes it way better. Maybe I'm short on acid and its not balancing the sweet, either way I'm learning and the less added sugar the better for us.

I finally broke down and picked up a 6're of the Crisp this past weekend. I drank them all before I could get a Gravity Reading on it. They have a nice tart pucker to them, but I tend to agree with some on here that it's still a mass produced taste. I think my hard cider using sto'bought AJ comes in as good. The AO has a slight bit more complexity, but I personally don't think it's worth almost $10 a 6 pack. Well, I don't think ANY commercial brew is worth that much if you can make something at home that's close.

Good luck with the clone! Hope to hear how it turns out.

Just picked up some new AO release called Elder Flower. I'll take a reading on it tonight and post the results.

cuvtixo said:

Keep in mind there are five different types of AO ciders including Traditional Dry, Crisp Apple, and Ginger Apple. Haven't tried Iceman or Strawman. I happen to like the three I tried (compared to other commercial ciders at least) But if you're going to accuse it of being too sweet, please specify which one (or all of them if that's your experience) The Ginger apple is very different, and I think you'll hate or like that one for reasons other than just sweetness.

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Iceman and Strawman are completely different animals from the regular AO.
I don't like the sweet ciders that angry orchard produces but then I tried to Strawman and I was pleasantly surprised