I've made this recipe a few times now and I really love the result, so I thought I'd share. It's inspired by one of my favorite beers, Northern Brewer's Bourbon Barrel Porter.
Essentially you just make a basic cider template, back sweeten with apple juice concentrate, and add bourbon that's been soaking some oak cubes for 3 days. The amount of back-sweetening and bourbon/oak can be easily varied to taste, but I'll give you all my starting point and you can play with it from there.
Cider Template:
5 gallons apple juice (I prefer Kirkland brand if you have a Costco)
1 tbsp yeast nutrient
Nottingham yeast
I'm not sure if there is an official name for this, but I refer to it as my cider template. I always have 5 gallons of this sitting in my basement waiting for a keg spot to free up and then I decide how I want to finish it. After you add the yeast it should take ~2 weeks for it to ferment and clarify, etc. After that it can keep indefinitely until you're ready to finish it.
Finishing:
2 cans apple juice concentrate. (I use tree top but I don't think it matters much)
2 cups bourbon.
2 oz. toasted oak cubes.
Soak the oak cubes in the bourbon for 3 days, strain out the bourbon, and add the bourbon and apple juice concentrate to the cider template. Store the cider by your preferred method (as mentioned, I like to just Keg it for simplicity).
The result should be a pleasantly dry, crisp cider with some hints of a bourbon's rich savory taste and oak tones. If you don't know, you can easily buy toasted oak cubes from your local home brew supply store or at any number of brew stores online.
Essentially you just make a basic cider template, back sweeten with apple juice concentrate, and add bourbon that's been soaking some oak cubes for 3 days. The amount of back-sweetening and bourbon/oak can be easily varied to taste, but I'll give you all my starting point and you can play with it from there.
Cider Template:
5 gallons apple juice (I prefer Kirkland brand if you have a Costco)
1 tbsp yeast nutrient
Nottingham yeast
I'm not sure if there is an official name for this, but I refer to it as my cider template. I always have 5 gallons of this sitting in my basement waiting for a keg spot to free up and then I decide how I want to finish it. After you add the yeast it should take ~2 weeks for it to ferment and clarify, etc. After that it can keep indefinitely until you're ready to finish it.
Finishing:
2 cans apple juice concentrate. (I use tree top but I don't think it matters much)
2 cups bourbon.
2 oz. toasted oak cubes.
Soak the oak cubes in the bourbon for 3 days, strain out the bourbon, and add the bourbon and apple juice concentrate to the cider template. Store the cider by your preferred method (as mentioned, I like to just Keg it for simplicity).
The result should be a pleasantly dry, crisp cider with some hints of a bourbon's rich savory taste and oak tones. If you don't know, you can easily buy toasted oak cubes from your local home brew supply store or at any number of brew stores online.
