Your favorite cider flavor combos

[412CiderGuy]

I’m experimenting with new flavor combos and looking for some inspiration. Does anyone have any favorite flavor combos they’d like to share? Here is what I’m currently playing with:

Vanilla bean + locally tapped maple syrup

Mint + Lime + Ginger (Moscow mule kinda thing)

Mixed berry

Cinnamon + clove + brown sugar back sweeting

 

[bmd2k1]

Cherry / Ginger / Cinnamon

Pineapple / Jalapeno

Blueberry / lime

Liquid Smoke / Maple

Blueberry / vanilla / Cinnamon / maple

Cranberry

Pomegranate

Charred oak barrel aged


Cheers [emoji111]

 

[Maylar]

I've only done 2 that were not straight ciders - a cherry and a mixed berry. The mixed berry was very nice, the cherry sucked.
Cysers don't count - they're meads.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Well if cysers don't count, then I have to wait a couple weeks for my apple cherry to age a bit more before I try it.

 

[CallyBrewster]

Liquid Smoke / Maple

I wanna hear about the liquid smoke!

Sour cherry is always my favorite addition, black sour cherries like morellos if I can get them. Red Montmorency if I can't. I steeped 4# of dried montmorency in some cider I made for a wedding. Was one of the best batches I ever made.

 

[CKuhns]

Raspberry, Blackberry & Vanilla & Oak, Strawberry, Oak & Cinnamon & Cloves & Vanilla, Pineapple (One of my favorites) = Whole Spices and about 3/4 pound fruit per gallon all in secondary and paint strainer bags for easy of clean up.

 

[bmd2k1]

I wanna hear about the liquid smoke!

Sour cherry is always my favorite addition, black sour cherries like morellos if I can get them. Red Montmorency if I can't. I steeped 4# of dried montmorency in some cider I made for a wedding. Was one of the best batches I ever made.

Once my "plain" cider is done fermenting & cold crashed/racked...I add pure maple syrup - qty to taste - and 1.5-2T per gal of Wright's Hickory Smoke concentrate.

Voila [emoji111]

 

[RPh_Guy]

Apple / fruity Brett / oak is my favorite cider flavor combination.

 

[papz]

Apricot with Almond and a touch of cherry.
Barrel aged.
Vanilla+butter.
Cinnamon.
Dark Cherry.
Cranberry.
Mint.
(the possibilities are endless, i've pretty much liked everything)

 

[S-Met]

Ginger honey (Cyser)
Ginger Hibiscus
Mango - trappist ale yeast

 

[VaBrewer]

I did one with Black Cherry and Concord Grape juice that turned out really nice.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Pineapple/ginger cider
unhopped Graff (just add 8oz DME per gal of juice and ferment as usual)

 

[Steveruch]

Lime and coconut.

 

[AzOr]

Pineapple/ginger cider
unhopped Graff (just add 8oz DME per gal of juice and ferment as usual)

You beat me to it. Pineapple/ginger makes a great cider.
also;
Apple/jalapeno
Apple/ginger
blackberry/ginger

the above with habanero tincture at bottling time. I usually use the tincture in half the batch.

I recently tried a Basil Mint cider on tap. It was really good. Not overdone just well balanced. I will try that soon.

 

[sgreene820]

Blackberry, particularly where cold crashed to off-dry!

 

[MaxStout]

I did one with Black Cherry and Concord Grape juice that turned out really nice.

What proportions of the two?

 

[VaBrewer]

What proportions of the two?

I actually added 1 gallon of Welch's Black Cherry Concord Grape to 4 Gallons of cider and fermented.

 

[MiBeerMan]

I did a cherry with half tart cherry juice and half apple juice. Its still sitting but its definitely on the tart side for taste.
I'm actually redoing a blueberry cider that was decent but flavor wasnt there. going to start a 2/3 blueberry 1/3 blackberry syrup tomorrow and see what happens with that. But my favorite so far has been my peach cider using just old orchard peach mango juice with some peach concentrate

 

[Blacksmith1]

Sadly I can only find old orchard in apple or grape down here. I sent them an email to see if its anywhere in my state but they didn't answer.

 

[MiBeerMan]

I've been pretty happy with old orchard so far. Didn't care for their strawberry rhubarb concentrate though. But it could have been that it was my first attempt at wine and I made it way too sweet. Was trying to go old school and make a strawberry hill lol.

 

[Chalkyt]

I just opened an "experimental' batch of mixed apple plus 20% pears with WLP002... outstanding! I have the same mix with WLP775 but haven't opened one yet.

The pears (via sorbitol) just give it that slightly sweet lift above tart. It was bottled at 1.002 and after six weeks is slightly spritzig (so it might not have gone all the way from 1.002 to 1.000 in the bottle.

Anyhow, adding pears might be the answer for those who want a lift above fully fermented "tart".

 

[Jason Flair]

My favorite Cyser I have made was:
4 gallons organic apple blend
1 gallon Mulberry/Cranberry Juice
6 lbs honey
WB-06 Yeast

 

[AzOr]

My favorite Cyser I have made was:
4 gallons organic apple blend
1 gallon Mulberry/Cranberry Juice
6 lbs honey
WB-06 Yeast

Did you backsweeten and carb?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I like to add caraway seed to cider/graff, it goes with apple very well.
Regards, GF.

 

[CKuhns]

hmmmm, caraway to cider - BRILLIANT!

 

[mwilcox]

generally, Yarlington Mill + Northern Spy + Golden Russet + Ashmead's Kernel + DV10 + Love... is my fave combo.

...but in the spirit of the thread, I'll say: Ginger, lemongrass, and hibiscus

cheers--