JK Scrumpy Hard Cider - Almar Orchards in Flushing, MI

I love Normandie hard ciders, but tend to dislike their harsher, sweeter English and American counterparts. Today I found an exception. This stuff is fantastic. While it lacks the complexity and funkiness of a typical fermented cider from France, it is incredibly pleasant and easy to drink. A dry cider that smells and tastes like a not-too-sweet apple bread pudding. Yeasty, apple-y, and delicious.

Jim Koan and his farm have a cool story, worthy of a roadtrip I just might take during harvest season.

Are they affiliated with any Chicago-area retailers or do you have to trek up to "pure Michigan" to get a bottle?

I've had JK Scrumpy a couple of times and, like you, my favorite ciders are the Normandy ciders (as well as some of the more sour and rough-around-the-edges Basque ciders.) Unfortunately, I found JK Scrumpy's Farmhouse cider disappointingly cloying and sweet. Not sweet like the more commercial cider alco-pop beverages, but thick and syrupy, with a weird raisin-like and molasses taste I found a bit overpowering. I could see how this would be appealing to some, but it's just too sweet for me. I understand scrumpies are supposed to be sweeter and rougher than ciders that are fermented completely out, so perhaps I'm just not a fan of scrumpy (not that I have much to compare it to.)

jsagoff wrote:Are they affiliated with any Chicago-area retailers or do you have to trek up to "pure Michigan" to get a bottle?

Whole Foods, Treasure Island, Sam's, and Binny's all stock JK Scrumpy. A few months ago, it seemed like I couldn't walk more than two feet in the Whole Foods liquor store without running into giant stacks of JK Scrumpy. They even had crates of it by the cash registers.

Binko wrote:I've had JK Scrumpy a couple of times and, like you, my favorite ciders are the Normandy ciders (as well as some of the more sour and rough-around-the-edges Basque ciders.) Unfortunately, I found JK Scrumpy's Farmhouse cider disappointingly cloying and sweet. Not sweet like the more commercial cider alco-pop beverages, but thick and syrupy, with a weird raisin-like and molasses taste I found a bit overpowering. I could see how this would be appealing to some, but it's just too sweet for me. I understand scrumpies are supposed to be sweeter and rougher than ciders that are fermented completely out, so perhaps I'm just not a fan of scrumpy (not that I have much to compare it to.)

interesting, as I didn't find it cloying or raisin-like at all. JK's website does say that the product varies from batch to batch. Though its got the name Scrumpy, the website describes it as between a scrumpy and a normandie. Give it another shot...I think I also saw you describe it in an early post as a still cider - the version I had was definitely fizzy, so it's entirely possible that this current "vintage" will be more to your liking. I'd be curious to see if you think it has changed much from your last taste.

Yes, that was me posting about the scrumpy before, and the version I had was still. Since then, I've had it twice, both still, and both sweeter than I like. I've noticed that on ratebeer.com, they have a picture with the JK Scrumpy label reading "farmhouse sparkling," like this label here. The only versions I've seen around town say "farmhouse organic", like the picture here. Do you remember what was on your label? I've been actively looking for the sparkling label (I was at Archer Liquors earlier today, and they had it in stock but, once again, just the "organic"-labeled one), but I've only seen the organic so far and, like I said in the posts above, I've seen a lot of JK Scrumpy around. Somebody is really pushing this stuff.

edit: Re-reading my post for tone, I should clarify, that I'm happy I'm seeing more non-alcopop ciders show up on the market, and I am really fascinated by ciders. One of these days, I would love to do a tour through the Midwest to some of the better cideries. Apparently, there's a really good one in Iowa called Sutliff Hard Cider, but JK Scrumpy's would definitely be on the list. And there's a whole mess of supposedly great Quebecois ciders that I've never been able to find around town. My favorite of the stuff I've found so far is Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie, which is pretty easy to find at Sam's and Binny's (and I've even seen it at Whole Foods.) I sometimes wonder why the great ciders aren't more popular than are -- they certainly deserve to be.

Mine was the same "farmhouse organic" you've had, but I would swear that it was at least a little fizzy. Maybe I shouldn't eat so many pop rocks.

Kennyz wrote:Mine was the same "farmhouse organic" you've had, but I would swear that it was at least a little fizzy. Maybe I shouldn't eat so many pop rocks.

Hmm.... Well, it's certainly possible, if it wasn't pasteurized and sorbated, that over the months the yeast has slowly continued eating into the sugars and yielded a less sweet and naturally carbonated product. I'll have to pick up another bottle and check it out. I may very well just have had a very young product and cider is one of those things that really starts to hit its stride after about a year of age. All the bottles I had were from around November through January or possibly February.

Binko wrote:

Kennyz wrote:Mine was the same "farmhouse organic" you've had, but I would swear that it was at least a little fizzy. Maybe I shouldn't eat so many pop rocks.

Hmm.... Well, it's certainly possible, if it wasn't pasteurized and sorbated, that over the months the yeast has slowly continued eating into the sugars and yielded a less sweet and naturally carbonated product. I'll have to pick up another bottle and check it out. I may very well just have had a very young product and cider is one of those things that really starts to hit its stride after about a year of age. All the bottles I had were from around November through January or possibly February.

good point, we are significantly further from harvest time now, so perhaps the fermentation has indeed continued. There was certainly enough yeast at the bottom of the bottle to make that plausible. FWIW, I got it at the Whole Foods on Ashland.

I just picked up another bottle of JK Scumpy's from Binny's this afternoon. It's definitely mellowed since I last had it, and is not nearly as sweet. It has a little bit of that Normandy cider taste to it. When I opened the bottle, there was the pressurized "pffft" of built-up CO2, but it still poured flat. But it was missing a lot of the flavors I initially found objectionable. Still on the sweet side, with a subtle saeurkraut-y/lactic undertone to it (I assume from wild yeasts--some of my favorite gueuze lambics have a similar note to them). This particular bottle has a level of dryness I would still consider at least semi-sweet for a wine, if not sweet. I can feel a little stickiness as I smack my lips together. It sounds to me like you must have had a more fermented bottle, as there definitely has been some aging going on here, based on the less sweet taste and the audible release of gases upon opening this bottle (which was not present before.) I'm tempted to buy a few bottles and let them six in the cellar for six months to see what happens.

I would have assumed the yeasts would have been somehow killed off to retain this level of sweetness and avoid exploding bottles in bottling, but the escape of carbonation indicates to me that there must be some activity in the bottle. I pulled out my brewing hydrometer to see how much sugar is in this sucker, and I'm getting a reading of 1.030, which is quite high for a cider. A dry cider usually finishes at around 0.997 - 1.000 or so. I'm really confused as to what's going on here, as a 6% ABV cider that only uses apples and yeast would have to have a ridiculously high starting gravity to finish at 1.030. I could understand my hydrometer being off if there was significant carbonation in my sample, perhaps, but there isn't any that I could see. Weird.

Binko maybe you could warm it a bit to drive off the gas, then do your hydrometer reading again. (If I were there, you could borrow my refractometer! ) 1.030 would be AWfully sweet; I think your hydrometer's lying to you...

And yes, there are some *incredible* cidres up here in Montréal, all sorts of different styles.

I used to make 1000 gals/yr of apple wine (11% ABV) for a local KC resto—Stephenson's Apple Farm—and I'd save 50 gals of the pure juice to barrel-ferment for my friends and me. Like you, I got hooked on cidres from Normandie, but I was living in France at the time so it was easy (and cheap) to indulge my habit.

Cidre is pretty easy to make. You might get a group together and make a barrel a year or so. Lots of fun!

Geo

Hello All,

Just a reply to all the questions about the cider.

First of all , everyone one at the orchard would like to thank each and every person in Chicago that has bought our cider. Your purchase of our cider has helped save and support our farm. If you are ever in the area stop by and bring a growler!


Someone noted the label. It was always meant to be JK’S Scrumpy for Jim Koans Scrumpy. The first label had a typo and we printed a bunch. Economics made us use them. All those first labels were applied by hand, pain in the neck. We were able to save our pennies to buy a small labeling machine and switched to rolled labels, those are the brighter ones that say Farmhouse Organic. The reason we took “Farmhouse Sparkling” off was that certain states consider cider wine and sparkling can be taxed at a higher level.

Carbonation. We are working on this, our method with out sorbate or sulphite makes it difficult to maintain CO2 levels. But with the help of a great company out west we have overcome this. Soon you will see bottles with JK on the cap. This cider will have a small co2 bubble and be very consistent in co2 levels. We are trying to learn and improve constantly.

We do everything naturally at the Orchard, the way it was done in Victorian times when cider was the drink of choice in America. Of course there will be slight seasonal variations.

The other option for making cider is to ferment reconstituted apple concentrate. Then run it through a filter, stripping it of flavor and color. You then have a base to add flavor, color, sorbate ,sulphite etc. I prefer our method, apple juice, yeast & time.


We are a family operation; the family has made hard cider since the 1850s, legally for about ten years. It saved the farm during the great depression and was very popular during prohibition. Today the massive influx of Chinese apple concentrate flooding the market has put many American orchards out of business. Our cider gives us a way to sell a product not a commodity; it is once again saving the farm.

Made entirely from our apples, they are grown, crushed, fermented & bottled on the farm. Nine long months in fermentation. Just our pure apple juice and a small amount of yeast to start, product is then racked at about a month and finishes on natural yeast. No sulphite nor sorbate. Natural hard cider that is unfiltered and very shelf stable.

Made entirely at the Almar orchard in Flushing MI, We are a 100% USDA certified organic orchard and our cider is certified. The cider itself is golden and hazy, the nose is like fresh apples about 6% and it will leave legs in your glass. The LA times last month described us as "Rustic & Robust" http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la ... 0479.story.
WE are very proud of what we are doing, the orchard has pioneered a few techniques that have gained a lot of attention here is a story that ran on NPR
http://www.environmentreport.org/story. ... ry_id=3977
About our pigs
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?secti ... id=6183237
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23479970/ T
Thanks, please check out more recent pics on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/JKS-Scrum ... 220?ref=ts

Once again, Thanks for enjoying our cider.

Great story Mr. Koan, best of luck to you. Sounds like you have a product that's well worth supporting, not to mention drinking!

Love the pig experiment. I see that you have Berkshires—which won't be hard to sell to restaurants. You might want to take a look at an old-fashioned pasture pig, who's absolutely *hot* with high-end restaurants at the moment, the Large Black.

Geo

thanks for stopping by, JK. An interesting story indeed.

I recently did a side by side taste taste:



Etienne Dupont is a mid priced slightly sparking cider from Normandie. I've been a fan for many years.

I was surprised by the color difference. I expected the Dupont to be the lighter colored one, but the reality was the opposite. These are both terrific ciders. Compared to the Dupont, the JK tastes more pure. It tastes like unadorned, sweetness-tamed, high quality apples. Quite pleasant to drink. By contrast, the Dupont is much more complex, with notes of toast, butter, and even some barnyard. I really love the Etienne Dupont. In a world where I had to choose one or the other, I'd choose the excitement and complexity of the Dupont. In the real world, I'm glad I get to drink both.

Some of the info on the Dupont cidre can be found here (in French). It was interesting to see that they used wild yeasts. Not entirely clear whether they add sugar for the secondary, altho', since the mise is 6-7 months after the fermentation, I don't see how they couldn't. Done in stainless, so the complexity must come from the yeast and the apples—they use some very old-fashioned cidre apples!

Geo

Has anyone tried the Winter Solstice? "Lightly spiced with ethically traded cinnamon, vanilla and a wee drop of syrup from our old Maple trees on our farm." Did you like it? Has anyone seen it at Treasure Island or Whole Foods?

bjackson wrote:Has anyone tried the Winter Solstice? "Lightly spiced with ethically traded cinnamon, vanilla and a wee drop of syrup from our old Maple trees on our farm." Did you like it? Has anyone seen it at Treasure Island or Whole Foods?

Not yet -- but now that you've described it, I'll definitely be looking for it.

Has anyone tried the Winter Solstice? "Lightly spiced with ethically traded cinnamon, vanilla and a wee drop of syrup from our old Maple trees on our farm." Did you like it? Has anyone seen it at Treasure Island or Whole Foods?

YES! Went to Kuma's last week (picked the day with the worst weather, so only a 10 minute wait for a bar seat) and had their special burger. While waiting, eyed the beer list to find a mysterious JK's Solstice on there. Me and my buddy, being huge advocates of the original split a bottle, and then a second (echoing our past experience at Rootstock, which serves their Scrumpy's with a metal pourer and rocks glasses, a nice way to present it that treats it more like a dessert wine). The Solstice isn't overly divergent from the regular cider, but there is a good deal of cinnamon taste. The vanilla is very delicate, possibly merging with the syrup in there, which is a really nice touch. I'd say the taste is very seasonably appropriate, but restrained. I think the bottles were around $10-12 each at Kuma's, which isn't too out of line, IMO. Go for it.

Stopped at Whole Foods in Northbrook. For J K's Scrumpy, the response was, "Oh, that was last year." For Winter Solstice, they never heard of it. Are these at other Whole Foods stores? Or other stores, besides WF?

I'm pretty happy with Strong Bow, so I won't be devastated if I don't find these, but I do like sampling new things, so it would be fun if I could find them somewhere.

Cynthia wrote:Stopped at Whole Foods in Northbrook. For J K's Scrumpy, the response was, "Oh, that was last year." For Winter Solstice, they never heard of it. Are these at other Whole Foods stores? Or other stores, besides WF?

Scrumpy's Winter Solstice is on sale at Binny's right now. I picked up a bottle this morning at the Grand location. I bought a few things and may be getting prices confused, but I think I paid $6.99.

grahamhh wrote:The Solstice isn't overly divergent from the regular cider, but there is a good deal of cinnamon taste. The vanilla is very delicate, possibly merging with the syrup in there, which is a really nice touch.

I agree, though I prefer Scrumpy's regular cider. I couldn't quite pinpoint the sweetness of the Solstice, but it was exactly the merging of vanilla and syrup that I wasn't crazy about. I'm glad I tried it though.

Kennyz wrote:I love Normandie hard ciders, but tend to dislike their harsher, sweeter English and American counterparts. Today I found an exception. This stuff is fantastic. While it lacks the complexity and funkiness of a typical fermented cider from France, it is incredibly pleasant and easy to drink. A dry cider that smells and tastes like a not-too-sweet apple bread pudding. Yeasty, apple-y, and delicious.

Kenny -- I just noticed this thread... missed it when it was first up...

I've tried JK Scrumpy HC and agree that it is very nice product... As you say, it's not a particularly complex cider, without a funky element but it is, indeed, very pleasant to drink, very refreshing. About the sweetness, I can't compare it to other American ciders much, since I haven't had any others recently, but to my tastes it is very much on the sweet side... My preference in ciders leans (or lists) toward the dry side and I very much like the couple of products from Normandie that Whole Foods always carries (names escape me at the moment)... But JK's is dangerously refreshing... I say 'dangerously' since it is, I believe, up at 6%...

One of my absolute favourite hard ciders is Weston's Old Rosie Scrumpy, which is to my knowleadge not available here in the ex-colonies. Whenever I'm in England, I make a point of setting aside a few hours for a visit with Rosie, who -- at 7.3% -- packs a serious punch. Weston's is in Herefordshire and they make a wide range of ciders. Old Rosie is medium dry, fairly complex and, as I said, strong. They serve it on draught at the Turf Tavern in Oxford; here's my friend and colleague from the Academia, Prof. Dr. Anton Wälscher Freiherr von Tscharnikau genannt 'der Mollenfriedhof' (head of the Committee for Baltic Studies of the IEV) with a pint of scrump:


A couple of years ago we vacationed in Somerset, the county that's probably most closely associated with cider production in England, and I had some fine ciders while there; I need to locate the notes I took then.

A