For the first time ever, we canned our 2021 ciders, mostly because 750mL cork-and-cage bottles were unobtainable. While cans lack the visual presentation and sharing nature of a 750mL bottle, now you can take Baird & Dewar ciders to the river and into the woods! Can recycling also has a lower environmental impact than glass recycling. We plan to release reserve ciders and special bottlings in our traditional cork-and-cage 750mL bottles again soon!
Our current flagship release – the 2021 Farmhouse is a blend of Vilberie, Medaile d’Or, Muscadette de Lens, Reine de Pommes, and a field blend of other French and English cider apples in a base of Newtown Pippin, Ben Davis, Winesap, and Jonagold apples grown at three small family farms – two in the Willamette Valley and one in the Hood River Valley. After a native (wild) yeast fermentation, the ciders were aged for 10 month in neutral french oak barrels before blending and canning with a dosàge of fresh juice to encourage a natural effervescence. Similar to a rustic farm-y, unfiltered apple champagne. 7.2% alcohol. Completely dry with soft tannin and bready, dusty, yeasty notes.
Our 2021 Silvestra is a Spanish-style dry cider, also barrel-aged and can-conditioned with a brighter acidity, less ‘funk’, and more ‘zing’ than our Farmhouse. It is a blend using some of the same barrels as the the Farmhouse, but also a higher component of Newtown Pippin, as well as Dolgo, Gravenstein, and several other high-acid, green-skinned heirloom varieties