In June, we had the great pleasure of visiting the Willow Oaks Cidery in Maryland. Their process for making cider is more like the process for creating wine. Typically, cideries make cider in three to four weeks, but Willow Oaks goes a full two years. The result is a wine-like noncarbonated cider. There's a dark sweetness there, but it's dry, and balanced with a powerful amount of tannin and acid. This is definitely not the cider that you're thinking of if you buy the occasional six pack. The owner warned us of this fact, and we assured him we did our homework and were ready for that unique flavor and tartness.
The setting is really perfect as well... rolling fields and meadows, and a friendly old dog named Ginny.
Unfortunately, they don't ship their ciders, but they take online orders for local pickups at their cidery.
Here's a bottle of Black Twig back when it had some cider in there...
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