Staff Picks: Erik's Favorite Ciders For Fall (6-Pack)
Staff Picks: Erik's Favorite Ciders For Fall (6-Pack)
This bundle features a mix of some of my favorite ciders that we've recently brought into our shop.
Late summer and early fall are prime months for cider tastings. We've been pouring at a few Festivals here in the Seattle area, and a couple of these ciders were the crowd favorites from those festivals. Plus a few fall and winter friendly ciders, a couple rare gems, and a very limited release from one of my favorite cider makers.
Pssst: The 12-bottle bundle includes both my picks and Storie's current staff picks and comes at a discount (basically a free cider if you buy both bundles).
1. Brooklyn Cider House (New York) - Rouen (750 mL): Included in our recent Cider Club box, we also poured this one at a few festivals to grate fanfare. It's very lightly carbonated (almost still) and has some fresh, juicy qualities to it. Slightly sweet, subtly complex, and really brings the sense of fresh pressed apples into your glass.
2. Onirique Cider (California) - Autumnale (750 mL): An incredibly food pairing friendly cider that will go great with many dinner plates. Dry but with hints of sweetness from full bodied profile. Medium acidity, medium tannins in great balance. Tannins are mostly a subtle bitterness with only light astringency. Delightful notes of apple skins, citrus zest, red grapefruit, a crisp minerality, and slight salinity.
3. Presque Isle Farm (Michigan) - MUSE (750 mL): A nice & dry cider with subtle barrel character that for me is perfect for drinking as the weather cools off. Made from a blend of UK and American cider apple varieties. Fermented in neutral french oak barrels. The result is a dry cider with medium-plus to high tannins and supporting acidity. Tropical and peach notes on the nose. Overly ripe apple notes, some smoke and leather. Grippy tannins on this cider carry the palate with supporting flavor notes of lemon & lime peel, green apple, and peach.
4. Finnriver Cider (Washington) - Kingston Black (500 mL): A famed cider apple from the U.K., the Kingston Black is widely considered one of the perfect apples for a single-varietal cider. This semi-dry offering from Finnriver is one of the better examples of that theory. It's extremely well balanced, full, and rich. Notes of orange peel, baking spice, and rich bitter apple qualities.
5. Liberty Ciderworks (Washington) - Wakota (500 mL): A rare red-flesh cider apple, the Wakota. Sometimes as I'm in our office packing up orders, I wonder how we still have a case of something spectacular or so unique. This cider is both of those things. Medley of red fruit notes you expect from a red-fleshed cider, plus a bit more tannins than you normally would. Crushable stuff!
6. Domaine Johanna Cecillion (France) - Cidre Divona (750 mL): I'm always digging around importer's catalogs looking for ciders that might be buried in their deep list of wines. Once in a while I unearth something, usually a French cider, and it always feels like I struck gold. This blend of 2021 harvest apples from Brittany, France is tasting phenomenal as of Fall 2026 with considerable aging potential yet. It's a semi-dry to dry sparkling cider with high levels of acidity and medium-plus tannins. The palate opens up with notes of bittersweet apple and tart green apple, followed quickly by strong acidity that carries more tart green apple, minerality, and notes of citrusy grapefruit, lime zest, and lime juice.
- Shipping available across U.S.
