Eight years ago Nat started making cider in his basement
with the help of a friend’s apple tree which at the time produced as much as
they needed for their hobby. Skip ahead
to just two and a half years ago and that hobby has found a new production
home, success around Portland, OR and now in 2013 Nat hopes to find success
with his passion in Seattle. Using a
handshake to obtain his apples from PNW growers Nat has moved to a 3,500 square
foot production facility where he can produce 24,000 cases a year of their dry
to off-dry ciders. Additionally as the
cidery name might indicate Nat is an ordained minister and will be able to
perform weddings in his new facility.
Nat’s take on cider is his own with both traditional and nontraditional in his line-up. The nontraditional ciders being his best sellers and his traditional ciders winning awards; wanting to give his unique ciders a chance to compete it is not surprising Nat has decided to start the Portland Cider Cup. This will be an invite only event where ciders will compete against each other not based on traditional guidelines but rather on the trends of the industry, an event that will put hopped ciders, cherry ciders, grape hybrid ciders, etc. against each other in their own categories.
Nat’s take on cider is his own with both traditional and nontraditional in his line-up. The nontraditional ciders being his best sellers and his traditional ciders winning awards; wanting to give his unique ciders a chance to compete it is not surprising Nat has decided to start the Portland Cider Cup. This will be an invite only event where ciders will compete against each other not based on traditional guidelines but rather on the trends of the industry, an event that will put hopped ciders, cherry ciders, grape hybrid ciders, etc. against each other in their own categories.
A category Nat should do particularly well in will likely be
my favorite; hopped ciders. His
Hallelujah Hopricot is my personal favorite and should be tried by anyone who is
looking for an alternative to beer.
Fermented using French Saison and Belgian yeasts and Cascade and Amarillo
whole-leaf hops this cider is as close to beer as it gets! This is a best seller for Reverend Nat’s hard
cider and for good reason; the flavor composition developed by the addition of
coriander, bitter orange peel, star anise and grains of paradise is unique and unlike
any cider I have ever tried. It is easy
to drink and in the words of Nat, “we want you to have pint sized glasses of
what we make,” and with this cider you certainly can.
If you are already a cider drinker then trying the Deliverance
Ginger might be more in-line with expanding your horizons. This off-dry cider is fermented using white
wine yeast and raw ginger juice and the scent that will assault your senses is
much like that of sushi ginger. While
not my personal favorite I definitely want to try Nat’s take on a cocktail which
is the Deliverance Tonic, available only in keg form I am going to have to try
to locate a bar with it on tap.
What’s up next for Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider? They will be opening their new production
facility to the public this summer, hopefully sometime in June. With Oregon Cider week and the Portland Cider
Summit in the same month they will be busy.
If you’re looking to try Reverend Nat’s ciders check out the local bars
in Portland, Central Market, Whole Foods and 99 Bottles to name a few. If you already know and like his ciders or
just want to support local small business help Nat out with his Kickstarter to
build out a tap room in their new facility; for more information check it out
at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1001364452/reverend-nats-hard-cider-public-taproom.
You can contact Reverend Nat and stay
caught up on his ciders at http://reverendnatshardcider.com
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