McKeown Draft Cider

I went to Montreal one weekend for meet up with my cousins who I hadn't seen for a while.  Now, my goal was to try and find various ciders.  Well, it turns out that the main stream ciders or craft ciders found here in Ontario were to be found in Quebec.  So what does one do in Montreal...find French cuisine, restaurant....no....we went to an Irish Pub.  My cousin Amanda and I headed over to Le Vieux Dublin.  We looked at the menu and I was excited to see McKeown's was available.  Amanda has sampled cider before so she ordered up one as well.  Our drinks finally arrived, and I have to admit I forgot to take a picture. 

The Verdict:  A pale coloured cider, with a real apple kick.  It very much tastes like your traditional English ciders. It was smooth and not too tart. As for it's taste I would call a semi-sweet.  A happy medium of not having a dry cider or overtly sweet.  In the words of Amanda "It's not hard to swallow!"  Amanda really did enjoy this cider and so did I.  I can't say if with the pour if there was any carbonation, but when it did arrive at our table there was no carbonation to be found. The nose was fruity.

I rate this cider a 7.9 out of 10 as Amanda and I had a few that night!

Now for the pub:  Le Vieux Dublin was a rocking establishment.  We got one of the last tables.  They normally have live entertainment.  That night there was a live performance.  The band was playing traditional Irish songs.  Which I may add, I recognized a few and was able to sing along.  If you want a truly Irish pub experience in Montreal then this is the place to visit.

As for the makers of McKeown's, I found their website which was in French.  I continued doing some more research and found a bit of bio in English. To quote from this website patawine.com this is what I came up with.
 

"Created in 2004 by Robert McKeown and Andrée St-Denis, the McKeown ciderworks produces ciders inspired from those found in English, Irish and Scottish pubs. The McKeown Original Cider is available in 30-liter one-way kegs and in 750 ml bottles. This product is currently distributed in Québec, Japan, England and in the US. ." For more information head on over to the website quoted above.  By the way it is 6% alc/vol per bottle.

Cheers!

Woodchuck Amber

My brother's best bud came up from Detroit and brought me a 6 pack of this cider.  Woodchuck is not available in Canada so this was a unique treat.  Bought in Michigan but made in Vermont I was looking forward to partaking in this beauty. I cracked open my first bottle and proceeded to pour out this liquid gold not knowing what flavours would be present.

The pour was pretty straight forward....no foamy head but lots of carbonation.  Golden in colour there was no overpowering aroma. After 5 minutes there was still the tiny little bubbles popping away.  I took my first sip and found it really sweet.  It reminded me of the many ciders I have had over in the UK.  It had that champagne/wine after bite to it.  I was trying to pick a specific flavouring but it was hard to do.  I did the swish around the mouth but still no luck....but it did make the taste buds tingle at the end of my tongue.  In the end, I was convinced I was getting a caramel undertone.  This bevy was smooth and silky.

My exposure to American hard cider is limited but this is a good choice.  I rate this 7.9 out of 10. 

For more information on this product or other ciders offered by this company you can visit their website at http://www.woodchuck.com/ or follow them on twitter @woodchuckCider.  Their website gives a brief synopsis on each variety of cider, along with the history of the company.

Cheers!