This year's Cider Noir comes out Saturday! Cider Noir is our herald of winter and it is back this weekend for your cozying, merrymaking pleasure. Multiple lots of American heirloom apples, double-fermented with extra dark Belgian Candii and steeped with pecans. Belgian Candii, made from beet and date sugar, is a classic component of Dubbel and Trippel Ales. 50% of the cider was aged in cognac, Chardonnay, port, bourbon and rum barrels for 2 years. Dark fruit and coffee notes from the candii combine with ripe pear characteristics from the apples, and the extended aging rounded the stout cider out with complexity and depth. All that is to say, it's our best Cider Noir to date. 11.3% ABV

The first pommeau made in Texas and one of very few in the U.S., Dovetail is back this year for our second bottling. Pommeaus are to cider as ports are to wines - ciders fortified with fruit brandy, traditionally made in Northern France. This one began 5 years ago with a small lot of Ben Davis and Rhode Island Greening apples, then we laid down another few barrels of Northern Spy and Wickson, stopping fermentation halfway with fruit brandy. It's been aging ever since in 100% new American oak casks. It's a particularly long amount of time for an American pommeau to age, but I guess we just like what happens when we wait! The result is positively luscious, with notes of honeyed apricot, peach, toffee and soft tannins. Best enjoyed slightly chilled as an aperitif or as a beautiful end to a great meal. ABV 18.7%