Wandering Aengus Wanderlust

Wandering Aengus' Wanderlust is probably my favorite cider right now. Smooth and invigorating in flavor, it is brilliantly quaffable and mostly better than almost every other cider I have had the pleasure and/or displeasure of drinking. I don't know if you can call a cider invigorating with a straight face but I'm doing it anyway. The stuff is enlivening. It has that tonic-like effect on the senses that brings them more sharply into focus. It does, however, have one minor flaw that mars it's otherwise deliciously pristine taste: it isn't spritely enough.

It is my opinion that flaws fall into one of three categories. You have ruinous flaws such as pretty much anyone choosing to invade Russia or Vietnam ever or the repeated gong splashing at the beginning of every goddamn song on James Brown's otherwise brilliant album, "Hell". You have enhancing flaws like inclusions in diamonds or Keanu Reeves' acting in the original "Point Break" and the first of the "Matrix Trilogy". And you have confounding flaws such as how "How I Met Your Mother" was a successful and highly watched TV show without paying off on the title's promise until season fucking nine and the "The Big Lebowski's" bad dub scene. 72 minutes into one of the Coen brothers' five or six top shelf films, there's one of the worst dubs ever. In most movies, you could simply ignore it as an error or the director making due in a pinch, but it's a Coen brothers movie, and they are known for their meticulous attention to detail among a great number of other things. It's a riddle of a flaw. One that demands a purpose. It can't simply be an oversight.

Wanderlust, similarly outstanding, is also possessed of a minor flaw that begs a purpose. A flaw that is a puzzler. It lacks bullish effervescence. It isn't a still cider by any means, in fact it's quite probably of average carbonation, but it doesn't have little nymph bubbles nipping your tongue almost to the point that it makes your eyes water. My preferred level of sparkle. Almost like champagne bubbles. It's a forgivable flaw, if a flaw at all, because the rest of the cider's attributes are so outrageously sublime. And it does fizz up nicely when poured into a glass, providing some light tearing. And it is pale yellow like a Meyer lemon peel thinly shaved and held up against a 60 watt lightbulb, which is nice. I think the tasting wheel would call that, "straw". It's also crystalline as the air on a cold, clear mountain morning at dawn - my glass is fogged up from condensation in the photo - and given to a tart, floral aroma, though nose is far from my strength.

In terms of actual flavor and mouth feel, the cider is lightly fruity, starts sweet, becomes tart, and then dries out nicely at the end, leaving almost no residue behind in it's footprint, but a gentle pinch on the tip of the tongue and the lower, rear pockets of the mouth. Truly, it is one of the most refreshing ciders I've had. Perfect balance of acids, sugars and tannins. Nice complexity of flavor smooth enough for a Rainier-sipping rube to enjoy and deep enough for a wine-sniffing grape sycophant to read into exceedingly and at unnecessary length. It's a classic true cider that would've given George Washington's teeth a taste of home that would've made them long for their mother tree if the myth had been true (alas, his dentures were ivory).

The bottle comes as a true pint, 16.9 fluid ounces, with 6.8% alcohol, and runs a bit pricey at almost $8 each at Market of Choice here in Ashland, though I got a deal on it having arranged to purchase a whole case directly from the cidery in Salem. In fact, I went back a second time this summer and was granted the opportunity to put together a mixed case off their shelves. I chose a little of everything: Bloom, Wickson, Dry Oaked, Wanderlust and Ashmead's Kernel. The cidery is open only for a short window from 4pm to 8pm on Fridays. I happened to be in the area visiting family and getting out of the tinderbox of Southern Oregon, a place where the air currently resembles the smoking room at LaGuardia at sunset in the early 90s.

Wanderlust is made with Oregon-harvested organic Ribston Pippins, a very literary apple having appeared in the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens. In addition, the cider-makers use Hudson's Golden Gem, an Oregon native, Calville Blanc, an apple dating to the 17th century and unusually high in vitamin C, Golden Russet, an American variant of an English russet, Winesap and a mix of 12 heirloom apple varieties. Every single ounce of apple in this cider is from organic cider apples. Just good stuff. A quick side note for those of you who are unaware of what russeting is, it refers to the skin which is generally slightly rough, usually with a greenish-brown to yellowish-brown color, kind of like a Bosc pear.

Wandering Aengus takes its name from the William Butler Yeats poem, "The Song of Wandering Aengus", a poem about the endless search for the impossible and unattainable, something perfect and pristine in this world. Perhaps the cider makers of Wandering Aengus envision themselves on such a mission. I certainly hope so, because they are getting quite close with Wanderlust, minor flaw and all.

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Learn more about Wandering Aengus at: http://www.wanderingaengus.com/wordpress/