Shenanigans by Fireside: Angry Orchard Ginger Apple Cider and Magic Hat Sampler

My husband and I (without Dave) took our dogs for a long hike and swim yesterday, seizing a beautiful and amazing fall Saturday afternoon. On the way home Doug had a hankering for some cider, so we stopped by Georgetown Liquors to pick up provisions.

Doug got Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Cider, from Cincinnati, Ohio. Seeing as we're in Woodchuck country, he thought he'd give it a try.

He also grabbed the latest and greatest mix from Magic Hat.  Marketed as Winterland, it has four brews for the sampling.

We built a fire in the fire pit as the sun was setting. The air got cold good and fast, and we set to sampling.

The Apple Ginger Cider was delicious. I was afraid of the "ginger" content because I've had ginger beers and stuff with ginger as an ingredient, and always have found it not to my liking. This was more like regular ginger ale with a touch of apple cider. It was crisp and smooth, and went down easy.


Too easy one might say if one liked to say such things. I really enjoyed it.

Then to Magic Hat.

I started with the Encore, which is a mix of IPA and wheat beer. It was great. Loved it. Really wonderful flavor and a great aftertaste.

Doug had  Ravell, which was slightly disappointing. It lacked body, was a touch watery for something supposed to be a porter, wasn't quite the beer we had hoped it would be.

It was dark, you could barely see through it, but it was in the end just kind of boring. The hints of vanilla weren't barely noticed by either of us. It was an "odd porter" for sure but just didn't really do anything for either of us.

We moved on to their "Howl" which was much better. It is listed as a Dark Lager, and like the Ravell it sure is dark, but so tasty and filled with flavor.

Then we had the classic #9, which we've enjoyed a million times. Doug said he though this tasted different than he recalled, it was much crisper, cleaner, deeper, and maybe just fresher than what we'd bought in the past.



I ended up making fondue for dinner that night and thought I had a stray bottle of Harpoon IPA in the fridge, but I was totally out.

So Doug had me use a bottle of Howl Black Lager, and man .... that was great. The cheddar fondue that I make with beer is usually the color of cheddar cheese. This was almost the color of like a Thai Peanut Sauce. Dark and rich. Our son Geoff was suspicious of it, thought I'd burned the fondue or something. Nope. Dark beer makes for dark fondue.

It was delicious. Absolutely fantastic. Because this was kind of impromptu, we used 4 bagels, cut into wedges, and a left over 1/3 of a roast beef that I made earlier this week. We toasted the bagels in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes and heated the left over roast beef cubes for the same amount of time.

All told, a great night of beer and cider and fun by the fireside.