I had 6 barrels in my basement. They started with a high PH and I refused to use sulfides. Sitting on their lees for almost a year I knew things were going to be interesting. The first barrel was disgusting. Plain and simple. It was foul smelling and it had no business being on this planet. It met with the bushes near the stairwell. The second was drinkable. Then the third was even better. Disappointingly the fourth was only "OK", but the fifth...
The fifth barrel was without question the most revolting thing I have ever tasted. If putrid and rancid got married and they had a child so fetid they couldn't even stomach, sending this child off to live in a most noxious landfill. And then taking on the environmental corruption, that child decomposed into a cider. Then the cider was barreled and aged to bring out even more odoriferous horror... That, that was what barrel number 5 tasted like. Everything I have ever called 'vile' in the past is now just 'gross,' I have a new scale for all things disgusting.
Why am I telling you this when I'd rather you think of me as a talented cider maker? My goal is now to create the opposite: A cider so good that all other ciders need a new description. What is now "unbelievably awesome" will then be just, "very good." That's my goal. Here's to thinking optimistically.
