Meet The Imperials
We’ve been making Portland Cider for more than 10 years now, and our founders, Jeff and Lynda Parrish have been living and breathing all things cider for much longer than that. It’s unusual to see a big shift in the kind of cider people enjoy, but we’ve definitely noticed that more and more of our fans are loving imperial ciders lately! And it’s not just us—across the country, imperial ciders are growing faster than any other beer or cider style.
Imperial ciders have a higher percentage of alcohol by volume (8% or more), allowing our cidermakers to create recipes that result in more intensely flavored cider. Imperials hold up well to rich, spicy and flavorful foods, making them a perfect alternative to beer or wine to pair with a meal. And they give our cidermakers the opportunity to experiment with a wide variety of ingredients, yeasts and fermentation techniques to develop unique flavors and characteristics.
Next time you reach for a cider, give one of our three flagships a try:
Imperial Abbey Apple
Our newest release is crafted with Northwest apples and a Belgian ale yeast that creates a surprisingly juicy and tropical finish. It comes across the palate as sweeter than it actually is, which sets our yeast and fermentation science-loving brains a-buzz!
Imperial Dry Cider
Another all-apple imperial cider, but the taste is completely different, again largely due to the yeast strain. We use a white wine yeast for the fermentation of this imperial cider, imparting balanced acidity, a full-bodied mouthfeel and subtle notes of baked apple, pecan and toffee. With a slower fermentation process, we're able to retain much of the character of the apples that make it up.
Imperial Peach Tea
The name makes it pretty clear: there's peach juice and tea in the cider! But the fermentation science really comes into play with the tea itself. We cold-steep the Assam black tea leaves from Steven Smith Teamaker to impart the flavor, but avoid the bitterness. This process adds a lot of tannins to an imperial cider that's already rich, so the sweet, fresh peach juice smooths the edges and brings it back into balance. So a cider that may sound sweet is actually quite dry, and quite delicious!
Our three pubs always have a rotating selection of exclusive draft ciders that you won’t find in a can, but between visits you can track down our three flagship imperial offerings at retail stores across the west with our Cider Finder. What imperials are you enjoying right now?