
I went to the park the other day. It just so happens that the other day was also Farmer's Market day. I wasn't trying to pick up a chick or anything, so I just started looking for booze. And boy oh boy did I find it: Bad Seed Hard Cider. I gave their India Pale Cider a try. I've had my fair share of ciders, but none of them were anything like a Bad Seed. When I think of hard cider, I think Woodchucks and Angry Orchard. They're sweet, light, and make you burp a lot. Not really what I'm looking for in an alcoholic beverage.
What makes a Bad Seed different from a Woodchucks is that Bad Seeds are dry and not sweet. They have a mellow flavor, tempered with a mild undercurrent bitterness from the hops. This leaves you with a very pleasant drinking experience. You aren't overpowered with the sweetness of a typical cider and there isn't an over abundance of bitterness. Instead you have a beverage that feels like a beer in your mouth. It feels more substantial than other ciders which are closer to effervescent than anything else.
When I'm drinking a cider, I want to take a sip and go "Ahhhh" after I've swallowed. Usually I do because the drink was sweet or tart and it was in response to that. Bad Seed is different because I'm saying "Ahhhh" because I'm genuinely refreshed.
The IPC has the most potential is as part of food pairings. All of Bad Seed's ciders come in 750mL bottles which means they are perfect for sharing. If you showed up with a bottle of this instead of wine at a dinner party, you just made yourself look unique - and therefore more attractive—to every single (and probably taken) lady at the soiree. I'd go into more detail, but you'll have to wait for our Guyde to Picking Up Chicks At Dinner Parties, coming in 2016.
Smigoversen reads the words and drinks the beers. He twitters here.