While some of you may be in mourning over the end of summer, I am happily rejoicing in the beginning of the autumnal weather with its crisp air and earlier sunsets.
There’s nothing I love more than donning multiple layers of clothing, an umbrella from time to time, and pairing the colder weather with a nice glass of cider.
It can be tough finding a California-made cider, however, that doesn’t taste like a Jolly Rancher candy.
No offense to Jolly Rancher — I was a faithful eater of the candy all through junior high school — but when I want to enjoy a glass of cider, I’m always hopeful that I’ll be served something on the drier side, something akin to a European style.
Santa Barbara Cider Co. has just the thing for us cider lovers who crave a dry cider over a generic sweet-tooth style that resembles a syrupy candy flavor.
In the newly opened tasting room, I was surprised to find 12 flavors of cider on tap plus a list of 30 recipes in the queue. I also wasn’t expecting them to all taste good either.
Co-owner Ben Schroeder, teasingly titled chief cook and bottle washer, has developed some inspiring recipes within four flavor profiles: spiced/mulled, sours, hopped and berry.
His family’s need for gluten-free beverages is what sparked the initial project, which quickly grew from a garage hobby into a profession.
“We wanted to create a brewery for people who can’t enjoy the traditional brewery experience,” Schroeder said.
The menu of tongue-in-cheek names such as Deepen and Great Lei, thought up by co-owners Niklas Shaefer and Twilight Robin, are only part of the charm of this operation and are certainly not a gimmicky trick to sell so-so ciders.
While there are a small handful of traditional apple ciders on tap, the real show-stoppers are the other fruit libations.
The Deepen cider is crafted with an apple base coupled with fermented mulberries and champagne yeast — a unique twist on the traditional dry apple cider that tastes of savory berry notes.
The Pumpkin Pie and Holiday Spice ciders also hit the mark with the perfect blend of spices and real pumpkin flavors as there are no sweeteners or artificial flavors, but only all-natural, fresh-pressed juices in all of their concoctions.
Are you more of a beer lover than a cider drinker? The Hoppy Ending surely will satisfy your need for a grain-based cocktail with ale notes on the nose and a dry hops finish on the palate.
In addition to the fantastic menu of ciders that already are heads above the rest, these guys also boast a cool reduced-footprint vibe in their tasting room coupled with a speakeasy location in Old Town Goleta.
Reclaimed wood barrel siding and metal shipping container pieces line the tasting room, where instead of finding massive TV screens you’ll find the perfect corner spot to hang with friends or alone with a book while you breathe in the cool autumn air.
Santa Barbara Cider Co. is located at 325 Rutherford St., Suite D, Goleta. The hours of operation are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.
— Tara Jones Haaf leads Eat This, Shoot That! and welcomes reader tips and ideas for future columns. She can be reached at tara@eatthisshootthat.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.