Bone & Bottle Reviews

11/17/2025

The final weekend of the - Recap
🍎🍎🍎
Friday was the kickoff for the NYC festival weekend, with this event hosted at , planned by . Dozens of cidermakers, industry personalities and friends & family came together to have a good time to start the weekend off right.
🍎🍎🍎
Walked in and had a sip of pommeau within minutes...so you know it was a great time. The nightcap was a couple of the remaining Magnums...which were as fantastic as one would imagine. Awesome to meet the other half of Cider Society (Fabian) & also as well as many old friends.
🍎🍎🍎
Saturday was the big shindig at . Didn't get much chance to leave the table once the event kicked off, but before we all left, was able to get a pour of & Kingston Black...gotta make it count!
🍎🍎🍎
hosted a tap takeover at the Brass Monkey bar down the street which was fun, then finally got dinner, then with a nightcap of .
🍎🍎🍎
Big ups to for the ...been following them for years...so pumped to finally try their stuff! Also can't wait to see how your new project goes! Thanks to for hosting me, for pic 1 & convincing me to stay for the bar event. So many people to thank, not enough space. Let's just see what's next, but for now, cheers!
🍎🍎🍎

11/09/2025

A full day removed from the season finale of the tour, and I'm still buzzing! A great crowd and an amazing lineup of cideries packed into the event center to satiate the thirst of resident Southies and many beyond.
🍎🍎🍎
I did not get much of a chance to leave my table, which isn't a bad thing, so thanks for stopping by and saying hello (and supporting ) , , and everyone else who attended!
🍎🍎🍎
I didn't go dry the entire event thanks to great table neighbors in , , and . Also popped over to before the end.
🍎🍎🍎
Afterwards, I made my semi-annual visit to , and did some plane watching. Beautiful night for it. Then some stops at OS accounts (always working), a sake tasting, some wings, then finally back to my host's & for some more ciders.
🍎🍎🍎
Found an interesting sidra at a co-op suggested by (the sidra was ok'd by ), and it was indeed delicious! Sidra is the final frontier for me, but this was great. Then finished the night with this Russet/Dolgo blend from . Just phenomenal as always, and with how astringent it was, a perfect cider to share. Over, an outstanding day, and with that, just one more weekend left on the next weekend. Until then, cheers!
🍎🍎🍎

11/08/2025

Adding a cider operation to a family orchard can be both exciting and challenging.

Next week’s Technical Skills Share features Jeff Rogers, Owner & Cidermaker at sharing his family’s journey from small-scale experiments to launching a full-fledged cider brand.

Learn how they scaled from gallon carboys to a homemade hydraulic press — and the creative, practical, and strategic steps along the way.

📅 Thursday, Nov 13 | 11–12 PT / 2–3 ET

We’ll cover:
🍎 Scaling from small batches to commercial volumes
🍎 Flavor innovation with apples, botanicals & fruits
🍎 Grafting & diversifying orchard varieties
🍎 Building a distinct brand rooted in heritage
🍎 Overcoming the growing pains of a new cider business

Get tickets via 🔗 in bio for this session or the full 2025 series.

11/07/2025

Been sipping away with some cideries that will be at on Saturday in South Boston.

Last night I opened this *vintage* bottle of which was just amazing. I should have chilled it just slightly more than I did but still just as tasty as I'm sure a fresh bottle from a few years ago would have been.

Tonight we're going with something new and this latest iteration of aged in Tom Cat Gin barrels - Bee's Knee's. It really tastes like a gin mixed drink...which for some may not be the ticket, but I love me some gin, so I'm very happy I decided to jump in for this season's Golden Apple Club box.

Be sure to not miss out on all the cider that'll be flowing at the South Boston Lithuanian Society on Saturday...of course including some poured by myself. Also make sure to buy a poster or 6! I need to get a full set of brakes next week. Cheers! 🥂
🍎🍎🍎

11/04/2025

The is rounding its final bend and into the homestretch! Coming up this Saturday is Boston. Cidermakers from all over New England and beyond will be there! While of course you all should come hang with , one of the other great producers that will be there is .
🍎🍎🍎
Still have a few cans from assorted club shipments, but this was my last can of this delicious Wickson treat. A 50/50 blend of Wickson crabs and Grimes Golden, this drinks with crisp, juicy bite and finishes with a refreshing bit of dryness. Not had much time to drink lately, so it's important to make sure when I do have time, it's something worthwhile, and this certainly fits the bill. Cheers!
🍎🍎🍎

10/29/2025

10/28/2025

I checked my email the other day and had an interestingly titled article from : Perry is not dead. Seemed a curious exclamation as well, duh, of course it's not dead. However what I didn't know previously was that a very large cider producer in England had made the declaration about the end of the era of Perry.
🍐🍐🍐
For most of us in the industry, it's easy to wave off the initial nonsensical mutterings of an impersonal macro producer. However, for the general public, this does send a concerning message, and there's been a flood of Perry producers the world over coming to its stout defense.
🍐🍐🍐
One of the leading voices is & their campaign to showcase that which we all already know; Perry is here, and it's never been better.
🍐🍐🍐
I took a bottle of Sparkling Perry to with me on Saturday, and there was no better place to share it than at with . It's a very balanced take on perry; decent acid and very light sweetness but not overly dirty or astringent like many craft PNW drinks, but not a smooth & sweet perry like something from Normandy. This really toes a middle ground but doesn't act like it doesn't know what it wants to be. It's an enjoyable experience, and certainly doesn't seem all that "dead" to me. Cheers!
🍐🍐🍐

10/27/2025

OGDENSBURG — Highlighting the region's rich agricultural heritage, the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce recognized Canton Apples as the Producer of the Year during its Annual Dinner at …

10/27/2025

So much to say, so little characters, let's go!

The (official) 3rd challenge at , hosted by was the biggest one yet!! This year was an elevated experience as local to ROC company came onboard as a sponsor and supplied the majority of sauces, with of course two heaters from .jennykitchen . Also Matt the bar manager pitched in with some prizes including this giant chicken wing with the names of everyone who did all the sauces (12 in total, 10 pictured) with no dairy products to soothe the beat.

The first two sauces were phenomenal... could have eaten 12+ wings just with those sauces. The 1st curry sauce was quite lacking, but the 2nd was 💪 and was comparable to some of the best vindaloo I've had at Indian restaurants.

Bad Karma was the start of the heat, with Jenny's first sauce, a Ghost/Pineapple following. By wing 8, people were dropping out of the challenge, but Simmons decided to drop da bomb...not the rotgut Da Bomb, but a shot of tequila with a dash of Satan's Blood...a 800k scoville extract. That went straight to the pit of my stomach and made me think it was gameover. But, instead it somehow sobered me up and I was ready to go again (w/ help of cola & fries).

Jenny's second sauce, a smoked Reaper pepper sauce was ass kicking and got me thinking we were done ...but nope, 2 left. The final Karma sauce was delicious, and considering I've had Scorpion pepper puree previously, I was prepared to finish 😎. Helped out the kitchen staff by rinsing out the bowl after, and won a neat wing keychain.

Brought a couple from my stash...a '23 Afpelört by / , and a '21 Disco Nat from . They were popular curiosities amongst the gallons of Guinness & Miller Lite consumed by everyone else.

Also didn't grab the name of Captain Blackbeard, but he's a drone photographer and absolutely demolished his wings, I grabbed my Halloween costume out to match thinking fancy hat & hair was the extra edge I needed 😎. Can't wait to see how next year's event will look, cheers!

10/23/2025

The 2026 National Buffalo Wing Festival will be held on Sat - August 29 & Sun - August 30, 2026 @ Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo!
⚠️This is the weekend 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 Labor Day Weekend! ⚠️

Stay tuned for more details in the coming months. Looking forward to seeing everybody in 2026!

10/22/2025

Happy !
🍎🍎🍎
A bit of going on here with a NY State Gala and a PNW . This Traditional Cuvée is absolutely phenomenal...dusty and sooty with the faintest hint of ginger ale in the mid palate. I'm continuing my newfound tradition of just drinking these ciders out of the bottle, and while this cider should honestly be treated with better respect and be enjoyed out of a fine Teku or something, well, sometimes you'll just have this happen on those big jobs.
🍎🍎🍎
While I gush away about how fantastic this cider is and pine for the day I may return to the Olympic Peninsula and revisit Alpenfire, let's give some love to the Gala too. Look, sure I'd rather have a bag of Frostbites in my fridge, but Aldi isn't selling them, and even if they did, they sure as hell wouldn't be 3 bucks for a bag. These NY State grown Galas thrive in my crisper, and do not get soft or milly after a couple weeks. Same can't be said for the Pink Pearls 😆. Much more visually interesting than Delicious apples, and not overpriced like Honeycrisp. Really, it is just right in many aspects. And to that, I'll say; cheers! 🥂
🍎🍎🍎

10/19/2025

Currently relaxing with some Frequin Rouge from , but earlier was down in for the Ciderfest. What a cool area of the city! So much great food and views. Was there representing of course, but was good to also see & , , , and a couple others.
🍎🍎🍎
Busy busy busy was the name of the game! Hundreds of thirsty people made for a great time. Capped off the day with some Korean BBQ wings that were crazy tender and just fell off the bone like nothing I've experienced before. Truly a fun day! Cheers! 🥂
🍎🍎🍎