On the Lees

Forgot to mention:   this past Saturday, I finally got around to attempting the much-discussed but never-implemented vertical tasting of my homemade hard cider, over at the Empress’ place.  We didn’t get through too many years of it, as there weren’t any avid hard-cider drinkers there besides myself, and enthusiasm for tasting waxed and waned over the course of the day.  But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the bottle of King’s X I tried and decried must’ve just been a bad one;  all of the cider I decanted was sound and drinkable, all the way back to the oldest extant bottles, from 1993.  That vintage was crazy dark at the bottom of the bottle, almost stout-colored, which part of it we chose not to drink (and I don’t even want to think about what the inside of the cap looked like after 17 years.)  But the pour off the top had a sweet, complicated flavor, reminiscent of honey, that it’s never had before.  It was pretty cool.

I called Weaver to tell her that it was still drinkable after all that time (since we were dating when it was made, still three years away from getting married, and she helped me make it *laugh*), and she sent me a text message back that said “Congratulations.”  Which was very nice of her.