Recently I've been spending many a weekend day at Left Bank Coder over the last two years. They are making wonderful cider. Left Bank Ciders makes small-batch ciders and meads that reflect the agricultural and ecological landscapes of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. All their ingredients are sourced from within an hour from their cellar where they press, ferment, and age.
In addition to their own ciders and meads, Left Bank serves the finest New York State-produced beverages, with an impressive list of beer, wine, spirits and local ciders on offer. Their tasting room is located on Water Street in Catskill, NY. Like I said, been spending a lot of time there lately. These are fine artisanal ciders/
Left Bank Ciders started when Tim and Anna worked for the compost program at their neighborhood farmer’s market. Every Saturday morning one of the big orchards would borrow a compost bin to fill with bruised, banged, and other “bad apples” they couldn't sell.
"Most looked just fine, and after doing all we could think of with these apples, week after week, eventually we decided to try our hand at hard cider. Using a food processor and old pillow cases to grind and squeeze all we could from our formidable bushel of apples, we were left with about two gallons of juice, which we fermented, aged, and bottled. It tasted great so we kept at it, gathering castoff apples on Saturday, grinding and pressing on Sunday," they said.
"Around the same time we were working at the farmer’s market our friend Dave was hired to lead a farm in Ossining, NY and relocated to New York State from Chicago. Over the next couple years, we continued to make cider and other experiments and Tim started growing oyster mushrooms in the basement of Dave’s farm. We schemed about how we could all work together someday, perhaps start a farm or some other agriculture business… By this time, Tim had become passionate about cidermaking.
In 2018 a friend of ours bought an old building in Catskill, NY that happened to have a decrepit basement that no one wanted… except us! It was a perfect cellar for cider."
"We had a few strokes of luck. We became friends with some extremely generous and very kind locals who shared their beautiful and unique orchards with us—some trees were over 100 years old! These trees were well-loved and cared for and produced so much wonderful fruit. Despite being unsprayed they were magnificently free of bugs and disease. We worked to identify the trees and found that many of them were old and uncommon, wonderful heritage trees—producing both cider and desert apples—that you don’t see much anymore.
"It is our mission to make inventive, small-batch ciders that celebrate apples and their environment. But our roots are in compost. In everything we do, we work towards simplicity and use regenerative practices, striving to leave things better than we found them. We are stewards of the earth, and whenever possible we choose the already built, the most biodegradable, the lowest-energy option. We plan to plant trees—we’ll plant an orchard someday—but it's also important that we help our local orchards thrive, working to support and encourage improved farming methods.
"Left Bank Ciders are an attempt to explore and bottle a time and place. We are deeply indebted to our neighbors and hope to be a welcoming gathering place for all who seek company and community. New York is a kingdom of apples, and at one point in history there was a cider house in every town. We celebrate that spirit and honor that commitment to community.
Left Bank Old Gold is a classic cider. They press Old Gold from apples grown at Windy Hill Orchards (formerly Goold Orchards, formerly owned by Sue and Ed Miller). The current batch stands as an homage to Sue and Ed's last harvest. The cider is rested in maple bourbon barrels for more than a year, giving it a slightly mellow whiskey character. This is very much like a aged white wine. Bone dry, mildly sparkling. An exceptional, layered, fine artisan cider.
Next up is Left Bank Kabbin Cider. Kabbin is wild fermented from wild apples. They spend the month of October picking apples in the Catskill Mountains including such varieties as Maplecrest sweets, Durham sours, and flowering crabs from the mountain top Arboretum. This is a true mountain mix, Kabbin has a full, mildly funky flavor. If you like funk, as part of the natural wine making movement, this cider is for you. Lovely flavors and aromas of delicious fresh cut apple, with a zingy acidity. Great with food!
Left Bank Tina Cider. Their friend Tina let them pick truckloads of apples from her generations-old farm in the foothills of the Catskill mountains. And while the backbone of this cider is a particular uncultivated, bitter-sweet apple, on trips to and from Tina’s they would pick every roadside crab they could get their hands on, resulting in a complex, fruit-forward dry cider with a balanced structure and crisp finish. This is an exceptional, versatile cider/wine. This is elegant and complex.. This an elegant dinner with stemware and a roast chicken with roasted root vegetables. This is cider making at a new high.
This last winter I had the Tina Mulled cider at Left Bank Ciders and local rye from Fort Hamilton Rye. Great cider! Terrific rich rye!!!! Perfect in fall and winter. A real warmer upper.
Left Bank Hudson is a clean, just off-dry, and easy-to-drink cider. Hudson is made from a blend of apples from Dressel Orchard, half an hour south of Catskill. Not named after the river… or the town… or the valley… but after their good friend, this cider is as lively, likeable, and approachable as its bon vivant namesake. Super drinkable. A go to cider when visiting the tap room. This one is only available on draft, so get your butt to the taproom to try it! Fantastic!
Left Bank Cherry Baby. On May 5th, 2020 Left Bank added this incredible cider just in time for cherry season. They got some leftover cherry skins and pits from Mead Orchard and used them to kickstart a secondary ferment on a batch of cider, leading to a pronounced cherry aroma and a complex cherry-apple flavor, with hints of vanilla and almond. Don't let the name fool you. For those who are hoping for a sweet cherry bomb, you will be extremely disappointed. For those who are thinking dry rose sparkler, with an acid bomb finish, you will be rewarded. Kind of like a rose sour ale or cider. This sparkling wine-styled cider has many layers of aromas and flavors that will continue to evolve as you drink it. This is meant to have with shellfish and oysters, chicken or pork. An elegant cider you can have by the pint, but I prefer stemware again, because this is an exceptional cider. One of my absolute favorites. Always, always impressive! A great celebration beverage to be served with champagne flutes.
Left Bank Byron. Byron is a grateful homage to their friend who has lovingly stewarded his 100+ year old antique orchard with extraordinary care, never spraying. To honor this special place, they blended his best Baldwins, Northern Spies, and Roxbury Russets into this flavorful dry cider. This one is all about the apples. This is a special bottle. Small batch. Exceptional cider. Big apple notes. Perfect for almost any occasion.
Left Bank Sharp Tongue. This is a dry, barrel-aged cider, packed with summer blueberries they picked from their favorite orchard. In the great pulp versus no pulp debate, this one sides firmly with pulp. You can see and taste the berry bits here, no fining or filtering to smooth it out. Again, those looking for a sweet cider will be disappointed. Those looking for an exceptional, quality cider will be thrilled. There's tons of berry on the nose. On the palate, big notes of blueberry, Granny Smith apple (though there's no Granny Smith in this) with notes of sour cherry and citrus. This is an exquisite sparkling fruit wine/cider that will absolutely impress. Again, choose your stemware carefully. A pint is fine, but you'll be happier with some stemware. This cider is meant o be enjoyed - but savored. Fantastic. Another one of my favorites.
Left Bank Car Trouble. Classic, clean, dry apple cider. Made from a blend of apples. This you can drink by the pint. Quaff it. Savor it. Nurse it. Whether to cool off on a hot summer's day or in the middle of winter with a chicken pot pie, a burger, or a slab of apple pie and melted cheddar. Intense. Super drinkable.
Left Bank MaryAnn's Mead. MaryAnn Welsh makes wildflower honey at her homestead near Middleburgh, NY. They mixed her honey with filtered water, fermented to complete dryness, and barrel aged for close to a year. This is full bodied honey flavor without any cloying sweetness. A very solid, drinkable mead. Fresh and goes down easy.
Left Bank Spyser. Cyser is a traditional co-ferment artisanal beverage made through the fruitful marriage of apples and honey. Left Bank Spyser features wild apples they harvested in the mountains, with an emphasis on the variety Northern Spy (...get it?). The resulting beverage combines the tartness of apples with the smoothness of honey--merged and beautifully mellowed by the barrel. This is absolutely another of my favorites. Fantastic for sipping. Absolutely for the a wineglass. Love the freshness of the apples, but there is also a mellow side to this beverage. A fantastic blending of fruit and honey without any of funk. Clean and delicious. An absolute MUST TRY!
Left Bank Cider is got that wonderful historical, industrial feel, but at the same time you are in a laboratory of utter quality and taste. Tim, Anna, and Dave are great folks. they make a truly honest, craft product. And they are great hosts. As the old saying goes, "These are good people." You will love the artisanal ciders from Left Bank, an absolute jewel in the Hudson Valley!