West Avenue – Honey Monster

Cider Profile:

Name: West Avenue – Honey Monster
Sampled April 2021

Brand:  West Avenue Cider House Type: Apple – Cyser Location of Brewing: Freelton, ON ABV: 9.5% Website Link: westavenue.ca Ingredients: N/A Gluten Free: Yes Sugar Content: N/A Size(s) available: 750ml (bottle) Availability: West Avenue Retail + online store Flavour: Apple + honey Colour:  Transparent sunflower yellow Carbonation: Large, infrequently streaming

Cider Crate Tasting Notes:

 Smell: Strong aroma. Pungent honey and tannic apple. Some acidity and sourness.
Initial Taste: Medium bite from carbonation. Quick earthy, pungent honey that is rustic and aged. Barrel oak notes. Tannic but bright apples. Astringency.
After Taste: As harsher elements weaken, honey becomes smoother. Funk notes. Dry, dank finish.
On ice: Becomes thinner and harsher elements weakened. More apple forward.

Additional Notes:  West Avenue’s Honey Monster is a bold cider that doesn’t hold back on the natural flavours from fermenting honey and cider together. A very rustic and aged tasting offering, the cider really shines in the initial moments, with a pungent/earthy/natural honey taste that has notes of oak and barreling, with some harsher astringency. The honey becomes smoother in the aftertaste, being bright but also very dry overall. Apples are also bright but decently tannic. A large departure from other honey cysers/ciders available in Ontario. 

Rated on a scale of 1-5
Sweet – 2
Sour – 2.5
Crisp – 2
Dry – 4.5
Fruity – 2.5

Next recommendations:
More Sweet – Niagara Cider – Beekeepers Botanical
More Sour – Slabtown – Honey Habanero 
More Dry – 
More Crisp – Ernest – Original Dry Cider

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