Revel Cider – Apfelgose [Brothers Beer Bistro – Ottawa]

Sampled July 2017

Revel is constantly coming out with new and very innovative ciders that draw inspiration from everywhere in the beverage world and the literal world. One prime example of this is their Apfelgose Cider – which has elements of two beloved German drinks: Germany’s version of cider, Apfelwien; as well as their infamous gose style of beer that prominently features salt, spice and sour aspects. Revel has released this cider at least a couple of times now in the last 2 years so it was finally time for us to write a review of it before our first trip to Germany.

Apfelgose is a strong 7.5% AVB and it is a cloudy lemon yellow, with fine and infrequent streaming bubbles. Featuring a mild sour rustic apple smell, it has faint hints of must and salt – with a slight cliché Revel smell to it.

There is initially a mild bite to the cider, with a slight tingle on the tongue. With a single-variety, ‘fleshy’ apple flavour, it presents natural acidity on the palate – with some faint citrus and orange undertones.  It is slightly earthy, with some sensation and flavour from the coriander presenting itself. Into the aftertaste is where it becomes quite salty in the mouth; as well as slightly more acidic and with a hint of vinegar notes. The apple flavour shifts to include more of an ‘apple-peel’ taste, with some generic mild spice notes developing – as well as slight metallic undertones. The apple and spice flavours do not last that long, but the salty notes linger on the tongue awhile. Because of this salt and other cider elements, it has a dry finish in the mouth.

In a first, we decided to directly compare our tasting notes for this Apfelgose to a beer – one of the original German goses brewed the same way since 1824, Ritterguts Gose. After drinking one of the quintessential goses around, we can confirm that Revel truly grasped the essence of this drink, and there was more similar between the beverages than not. While the Ritterguts was heavier and of course had a wheat flavour and presence to it, the two drinks were incredibly similar in terms sourness, saltiness and spiciness from the coriander – even down to the similar slightly metallic undertone taste. Having this as a comparison, only made us appreciate the efforts and research that Revel does when crafting their inspired drinks.

With Fall soon upon us, and one of the best times of the year is here – Oktoberfest – we can’t think of a better time to enjoy Revel’s Apfelgose: to celebrate the German spirit and excellent brewing traditions – as well to enjoy the innovative and truly delicious ciders that Revel creates.