Cider Review: J.K.’s Scrumpy Farmhouse Organic Hard Cider

J.K’s Scrumpy Farmhouse Organic Hard Cider ended up being my personal favorite at my recent small cider tasting.

J.K’s Scrumpy is a hazy, dark gold, carbonated cider with a pleasant nose on it is sweet. My husband was the one controlling the order in which the ciders were served, but since I had bought them, I knew which ciders we were going to be tasting. Also, each cider has a unique feature, and in this case, it was the haze, so I knew that this is what he was pouring first. This cider is unfiltered, so there is haze, but it is not cloudy.

When I went back and tasted it again later, I realized that this cider actually does taste like apples, which is one of the first things the cider officials tell you not to expect when you drink cider. If wine doesn’t taste like grapes, then don’t expect cider to taste like apples, yet this one does. Their website says that their product contains just juice and yeast and nothing else, but they do describe letting the bottles age for several weeks to properly condition. On a Home Brew Talk Forum, a poster said that they measured the gravity at 1.024. My theory is that they take regular apple juice and let it ferment all the way dry with an alcohol content of about 8%. They then would add more apple juice to make it sweet as evidence of the SG, which would also dilute the alcohol content to 6.0% and give it an apple flavor again. The new added juice could help create a natural carbonation, which they then could have pasteurized to stop the yeast from eating all the sugars and give some stability. I don’t know if I am right, as it is just a working theory of mine.

J.K.’s Scrumpy Organic Hard Cider is produced in Michigan and is at 6.0% ABV and contains no added sulfites. It appears to retail for $6-$8 for a 22 oz bottle.

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