Denver, CO — Colorado Cider Company is mildly enthused (O.K., we’re excited) to be releasing our first brettanomyces fermented cider; Pato Feo. Our cidery has been playing around with spontaneous fermentation, lactobacillus, and barrel-aging since opening in 2011. The batches have been exclusive to our tasting room and festivals in the past and haven’t been released to the general market until now.
Pato Feo, a cider fermented with a brettanomyces yeast strain and barrel-aged on cherries for over a year, will be released later this month in limited quantities across Colorado. With notes of tart cherries, earth, oak, a rounding acidity and balancing dose of brett, this cider is designed to push the boundaries of the cider market in Colorado.
“There’s a long European tradition of wild fermentation in cider and this is something you will see more of in the United States,’ says Brad Page, Co-founder of Colorado Cider Company.
‘We Call it Pato Feo the “Ugly Duck” as it was sort of shunned in the corner of the cidery until it started to reveal its beauty after months of barrel-aging. Brettanomyces is not something most wineries would introduce on purpose, so we had a bit of a debate about even doing this amongst our cidermaker’s. Our hope is to one day have a separate facility for doing these types of ciders.” Says Page.
Pato Feo, will be released in 750ml bottles and limited draft this April. Look for more specialty ciders throughout 2017 from Colorado Cider Company, including Block One, an orchard based cider made with a blend of ten different varieties of cider apples harvested from our orchard in Hotchkiss, Colorado.
About Colorado Cider Company:
Colorado Cider Company was founded in 2010 by Brad and Kathe Page in Denver, Colorado. The cidery is the state’s oldest and most award-winning cidery, and is the maker of Glider Cider, Grasshop-ah, Glider Dry, and many more Fresh,Genuine, and Balanced craft ciders. Colorado Cider Company has over 3,000 trees and 30 different varieties of cider apples planted on their orchard in Hotchkiss, Colorado; making it one of the largest cider apple orchards in the Mountain West.