Have a Drink In Honor of Our Founding Fathers

We here at Jackalope are all about educating people, which is why we present to all you You +Me* Readers, this fun fact: Our founding fathers were all about cider. Not plain apple cider (although that’s lovely, don’t get me wrong) but the hard stuff. Indeed, hard cider is thought to be the most popular beverage in in colonial America. George Washington included cider in his campaign expenses and John Adams used to drink a tankard of it everyday to alleviate indigestion. With President’s Day just around the corner, we encourage you to celebrate George and Abe’s birthday by toasting with many of the yummy ciders out there.

One of the great cidermakers is Woodchuck, from Middlebury, Vermont, and their wares are widely available. I personally really enjoy their Granny Smith, with its tart finish. Farnum Hill’s orchard, based in New Hampshire, makes delicious dry, effervescent ciders that can even step in for champagnes, if you’re feeling adventurous. If you’re on the west coast, try the Fox Barrel Cider Company. Based in Colfax, CA, you can tour and taste at their cidery (cidery? Is that a word?). The Wandering Aengus Ciderworks out of Oregon not only has the best name of any cidery (I’m just going with it), but also has particularly delicious creations (if you’re not from one of the few states they distribute too, you can order it online if your state has accommodating wine shipment laws).

Another great thing about cider, most of them are gluten free. In this day and age it seems like everyone has a friend who has a sensitivity to gluten so having some cider in your house is a great alternative to beer. Jackalope has an amazing friend doesn’t do well with gluten so last year we attempted to make a cider for her…. It didn’t work out. Below is a photo of what happened when one of our ciders was opened.

Have no fear though, that will not happen with any of the ciders we mentioned above. On the plus side for us though, our cider rockets can be used like fireworks to celebrate Presidents Day. That’s right, cider for fireworks; we’re expert problem solvers.