Hard Apple Cider - Tasting

I fermented up this batch of Hard Apple Cider back in September using some locally grown apples.  They fermented all the way down to 0.994 which is very dry.  I decided to split the batch and dose one part with another gallon of cider to make a sweet cider.  I let this ferment for a few days and then pasteurized the bottles.  It ended up working our well - I have a sweet carbonated cider and no bottle bombs.

For the other half I added a small amount of priming sugar to avoid getting a completely still cider.  This may have been a mistake as I ended up picking up an off sulphur flavor during bottle conditioning.

I have found that both of these ciders seem to taste quite a bit better at basement temps rather than out of the fridge.  This really brings out some nice complexity.  These tasting notes were recorded for a cider served at ~60 F.

L - Sweetened & R - Plain

Back Sweetened Cider Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Light tart apple.  A bit more subdued than the raw cider.  No alcohol or yeast character on the nose.  It is a pleasant aroma
• Appearance:
• Pale gold/yellow.  It has cleared very nicely in the bottle.  Pours with a very slight head that immediately fades to nothing.  Light carbonation continues to appear while drinking.
• Flavor:
• Sweet up front and then transitions into a pretty robust sour apple flavor in the finish.  It's a nice balance between the sweet and sour flavors in the finish.  The alcohol is very well hidden and there is no yeast character I can detect.
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied with a sweet sticky mouthfeel.  It really lingers in my mouth for some time after taking a sip.  It's very much like drinking raw apple cider.  It has a pretty firm bite of astringency - much more than I've ever experienced from a beer.  It gives the cider a pretty substantial mouthfeel as light bodied as it is.
• Overall:
• I really like the balance of sweet and sour from this cider.  It makes for a nicely complex drink.  The stickiness of the finish makes it a bit difficult to drink more than one of these in a sitting though.  This is probably sort of the trade you make if you are going to drink it warm (and enjoy the complexity) or drink it cold (and have a smoother/easier drinking beverage).

Plain Cider Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Sulphur smell up front with a bit of apple in the background.  Was a lot more prominent a couple months ago.  Maybe get a bit of alcohol way in the background.
• Appearance:
• Identical to the Back Sweetened half except that the carbonation is even lighter.  Pours with no head and is essentially still.
• Flavor:
• Mild sulphur character is also present in the flavor.  Some apple character comes through in the finish but it's not quite pronounced enough to overwhelm the sulphur.  Swirling the glass seems to reduce the sulphur flavor - like maybe it's dissipating.  No alcohol flavor cuts through.
• Mouthfeel:
• Very dry.  Has the same astringent bite that the sweetened portion has.  The finish is much crisper for this version so it is a bit easier drinking.
• Overall:
• The sulphur is disappointing.  The cider tasted really clean going into the bottles.  I assume that the yeast doing the bottle conditioning threw out this sulphur - I probably should have added more nutrient.  It does seem like the sulphur flavor has faded a lot over the last couple months so these could improve and the swirling trick seems to work pretty well.  This would drink sort of like a white wine if not for the off flavor.