Ciders and Meads for the Holidays

This time of year we get to taste and smell all sorts of delicious treats and drinks that come with the holidays. From spiced apple cider, pumpkin pie, and other dishes, holiday cheer is one bite or sip away. If you’re like us and find the occasion a perfect time to celebrate festive flavor with your favorite mead or cider, you’ve probably been trying to figure out what flavors will bring out that holiday spirit. 

Is it going to be a mead with mulling spices that makes you feel warm inside?

Is it going to be a cider with the crisp taste of winter? 

Or will it be a spiced wine that you enjoy by the fireplace? 

If the options are making your head spin, then don’t worry, we have you completely covered for the remainder of this holiday season.

Spices and Flavors

We’re going to start with what makes holiday flavor taste like the holidays. Mulling spice is made up of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, peppercorns, cardamom, and star anise. They tend to pair well with sweeter drinks, meaning they go well with cider, mead, and wine. The spice gives the drinks an extra kick and smells fantastic. Fun fact, mulling spices are also used as potpourri, or can be used in place of pumpkin spice! 

Winter berries are also often used in creating a winter drink. Elderberries and huckleberry are popular winter flavors that are paired with mead and wine. Other berries are also used to produce the sweet festive flavor like blueberries mixed with cinnamon. 

Meads

Do you drink Mead at Christmas? 

Or is it more of a New Years’ Eve celebration for you? 

Regardless, mead has many flavors that fit with the holidays both for Christmas and the end of year parties. Meads are made of honey, yeast, and water, making them sweet to start. Finding a mead with mulling spice for the festive flavor is a good place to start. Another popular option is huckleberry mead and elderberry mead for their sweet profiles that blend well with holiday dishes. 

If you visit us or are looking for inspiration on what to find, we have two mead selections fitting for the holiday: Odin's Eye in the Pie, which is a berry apple pie flavor, and Bla Himmel, a mead flavored with blueberry apple cinnamon vanilla. Both are sure to go with any party, meal, or get-together you have this season, but you better be fast. Bla Himmel and Odin’s Eye both have limited availability, and won’t last long!

Ciders

Ciders are wonderful because they can also be spiced with just about anything to balance out their sweetness while still providing that holiday flavor. Ciders can be spiced with allspice, mulling spice, pumpkin spice, or other individual ingredients to give it a new flare. Ciders also pair well with other fruits because of their sweet composition. A few ideas you can try for the remainder of this holiday season are cranberry cider, pomegranate cider, or any cider mixed with any spice listed. Hard cider is also great because it can be served warm or cold, making it a great option for those winter outdoor activities or late night drinks. 

If you’re looking for options we have, we suggest our Mischief Mulled cider, which is a sweet mulling spiced cider that is served hot.  It is so popular that we also have it on draft for growlers to go. You can also try Pillage & Spice, which is a pumpkin spiced cider made with pumpkin and pie spices. 

Wine

Lastly, if mead or cider don’t fit your palate, you can try wine. The most popular wine for the holiday season is mulled wine, also known as spiced wine. It’s typically made with red wine and the regular mulling spices, or it can also be made with raisins and is served hot or cold. This is a traditional wine and has roots in Europe as being specifically a Christmas drink. The cool thing about spiced wine is it’s pretty easy to make at home. You can do so on a stovetop or a crockpot, and there are a few different recipes online that you can try. Like mead and cider, you can add different fruits, or additional spices depending on what flavor you’re going for, however many of the traditional recipes are very simple and don’t call for a lot of extra ingredients.

Now that the holidays are hitting a peak and parties or get-togethers are going strong, it’s nice to have options that really get into that festive spirit. From our mead and cider options and suggestions to making your very own spiced wine, you have plenty of drinks to try and choose from depending on your needs. We hope you enjoy these holiday drinks as much as we do!