Spain is known for its hard apple cider. Unlike most other hard ciders, it isn’t bottled with carbonation. Instead, an essentially flat cider must be aerated before serving. Traditionally that is done by holding the bottle and glass as far apart as possible and pouring the cider into the glass. The fall and the impact add air to the stream of cider, giving it a bit of fizz. That process traditionally looks something like this:
Photo by Bostonian on Flickr
While I was in Madrid last week, I got to partake in some traditional Spanish cider and really enjoyed it. However, instead of the acrobatic pour by a server, the restaurant I was at had this delightful contraption:
A Magic Aeration Apple
And this is what it looked like when it was in use:
The Magic Apple in Use
The apple doesn’t add C02 to the cider – it just propels it out of the bottle and into the glass at a very high speed, with the impact adding the desired aeration and bubbly mouthfeel. Unlike Irish or English or American hard ciders, this was incredibly dry with almost no sweetness at all. While the Magic Apple was a cool contraption, I still think I would have liked to see someone make the long pour into a small glass.
We were in Oviedo, Spain, for a night while an important soccer game was on. I insisted we go out to a Cider bar for dinner. It was hilarious to have the waiters perform the long cider pour while keeping their eye on the TV.
By: erik.ellestad on June 27, 2011
at 5:40 pm