Even before being diagnosed with celiac disease, I was never a beer drinker — I’ve never been able to acquire a taste for it. When I was younger and all of my friends were drinking beer, I always found myself looking for the wine, the champagne and of course, cider.
While it sometimes feels like I’ve tried every cider on the face of the planet, I still get excited when I come across something new. On our recent trip to London, I was able to try quite a few new European ciders — and I even found one that I would call great (I’ll save that for a later post).
While living in Portland, Oregon from 2005 to 2010, I discovered Fox Barrel Cider at my local New Seasons Market and immediately fell in love with it’s wonderfully light and fruity flavor and found myself wanting to drink it just a little too often. In 2008, I was shopping at our local Whole Foods and came across Crispin Natural Hard Apple Cider and as I always do with any new cider, I bought a bottle (original flavor) to take home and try — it’s been a favorite ever since.
Crispin is constantly hosting events at local restaurants, beer festivals and pubs showcasing their award winning cider. They’ve even come up with a great selection of sample menus showing the diversity of cider and how it can be used in so many different ways.
So far, I haven’t been able to find Crispin Cider in Los Angeles, but I am still able to find Fox Barrel. Much to my joy this past year, Crispin acquired the Northern California based Fox Barrel, so I’m really hoping this is going to mean California distribution for Crispin.
If you find yourself a little upset not being able to drink beer after your celiac disease diagnosis, do yourself a favor and try this cider — I think you will have a new favorite drink. Don’t get me wrong, there are increasingly some really good gluten-free beer options out there, but cider really is a nice alternative. One taste of Crispin Cider and I think you’ll agree that it’s the more sophisticated brother of beer. It’s much more diverse and goes with just about anything. If you’ve tried it, I would love to hear what you think about it. If Crispin is reading this, please tell me when it will be available in L.A. and where I’ll be able to find it.
