Ploughman Farm Cider, based in Adams County, Pennsylvania, has just added a new cider to their already stellar lineup: Dornick American Dry Cider.
Ploughman owner and fruit farmer Ben Wenk shares that the cider’s name was inspired by Dean McCauslin, an orchard worker with a lot of experience (we’re talking 70 years). Dean once shared with Ben that “dornick” is the Irish word for stone, a detail which Ben held onto. “I tried to remember everything Dean ever said to me, he’s a wealth of knowledge,” Ben notes in the cidery’s email newsletter. “When this earthy, mineral-ly cider was born, we knew what to name it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXGTZBrltLu/?taken-by=ploughmancider
This crisp and very dry cider is a bit more “wintry,” as Ben puts it, than many of Ploughman’s other offerings, and is wildly refreshing with a mysterious hint of earthy funk.
Dornick’s official tasting notes (as described by Ploughman’s cidermaker Dr. Edwin Winzeler) are as follows:
Aromas of butterscotch, toffee, melon, and strawberry with a heaviness of fatty acids and earth—not quite thick and oily, but hinting in that direction—and warming with alcohol. In the mouth we have a creaminess with melons, strawberry, and some berry fruits. The finish is of berry fruits and strawberry, with clean acidity that leaves no trace of sweetness. In the back of the nose after tasting is the strong strawberry print, which I think comes from the Stayman apple.
You can find bottles of Dornick, and other Ploughman ciders, at various farmers markets in Philadelphia and at Broad Street Market in Harrisburg, as well as restaurants throughout southern Pennsylvania. Check out their website for a full list, and peep their Instagram and Facebook feeds for cider musings and events info.
- Photo: Ben Wenk