We are old romantics, here at the Cider Works, and, as such, we are always keen to share our love of cider. We have decided to put together some cider-based inspiration for date night dining, to show you how you can use our one true love to impress your significant other for date night for cider lovers.
Bubbles to Start
What better way to start the evening than to crack open a bottle of bubbly? But you don’t need the likes of Bollinger or Veuve Clicquot to add a bit of sparkle to your night. Our Katja and Katja Rosé are fantastic all British alternatives with a way more palatable price tag.
Katja was our first foray into using the Martinonetti method to create a sparkling cider fit for a champagne flute! At 8.0% ABV it is stronger than most ciders but not as alcoholic as traditional champagne, so it will take the edge off any date night nerves without the risk of peaking too soon! It is vibrant, light and fresh with fragrant green apple and strawberry notes and undertones of melon, honeysuckle and citrus fruit.
Our stunning pale pink alternative, Katja Rosé, is made in the same way but blended with Rondo grape skins from a local vineyard. The result is a fresh, fruity and bright sparkling rosé cider with the taste of sun ripened cherries and peaches and notes of apple blossom and candyfloss. Take your pick of the Katjas and serve in a flute, tulip or coupe glass (a flute will keep the bubbles fizzing longest), to really set the scene.
The Main Course
According to BBC Good Food, for years, the most popular Valentine’s Day meal has been steak! A timeless classic, with plenty of options to embellish it with a luxurious sauce and accompaniments such as potato dauphinoise or crowd-pleasing chips! If one, or both, of you is vegetarian, you can replace the beef with a portobello mushroom steak and still enjoy the sauce (choose from peppercorn, blue cheese and many more) and all the vegetable trimmings.
A rich bold meal like steak calls for a rich bold drink to pair with it and our multi-award winning vintage cider, The General, fits the bill perfectly. Created from a vintage crop of apples whose fermented juice has been aged in our mighty oak vat, we consider this cider the Imperial Stout of our range. At 8.4% ABV it’s a little more than half the strength of most wines, but with twice the body. It has superb marmalade tannins and a juicy apple pie aroma. It has a wonderful warmth on the finish, ideal for banishing the winter blues and is a superb complement to meaty meals. It also won gold at the World Cider Awards and the International Cider Challenge, so the experts agree it is truly exceptional and a winning choice for making an outstanding impression.
Dessert or Cheese?
Some like to end a meal with dessert, there are those who prefer cheese and others who like both! There are plenty of great Valentine’s cake recipes to choose from, if you or your date has a sweet tooth, but we are definitely more inclined to a heavily laden cheese board. Here in the Westcountry we are blessed with some world class cheesemakers so we don’t need to look too far afield to create a mouth-watering selection. We would recommend a cheddar from our near neighbours Quickes, some soft goat’s cheese Cremet from Sharpham Dairy and Devon Blue from Ticklemore, as a bare minimum, because more is definitely more when it comes to the cheese course!
Obviously, cider pairs well with cheese. You wouldn’t drink anything else with your ploughmans, would you? But, when it comes to a special occasion and a special cheeseboard, we’ve got a rather special cider to pair with it. Ice Cider! It is unlike any other cider that we sell and is more comparable to a fortified wine than our usual pint. At 15% ABV, it is a lot stronger too. Icing is a method used widely in wine-making and we have adopted it to create this superb cheeseboard companion. During the icing process the cider apple juice becomes intensified, sweeter and richer. The powerful warmth and rich complexity are balanced by the floral bouquet and sweet apple finish. Dig out your port glasses and treat your beloved to a whole new cider experience to round off your meal!
A Match Made in Devon
If pairing our fabulous cider with your date night dinner isn’t enough, you can go the whole hog and feature it in the cooking too! It’s long been considered a great ingredient for pork and seafood dishes and there are plenty of options out there. We’ve got some delicious recipes on our website too such as Creamy Mussels with Devon Red Cider, Devon Mist Shellfish and BBQ Pulled Pork Belly. We can’t guarantee that any of our dishes or ciders will win your loved one’s heart, but we’d be very surprised if they didn’t. After all, cider and love is a match made in Devon. We hope these suggestions help with your date night for cider lovers.
