Eve's Cidery's Bittersweet Cider

Eve's Cidery is a small operation perched up in Van Etten, New York, near the Finger Lakes; it grows all its own apples, old cider varieties of English, French, and American origin. The cidery makes three carbonated ciders with varying levels of sweetness, each for $14, an apple-peach wine, and an apple ice wine.

We particularly like the Bittersweet variety, the sweetest of the three, though it's not sugary at all. It tastes vibrantly and sweet-tartly of apples. If the drier ciders are more elegant and subtle, this one explodes with freshness and acidity. It's refreshing and light enough for a hot summer day, but it also evokes the earthy, harvest flavors of fall.

Restaurants like Blue Hill, Watty & Meg, Gramercy Tavern, and Northern Spy Food Co. all sell Eve's cider, but it's more affordable to buy a bottle directly from the cider makers at the Greenmarket. They're at Union Square on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.