Swilled Dog cider-based Sangria hits WV market

Will this new Swilled Dog seasonal cider product become one of your favorite summertime beverages? Read on and find out.

The cidery describes its Swilled Dog Sangria as a spring/summer seasonal craft cider made with a blend of apple varieties and flavored with lemons, limes and cherries, with no added sugar. The cherry also gives it a ruby color reminiscent of traditional sangrias.

The cidery dropped off a sample for review, and I loved the very colorful can art. I had to try it. I asked Erin McCoy, my West Virginia Beer Roads cohost, to help me with the review and weigh in on this new beverage, which I suspect will have a female tilt to its customer base. We both drank the cider chilled, poured into a glass straight from the can.

How does it look

In the glass, the cider is a translucent, rich medium red color with just the slightest amber tint. It is unfiltered, yet appears quite bright with no cloudiness. While Swilled Dog Sangria is technically a still cider, it does have a nice natural frizzante (light carbonation) when poured that helps bring aromas up out of the glass to your nose. While the fizz lasts only for a while, it does adds to the attractive appearance in the glass.

How does it taste

“It’s fizzy and refreshing,” Erin said. “I am pleasantly surprised at how light and crisp it is, especially for a 6.9% ABV. It would be a welcome option for beer drinkers that want something that isn’t hoppy or bitter. And again it packs a punch.  It would be great for drinking on the porch, golf course, or beach.”

Swilled Dog says they were trying to achieve a complementary relationship between the citrus fruits and the tartness of the apples. Erin thinks that found that, saying it was quite tart with tons of apple and citrus (more lime than lemon), followed by a hint of cherry at the end. She said it reminds her of a sweet red wine, but not nearly as sweet.

To my palate, the cherry flavor was more pronounced. I picked it up as the dominant aroma when I first poured my glass. The taste came across as a pleasant cherry, backed by citrus. More apple flavor came though as the cider warmed up in the glass. To me, the aftertaste seemed mainly cherry and apple. My guess is that the apple varieties used were mostly, if not all, apple varieties with a light, fairly neutral flavor, which allowed the more pungent cherry flavor to move to the front in my mouth. I found it more juice-like than wine-like. Easy drinking.

We both found the Swilled Dog Sangria to have a medium body and to be semi-sweet in the familiar way apple juice is sweet. It has good acidity to balance the sweetness, and here, the addition of limes and lemons provide a brightness punch to its flavor. Erin and I agree that this cider does not taste at all alcoholic.

Traditional sangria

For me, I think I was having a harder time getting past the name “Sangria” and my memory of how traditional red wine-based sangria tastes.Traditional sangria is a wine cooler beverage developed in northern Spain. Most often, it is made from dry, fruity red wine (sometimes white wine) sweetened with sugar syrup and flavored with fruit and their juice (most often oranges & limes, sometimes apples and other fruits), poured into a glass over ice, then finished with a big splash of soda water to give it some fizz. It makes a great summer cooler. While I didn’t try this, I’m wondering if pouring Swilled Dog Sangria over ice and then adding a splash of soda water and a sliced orange and lime garnish might not better replicate the qualities of traditional sangria. It’s something I will have to try next time.

The final word

Overall, we give the Swilled Dog Sangria two mugs up. While Erin enjoyed its flavor profile more than I did, I could definitely see this Sangria finding a successful place in the summer beverage market. Where Erin’s palate picked up more citrus and apple, I found a more cherry flavor. Either way, you might find it just the thing for summer porch drinking. If you are a regular red wine sangria drinker, this cherry-apple Sangria cider may take a bit more getting used to — but don’t let that stop you. Give it a try.

Swilled Dog Sangria is distributed across West Virginia in both cans and draft.

Nutrition Label per 12 oz. serving: 180 calories, 11 grams of sugar, 14 g. carbohydrates, 0 g. fat, 0 g. protein, with no added sugar. The company also says it is gluten-free.

---

Swilled Dog Hard Cider, LLC is a majority woman-owned business founded in 2016. With its production facility and tasting room located at Upper Tract, Pendleton County, WV, the cidery now distributes its products to WV, Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, and Indiana. Swilled Dog has proven to be arguably among the very best craft beverage marketers in the state. The company makes its line of core and seasonal ciders from all natural ingredients.