Sunday, February 10, 2008
Food, Wine, Beer & Spirits

Along came a cider

Original Sin is the apple of my eye

By Jason Tesauro and Phineas Mollod

Whether or not you learned in Vacation Bible School to turn Popsicle sticks and yarn into a crucifix, by now, you’ve all heard the tale of an apple, Eden, Adam and Eve in the face of a monumental choice: fruit or exile. When faced with a similar ultimatum, Original Sin’s Gidon Coll chose fruit and decided that when life hands you apples ... you open a hard cider mill.

Turns out that Original Sin Hard Cider is the forbidden fruit that turned these authors into wiser creatures, for now we have knowledge of appley goodness beyond Mott’s, Halloween bobbing and Charlize Theron’s acclaimed performance in “Cider House Rules.” Apple trees grew along the Nile in ancient Egypt, and France and England were tippling with les pommes long before the Romans came along. Yet after a strong run in Colonial America, cider got the boot—but not enough bootleggers—when Prohibition hit. But thank goodness, it’s back. The Sunday Paper caught up with Original Sin founder Gidon Coll to talk about how one a day keeps the doctor away:

Q So crisp and dry. Is this solely tied to the apple's natural sugar levels? And is this style reminiscent of classic European offerings?

A The quality of apples is critical. We use the best available domestic eating apples with the right brix and acid levels. Apples vary in quality from season to season, and as such, the product varies slightly in color and acid. We don’t pasteurize, and we don’t add artificial colors or flavors. The natural flavor speaks for itself. And the dry nature of Original Sin makes it similar to English and French ciders.

Anyone that’s ever mis-poured a beer into a pint glass knows of the foamy power of carbonation. Is there a natural carbonation process like beer or shampagne, or is it added like soda?

Part of the carbonation is natural. We use champagne yeast during the fermentation process. We also add a low level of carbonation. In the States, there are strict regulations regarding levels of carbonation allowed in ciders imported or produced into this country. In your international travels, you might find ciders with much higher levels of carbonation.

We found many white wine qualities in O.S. What’s hard cider’s place on the table? Any ideal food pairings? And what about mixing cider and beer?

A Poor man’s Black Velvet, which is stout and cider, and Snake Bite, a combination of ager and cider, are great mixes. There’s much more awareness of these drinks in the U.K. than here, but their domestic popularity seems to be growing. Also, because Original Sin is such a natural product, many bars have come up with their own house mixes, such as adding a splash of fresh cranberry to a pint of Sin. With food pairing, O.S. goes great with fish, as well as with more spicy, flavorful foods like BBQ.

Cider seems misunderstood as a sweet girlie drink, yet, finely crafted cider is a refreshing, bewitching alterative. What is the message you’re trying to deliver with your racy posters and devil-may-care design at origsin.com?

Developing the poster campaign with the artist R.Black has truly been fun.  R.Black is a gig poster artist, who just came out with an art book called “Futura” [Dark Horse, 2008]. We strive to come up with sexy ads that people would find creative and artist if not slightly alarming. The goal was to make posters that would appeal equally to men and women, and the newer posters all feature real people from the art, bar and nightlife scene. We get a number of e-mails a week from people wishing to be on future posters; sadly, the artist is pretty backed up. SP
Phineas and Jason are the authors of “The Modern Gentleman” and “The Modern Lover.” E-mail them at booze@sundaypaper.com