It feels as though I start every blog piece these days with an apology for my tardiness in getting xyz new cider up online, and today won’t buck that trend as I really am much-delayed.

Back in May I was visiting my father-in-law in St Paul, Minnesota. We only had a week, he had planned out more or less every day, and we had an absolutely wonderful time visiting and exploring a city and part of the world that I would in all likelihood otherwise never have seen.

Knowing that there were existing plans in place I hadn’t done my usual pre-holiday research, but the instincts of a lifetime twitched just as I was about to board the plane, and I popped a tweet into the cider twittersphere asking if anyone had any recommendations on the off-chance I found a spare afternoon.

By the time I had landed I discovered I had messages from not one but two of Herefordshire’s finest makers telling me that I really must visit a place called Keepsake Cidery if I got a chance. Indeed Tom Oliver had been kind enough to email Keepsake’s Nate Watters making an introduction and asking if he had any extra local tips for me, whilst Albert Johnson told me in no uncertain terms that Keepsake’s single variety Chestnut Crab was the best American cider he had ever tasted.

Plainly this was not a cidery to miss if at all possible, and when a Sunday afternoon plan fell through and I found myself with an empty window I tentatively asked Caroline and her father whether there was any chance we might make our way to this place I had been told about.

Reader, we loved it. Driving through the cornfields of Minnesota, preternaturally flat to my eye (though not as flat as North Carolina, as my father-in-law was keen to assure me) after forty minutes or so we took a few turns down a couple of farm tracks and found ourselves in a little Eden of organically-farmed apple trees and a gorgeous, timbered tap room.

There are only one or two cideries I’ve ever visited that have given me such a warm welcome, and the hospitality we were shown by Nate, Tracy and Gabriela showed us deserves a much longer article than this. In brief, they’re making stunning minimal-intervention ciders in an array of different styles and from a fantastic range of apple varieties; local, American more broadly and European.

We were lucky enough to taste through a swathe of the range on the day, and tasting notes have been burning a hole in my notepad ever since. So with another thank you to the Keepsake team and a final apology for this three-month delay, here goes:

First up is their traditional method cider, Aura. Mainly Dolgo Crab, a largeish crab apple (though small by comparison with most standard apples) whose vivid red hues bleed into the flesh of the fruit itself. A totally new variety to me (and to most of our UK readers I imagine) – always an exciting experience.

Keepsake Cidery Aura 2019 – review

How I served:  Chilled

Appearance: Clear straw-gold. Lovely persistent mousse

On the nose: Excellent lees-fruit balance. Waxy apple skins meet touches of brioche. Tart red fruits; wild strawberry, raspberry. There’s a sweet, fleshy note to the aroma that has me in mind of some kind of non-specific tropical fruit. A general sense of tropicality, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Probably doesn’t! The fizzy red note becomes more vivid as I nose. Incredible purity and clarity.

In the mouth: Unbelievably vivid and vibrant delivery. Massive acidity – one for fellow fans of Foxwhelp – but huge breadth of red fruit and green citrus. Perhaps even a little guava – certainly something tropical, in a bright and focussed way. Mousse is perfect; adds body and creaminess whilst giving the fruit buoyancy.

In a nutshell: Pristine, electric, technicolour cider which anyone who loves Foxwhelp as much as I do will find irresistible.

Next up the much-hyped Chestnut Crab. It’s a local Minnesotan apple developed in the 1940s; a multi-purpose carb; for which Nate has a special fondness. Another new one to me – if it’s a first time for you too, there’s some good info on this page. I’m tasting both a pure single variety and a blend of Chestnut Crab with Chisel Jersey (85:15 in the Chestnut’s favour). Both are pét nat, both are dry (the general preference at Keepsake) and the former is $16 from Keepsake’s website to our American readers.

Keepsake Cidery Chestnut Crab Single Varietal 2018 – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

Appearance: Failed to record. Apologies! (This will be the case for everything hereafter I’m ashamed to say).

On the nose: I can see why Albert loves this — unusually for an American cider there’s a real earthy, slatey, phenolic nose; straw and waxy yellow fruit and even a touch of meatiness – shades of things like Tremlett’s Bitter or Harry Masters’ Jersey. Apple cores. Vanilla. It’s very harmonious and mature; the aromatics have melded perfectly together such that individual characteristics are almost hard to pinpoint. Shifting, beguiling and compelling.

In the mouth: Beautifully balanced delivery; a nibble of broad, red apple acidity meets and rounded, almost oily body and a huge depth of flavour that shows more overt fruit than the nose. Pears, very ripe (and dried) apples, meadow flowers and more of that warm hay and earthy phenolic. The mind-warp here is that all the flavours point to something that you’d expect to have lots of of tannin, yet this has essentially none. A russet-esque nuttiness, though I don’t believe this to be a russeted apple. Epic stuff all round. Very much an American cider with a Three Counties accent. Bizarre, given this is a Minnesota apple. 

In a nutshell: Complex, soulful, well-matured dry cider with real breadth and depth. As though Albert knows what he’s on about. 

Keepsake Cidery Chestnut and Chisel 2021 – review

How I served: Barn temperature

On the nose: Another knockout aroma. All muscle; phenolic smoke and slate and an almost-medicinal iodine on top of the waxiest of apple skins – almost wax crayons – and ripe yellow fruits. Apricot skins and lemon rind. Then a baking spice nuance that I interpret as frangipane. Super complex balance of sweet and savoury.

In the mouth: Still phenolic, with big, textural, but beautifully-integrated tannins and that tone of medicine-cabinet and slate. But they’re all atop an extreme, juicy, super-fruity yellow apple and tropical fruit base. Another cider whose complexities and harmonies make specific tasting notes rather difficult. Hugely flavoured, intense, complex and textured cider. Just a touch off-dry.

In a nutshell: Another English-accented American. Full-on, gorgeous, hugely characterful cider.

Now for something completely different. Happenstance is a new experiment; a blend of varieties briefly aged on cherry bark. Not entirely sure I’ve had any specifically bark-aged ciders before, though Caledonian’s Craobh Làn features some. Cherry bark is definitively a first for me though.

Keepsake Cidery Happenstance 2022 – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

On the nose: Fascinating. Apple, but in a savoury, woody, almost botanical way. There’s a slight oxidative note, but amidst the juicy, fleshy apple and that bark and earthiness and sweet woody spice it’s very much part of the effect. An autumnal, fireside kind of cider.

In the mouth: Again a juicy, full-bodied delivery whose flavours are very much all about deep, rich apple, accented by woody spice – but woody in a raw, woodland rather than polished oak kind of way. A little fizzy strawberry lace redness, and some dark bitter chocolate. There is a little volatile acidity here though, which grows as it sits in the glass. It’s a fascinating experience – a new point on the flavour map for me – but I think overall I could only do a glass of it.

In a nutshell: A wild and evocative cider, albeit with a few volatile tones. The ‘marmite’ one of the bunch perhaps.

Now for two vintages of Nate’s personal favourite cider, River Valley Reserve. Named for the Cannon River, the tributary of the Upper Mississippi along which Keepsake’s apples grow, this is a dry blend of classic English bittersweets — the likes of Chisel Jersey, Brown Snout and Ellis Bitter — with American and Minnesotan-specific apples, wild-fermented and bottled pét nat. Very much an encapsulation of what Keepsake are all about. I tasted the 2019 (available on the website for $16) and the 2021, which is presumably upcoming.

Keepsake Cidery River Valley Reserve 2019 – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

On the nose: Lovely, broad and super-complex. Definitely peachy and tropical but again with the ripe, waxy fruit, skins and woodland tones that make me think particularly of Herefordshire and Devon. Wet slate, vanilla, that touch of sweet-spiced frangipane. A huge element of sous bois – I feel placed right in the centre of the orchard.

In the mouth: Beautiful, ripe, sweet-savoury body. Tannins are ripe but beautifully integrated with the fruit, which again speaks wholly of the orchard; fallen fruit, sweet earth, wood and petrichor. Just a tiny nibble of acidity – this is structurally seamless; fantastically developed. A great example of English cider with an American accent — no, wait, sorry, the other way round!

In a nutshell: Another atypically transatlantic cider and one that speaks so eloquently of cider fruit.

Keepsake Cidery River Valley Reserve 2021 – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

On the nose: Still some of that wet slate character but there’s a gorgeous, bright yellow-orange fruit that segues between citrus and tropical. Oranges, pineapples. A touch of apricot and nectarine too. A little vanilla and frangipane and a curl of smoke add complexity. Stunning clarity and freshness.

In the mouth: Perfect delivery. Big, fat, ripe stone and tropical fruit tempered by the brightness of guava and super-ripe citrus. That sweet ‘baked goods’ quality of brioche and frangipane add complexity and a light grip of tannin, nibble of ripe acidity and perfectly-gauged fizz add texture and direction.

In a nutshell: An utterly spectacular, complex, flavour-rammed and astonishingly balanced cider.

Keepsake Cidery’s own orchards are fairly young, having been planted by Nate and his family themselves within the last decade. For the time being they therefore source the majority of their fruit from other orchards around the valley, but for this next cuvée, their Organic Semi-Sweet Estate Blend, it’s all Keepsake’s own apples. Mostly American multi-purpose varieties, this is a proper field-blend and (I believe) is Charmat method. But I’m happy to stand corrected!

Keepsake Cidery Organic Semi-Sweet Estate Blend 2022 – review

How I served: Chilled

On the nose: Ripe, juicy, sweet yellow apples and barnyard hay. Another nose that speaks of the other side of the Atlantic; an old English barn or perhaps in this instance even Normandy’s Pays d’Auge. Fruit is higher-toned, more floral, softer and more yellow-green than the River Valley Reserves, with a distinct and unusual note of Rich Tea Biscuit on the side (not sure if that’s a recognisable reference to our Stateside friends!) Young, fruity, very appealing.

In the mouth: Again I open with ‘ripe, juicy, sweet’. This is super soft and fully-fruited with a sherbety nibble of acidity providing important zip and lift. Very sous bois again – a theme of many of these Keepsakes; that touch of earthiness, twig, dried leaves and vanilla. 

In a nutshell: Simple and sweet compared to others, but full-flavoured, ripe enough to be supremely easy-drinking and all-round irresistible.

For a final flourish from this most English-accented of American cideries, how about a single variety of a classic English apple? I think so. In this instance we have Kingston Black, a variety with which we have historical form here, James and I having teamed up to cover it a few years ago (including an American example), before I wrote another spotlight back in 2021. We’ve not seen it too frequently in these pages since though, so I’d say we’re overdue. 

For newer readers, Kingston Black — ‘KB’ — is often cited as ‘the perfect cider apple’, being a bittersharp with the holy trinity of big flavour, decent acid and solid tannin. That description occasionally shows a mite hyperbolically; I’ve had more than a few disappointing KBs. But there’s no doubt that the best examples of this apple can be some of the best ciders of the lot. Let’s see how Keepsake’s — which spontaneously keeved, as Nate tells me his KB is often wont to do — performs.

Keepsake Cidery Kingston Black 2020 – review

How I served: Lightly chilled

On the nose: Such an iconic aroma — this is instantly recognisable as KB, and very good KB at that. Intense, billowy aromatics; pure tropical fruits and sweet-scented tropical flowers on a hot day. Apricots, lychee, roses. Viognier wine (though I know those former notes read more Gewurztraminer). Fruit oils and sweet spices. Unreal complexity for a single variety; a reminder of how aromatically brilliant this apple can be.

In the mouth: Delivery to match. All those tropical fruits, almost jellied, with intense tropical flower petal oils. Talking of oils, the texture here is beautiful, almost oily itself, but cut through by superb, orangey, tangerine acidity. Just a dab of sweetness, which works perfectly for this variety.

In a nutshell: Note perfect Kingston Black. One of the best I’ve had either side of the pond.

Conclusions

It’s almost as if a cidery recommended by both Tom Oliver and Albert Johnson is worth paying attention to.

This was a stellar flight; a real joy to taste through, offering outstanding variation of flavour and texture but united by a real care for fruit and sensitivity of process. The Happenstance was the only one that didn’t entirely do it for me, but that was deliberately the most out-there of the bunch, and your mileage may vary considerably on that one.

Tough to pick a favourite, but re-reading my notes and casting my mind’s palate back to mid-May, the River Valley Reserve 2021, Kingston Black and Aura stand particularly tall, along with the Chestnut Crab whose virtues Albert had rightly extolled.

The most interesting thing about the tasting as a whole was how English these ciders tasted. That’s an absurd generalisation in one sense — if English cider could be narrowed down to a particular flavour this site wouldn’t be much worth reading. But what I suppose I mean is that there were flavours on show that I’ve only really found from English cideries before — and Herefordshire and Devon cideries at that. An earthiness of slate and petrichor in their minerality perhaps. A certain firmness of structure in some examples. Hard to put a specific finger on. But unmistakably distinct from all other American ciders I’ve tasted.

Anyway — marvellous stuff all round. American cider, whilst frustratingly hard to come by in these British parts, remains a treasure trove for the curious cider drinker. I very much hope I’ll return again soon; to America in general and Keepsake in particular.