As the industry flipped upside-down in 2020, Portland’s acclaimed Swift Cider took the opportunity to explore new revenue models while keeping their innovative experimental program in high gear. Swift recently celebrated the one year anniversary of their N. Portland taproom that opened shortly before the COVID-19 shutdown. The quiet spring allowed the fruits of their labor to blossom into new avenues exploring everything from cider cocktails, to hard water kefir, hard kombucha, and just about every type of cider inbetween. Their latest is Raspberry Collins, a cider and cocktail in one

In late 2020 Swift launched a Cider Club that makes for fun quarterly cases that include atleast six different styles of cider, two 16oz cans of each flavor selected are included to give members the opportunity to share. With it comes access to virtual happy hours and 4k video content with Swift cider experts that dive into specialty batches and how they are made, as well as behind-the-scenes previews. The club makes enjoying the craft easier and more affordable. Not to mention that Swift makes an incredibly diverse portfolio of ciders that push far out of the common semi-sweet and sweet fruited ciders, and into realms of tropical, mixed culture sour and barrel-aged and botanical. The type of stuff that may have you reevaluating hard cider.

In the Q2 Swift Cider Club box is one such example of an unusual cider that you will be seeing more of in the future. Raspberry Collins, takes inspiration from the spirit world and craft beer industry. It’s a HAZY and juicy cider cocktail that drinks like a fruit infused Tom Collins and looks like a northeast-style IPA with some of the heavier smoother mouthfeel as well.

Raspberry Collins is the second in the Upside Down Cider Cocktail Series following Tropic Haze. Each entry into this series is directly influenced by a specific drink one of the Swift Cider family experienced in real life and took the challenge of interpreting it as a cider. The first was inspired by a cocktail at NE Portland’s La Taq. The latest was an idea from Swift brand manager Ali Digenis.

“While in San Diego I was visiting a cool cocktail bar called Prohibition,” says Digenis. “It was the type of bar where I felt like I wanted to try something new and I told the bartender, I trust you, just anything but gin. His response was, let me see if I can change your mind. He presented a classic Tom Collins with additional fresh mint added. I later played with that cocktail while bartending and was reminded of that as our team was brainstorming for the next cider in our Upside Down Cocktail Inspired Series.”

The recipe development was picked up by Swift owner and head cidermaker Aidan Currie who went about figuring out how to make it a reality.

“The creative challenge to make an upside-down-cider-cocktail for the moment has us thinking about gin right away,” says Currie. “The simple, delicious way a Tom Collins takes to nearly any fruit made it an early contender, and I think the option to play with our own gin botanical infusion meant we would have a lot of options adding additional layers of flavor.”

To execute the recipe Swift sourced fresh squeezed lemon juice locally, and dried juniper berries from the local homebrew shop. Mint leaves from the local apothecary, and fresh pressed juices completed the list of specialty ingredients. But it’s the addition of only mildly processed and completely unfiltered fruit juices and purees that give the series it’s signature cloudiness. Also unlike the now common fruited ciders, the actual apple cider base is never taken off of the fruit it’s fermented with, so the tannins of the skin stay and the flavor seems brighter.

With Raspberry Collins, the pinkish red raspberries impart a cloud of color and flavor that can settle upon the bottom of a can but is meant to be thrown back into the cider like yeast on the bottom of a hefeweizen.

“We encourage you to swirl gently upside down before serving to suspend the fruit solids while you imbibe. More fruit solids means more whole fruit flavor and substantial body. We find that the fruit solids stick to the mouth longer than filtered ciders and draw out the fruit aromatics which helps create a longer, fresher finish,” says Currie.

The natural haze is more than appearance, in beer it’s usually from adjuncts like wheat or powdered flour as well as yeast and hop particles that can make it seem chunky. Where the haze comes from has a huge contribution to the taste, especially in a cider.

“Appearance is a close second to flavor for us and we’re not just brewing up a haze to draw the wool over your eyes,” says Currie.

Like most ciders, Raspberry Collins is much more drinkable than a cocktail at 5.6% ABV, but that also opens up the possibilities in taking the inspiration to the next level in Imperial Ciders and barrel-aging. Swift wants to make Pommeau and fortified ciders like the Europeans do. They have already barrel-aged small batch ciders, but the dream is to make high gravity flavors that they can distill and eventually age in their own barrels.

“The clock is ticking towards the day when our curiosity in apple brandy collides with our sincere appreciation of cocktails. The TTB, aka the Federal Government, allows wineries to add back spirits made from their own cider, and we’ve been trying to find the right distiller partner for years to turn our heirloom cider into calvados,” says Currie.

In the meantime, Ali Digenis has designed a cocktail recipe for which to mix the Raspberry Collins cider.

Raspberry Collins Cocktail recipe:

• 1.5oz Gin (Aviation Gin recommented) 

• 2oz Soda water (Topo Chico or similar) 

• 0.5oz Fresh Lemon Juice 

• 4oz Raspberry Collins Cider 

• Tall glass over ice (crushed if possible), lemon wheel and a fresh mint leaf to garnish

Right now Q2 Cider Club memberships are open that will begin in April. One of the best things about the Swift Cider Club is that you can try it out for a three month period to start with, or get a cheaper prorated Annual Membership for March-December. This comes out to a cost of $45 a month for $70 worth of cider, and Swift will even deliver it to you if you cannot make it out to their cidery in north Portland.

More info on the Cider Club here https://swiftcider.com/cider-club

Raspberry Collins is going out in the Q2 box, and cans are now available through Point Blank Distributing in Oregon and Southwest Washington next week. Expect this initial run to sell-out quick, but Swift plans to make a second round of Raspberry Collins in April so that you can be swirling cider cocktails until summer.