The Appley line is a series of cysers, which are meads made from apple cider and honey. Maniacal is proud to source its cider from an Emmet County, MI orchard. The apple trees of this orchard were planted in 1942 by Stanley Vorce and include some familiar varieties as well as some that have been phased out over the last century, including Northern Spy, Kirby Delicious, Russet, Baldwin, and Red Delicious. 

Patrick has been working on bringing back the apple trees from some decades of being left to the wild, including pruning a few that were over 70 feet tall. Each year we have gotten more cider from these trees, which has enabled Maniacal to increase Appley production. 2023 was an excellent apple crop year across Michigan, so you’ll see at least 8 Appley cysers in our 2024 releases.

Double Barrel Appley

Release date Fall/Winter 2024

16.8% 

Mead Details-

This was the initial cider pressing, which happened mid October 2023. Using a variety of apples from Cross Village in Northern Michigan. It was made using ⅔ Buckwheat honey and ⅓ Alfalfa honey. This was a 120gal batch. Half of this became this double barrel aged Appley you’re reading about here. The other half is the Buckwheat/Alfalfa Appley to be released in July of 2024.

The yeast used in this recipe was EC1118.

This mead is approximately a year old before bottling. 

About the barrels-

The first barrel we used was a fresh dumped 10 year Tippins Market Store Pick Single Bourbon Barrel from Elijah Craig Distillery. The mead was aged for about 3 months before we took it out and put it into the second barrel. 

The second barrel was originally acquired by us from Detroit City Distillery, that had a triple honey traditional mead in it called “The Devil Wears A Witch’s Hat”. 

 After we emptied The Devil, we put this batch of Appley in that barrel for about 7 months.  

Tasting Notes by Karl-

This Appley? Yeah it’s going to be worth the long wait. Some backstory for this one: we’re talking about another variant of our beloved apple cyser, Appley, aging gracefully in two spectacular barrels! This impeccably prepared Appley started its long aging journey resting in a 10-year Elijah Craig Bourbon Barrel. Instead of calling it there, we then transferred the Barrel Aged Appley into yet another barrel; this time a Butcher’s Cut Bourbon Barrel from Detroit City Distillery. It doesn’t stop there. This specific Butcher’s Cut Barrel had already been used, by us, to age our Triple Traditional mead “The Devil Wears a Witch’s Hat”, which in turn was also aged in a chocolate stout barrel from Witch’s Hat Brewery. Easy, right?

As we dive into the nose it’ll be important to recall that this version of Appley pre-barrel was our personally pressed Northern Michigan cider as well as two honeys; Buckwheat and Alfalfa honey, respectively. With that in mind the first impressions from the nose lingers heavily on the vanilla tout and honey notes, surprisingly, from the “Devil Wears a Witch’s Hat”. Infused with that are the very prominent rich “barnyard” notes from the Buckwheat and Alfalfa honeys – leathery molasses and finishing with a note of bourbon

The flavor rolls on a tidal wave of rich notes from caramel apple, rich molasses toned honey, smooth whiskey and a touch of chocolate stout. As you enjoy you might find a joyous mixture of apple to dark honey notes of caramel, molasses and even hay grass. Following smooth bourbon and even the sweeter honey notes from the triple trad barrel’s sweeter honeys. It’s sweet, smooth, whiskey, and honey. An impeccable version of Appley.