Hard Cider is as American as the Boy Scouts, or driving jacked-up trucks downtown listening loudly to Kid Rock, Willie Nelson, or Johnny Cash. Chances are if your great-great-grandparents were stateside circa the Louisiana Purchase, they were getting swilled in a barn on locally pressed cider. At that time, it was the most popular alcoholic beverage and cider orchards were planted all over the east coast. Have you heard the not-as-innocent as we thought story of Johnny Appleseed? Spoiler, it has to do with alcohol.

Apple Outlaw’s Hoppin’ Holdup taps into this long tradition and I would gladly get early American plastered on this beauty come Fourth of July. Oz per Oz, compared to beer, is has seriously less bloat and at 6.5 percent Alc. it has a good kick too, like a drunk donkey. Buzzword: it’s gluten-free.

Grown and produced right here in the Applegate Valley by Thompson Creek Organics they say the Hoppin’ Holdup is a “craft cider-meets-craft beer rule breaking union” and it works. Tangerine, floral, and of course apple flavors are well balanced, complex and the dry hopping gives it an amazing aroma. It starts dry and smooth with a slightly sweet finish accentuated by crisp citrusy hops. Instead of a cloying sweetness, it features the more complex parts of cider. The Hoppin’ Holdup is crisp and refreshing, perfect for secretly day drinking at the parade or pairing with a rack of ribs.