Introducing: Skinny Tire
Well well well what do we have here?
Skinny Tire is our calorie friendly rendition of Freewheeler that’s light as a feather, but with all the great Sociable taste you know and love. These 12oz bad boys are 80 calories, 4% ABV, and come in a handy 4 pack so you can pack them just about anywhere.
Find them in THESE great retailers all over the Twin Cities. AVAILABLE NOW!
Hear more about our newest addition from Co-Owner Jim Watkins:
Generally, it seems, there are two kinds of entrepreneurs. Those that have a skill/ idea and have to learn how to run a business, and those that have business skills, then go out and find the skill/ idea. Oddly, Wade and my story doesn’t really fit into either of those boxes. You see, we’re both recovering investment bankers. And while we spent bunch of time bullshitting about punching out from our corporate overlords, it was just that, bullshit. So, we weren’t entrepreneurs per se, and we certainly weren’t cider makers. It seems then that we got here kind of by accident. Our garage cider making started because nobody else was making the stuff we wanted to drink. A business by virtue of minor inconvenience. I don’t want to say we fell into this…. I assure you, a lot of deliberate thought, planning, and hard work went into Sociable. That said, the inciting incident for Sociable Cider Werks was our desire to make the things we wanted to drink.
Fast forward 6 years, 50 pounds (that’s between the both of us, not each, thank you very much), and three kids to a world where the things we want to drink have changed. Sure, we still love the classics that got us here and the big bold flavors that drew us to the craft scene in the first place. BUT, increasingly we find ourselves reaching for lawnmower beer. You know the type. The kind of crushable libations you can enjoy all afternoon while still maintaining the pretense of functioning adulthood. But alas, that category just didn’t exist in cider-land. Herein lies our new inciting incident. We needed a lawnmower cider.
Like most of our new product ideas it started with a conceptual brainstorming session. What did a cider need (or not need) to really capture that lawnmower spirit? First and foremost, lower alcohol. The ABV strength that delivers the elusive lingering day-drinking buzz. Then we needed a lower acid profile. The apples we select for our cider are known for their high acid content, so we wanted that character but a slightly muted. Finally, this new crushable libation needed to be apple forward and full flavored, without being so heavy that it sits on your gut or so sweet that it sits on your tongue. Great taste, less filling…. We sounded like a Bud Light salesmen.
So, how’d we get there? With 4 things. 1. Water. 2. our signature brewed adjunct. 3. chaptalization & 4. (Interestingly) a little more unfermented juice than usual. It took us a couple tries to get dialed, but the jist is as follows: Cut full strength unfermented apple juice with some water. That lowers the total acid per liter of liquid. The problem with watered down apple juice is it tastes like watered down apple juice. Enter the brewed adjunct. We brew in a little more tannin than usual to increase body. Then we chaptalize (that’s a la-ti-da French term for ‘add some sugar’). Once that’s all done the yeast gets pitched and we ferment dry. Finally, we sweeten with unfermented apple juice to bring the apple flavor back forward. I know it’s not very Minnesotan to say so, but…. NAILED IT!
I never thought I’d be so excited about a low-cal drink, but here I am….thirsty, watching the belt line, and doing my best to go the distance with this liver. If you want to get your hands on some of this golden 80 calorie Skinny Tire crusher, find it in 12oz 4packs at your local bottle shop. And as always, if you don’t see it, ask for it.