Snowstorm be damned! Monday night I slogged through the mush to attend a Crispin Cider dinner at A25 Sushi & Saki Bar on Nicolette. When I heard about this event my first thought was how well cider would pair with sushi, and the pairings on offer confirmed my hunch. The intimate group in attendance was treated to four courses from the recently reconfigured and re-visioned A25 (formerly Anemoni Sushi) each paired with Crispin Cider or a custom Crispin cocktail devised by A25’s resident mixologist. Crispin’s owner Joe Heron was on hand to greet guests and answer questions. So as outside snow fell and cars were towed, we sat comfortably inside enjoying a great meal and great conversation.

Upon arrival we were greeted with a sneak preview of Crispin’s newest Artisanal Reserve cider, The Saint. I was told that this was the first public pouring of this new cider. The Saint is made from a blend of fresh-pressed apples with maple syrup added. The real kicker is the Belgian Trappist ale yeast used to ferment it. The result is a cloudy cider with moderate apple flavor and acidity. The maple syrup adds some balancing sweetness and subtle flavors while the Trappist yeast give a nice herb and spice phenolic edge. The yeast character is more subtle than you would find in classic Trappist ales, but it’s still enough to call this a “Belgian” cider. It was refreshing and fruity on ice, but I preferred it straight up for a more intense flavor. Look for more complete tasting notes for The Saint coming later.

The first course was sea bass with black bean sauce on a bed of bak choi. This paired excellently with the first Crispin cocktail called Original Sin, consisting of Crispin Brut, Ketel One Citron, lemon juice, diced ginger and ginger simple syrup. This concoction was another highlight of the night for me. I ordered another at the end of the meal. The wonderful floral, citrus and ginger flavors of Original Sin brought out similar spicy ginger notes in the black bean sauce. The fish was nicely prepared and attractively presented.

Course two, a sashimi sampler with Crispin Honey Crisp, was the best food of the night and the best pairing. The plate was beautifully arranged with an assortment of very fresh sashimi. The light carbonation and acidity of the cider cut the fat of the fish, while the vinous sweetness and body was bold enough to stand up to wasabi.

The third course was crispy pork tenderloin paired with the second Crispin cocktail called Intelligent Design. This course was the least successful in both the food and the pairing. While the pork tenderloin wasn’t bad, it didn’t stand out like the previous dishes. The presentation was uninteresting, just the sliced tenderloin on a white plate with a small timbale of white rice. Had I not known it was “crispy” pork tenderloin I’m not sure that’s how I would have described it. Again, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t at the same level as the other dishes. Similarly, the cocktail, consisting of Honey Crisp, lemon juice, Plymouth Gin, honey water, and Parfait Amour orange liqueur was tasty, but not as seductively delicious as the first and it didn’t do all that much to complement the dish.

Desert, a sweet rice and cheesecake roll with a cider, honey and ginger reduction ended the meal on a high note. The fried roll had just the right amount of sweetness and the reduction was like a caramel apple dipping sauce drizzled on the plate. It worked very well with the Honey Crisp cider that I had left from the earlier course.

I was lucky to sit at a table with Joe Heron so we spent the evening talking cider and beer as I tried to tease out what we can look forward to from Crispin. He hinted at more experiments with yeast and revealed that they are opening up several new markets in the coming weeks. The best bit of news for me stems from Crispin’s recent acquisition of the Fox Barrel Cidery in California. Fox barrel produces three wonderful ciders, a hard cider, a pear cider, and a black currant cider, that I tried on recent trips to the Bay Area. Joe says we can look for these great products becoming available in the Twin Cities in the coming weeks.