Summer is when all the activities start happening. Its why we’re having more little day trip and stuff. I guess that’s the best opening for going on this little guided visit and Ice Cider Tasting to La Face Cachee de la Pomme in the Magog/Eastern Townships area of the province of Quebec. This was redeeming a Groupon deal that I had bought last year but we never ended up going until now.
I love La Face Cachee de la Pomme ice ciders a lot. Its my must-buy at the Salon des Metiers d’Arts during the Christmas season. I talk about my haul for the last two years already. Its just great gifts and nice for Christmas and New Year’s parties. Now, I’m going far away from the main point of this!
The guided visit and ice cider tasting! Let’s go!
I have no pictures from the guided tour but it was extremely informative to get how it all works. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed and it was super cold in some of the places. I only thought about it on the way there but then it was a hot day so I was in shorts and tank top. I guess it was my fault. Still, the place is incredibly impressive. The process is really intricate.
The tasting took a good bit of time with four types of local cheeses to match with nine products. I’ll have a nice little gallery under and talk about it later. It’ll be in the order we tasted.
Here’s hoping that these pictures are correct. They should be from memory but regardless, below is the list of them and some thoughts:
- Bulle de Neige Rose: One of the few here that I haven’t tasted before. I’m not a huge fan usually of sparkling wine in general with a few exceptions. I do like rose wine so this had a fair shot of being something I’d like. However, it was okay. I found it a little dry for my taste but it wasn’t bothersome at all. I would drink it if it was offered and it can probably be an acquired taste.
- Neige Methode Traditionnelle: This one was definitely better than the Rose. Its still something like a bubbly but it was a much smoother taste.
- Neige Inspiration: If I remember correctly, the way it was described was a mix of the Winter Harvest and Autumn Harvest Ice Cider. Autumn Harvest seems to not exist anymore but I do remember that it was a product before but then I don’t trust my memory all that much. I do remember thinking that if there was a mix of the harvests, it would be an interesting combination and voila! Here we have it! Inspiration is a decent ice cider. I liked it quite a bit but then it has a little bit of a taste that I can’t grasp which I’m not sure how I enjoy past one glass.
- Degel: My husband and I had Degel once when we went to the one super fancy restaurant we went to before and I remember not being so impressed with it but its either my tastes have changed or its been improved significantly because Degel was the surprising find! I liked this one a lot!
- Neige Premiere: Now we’re heading into the ice ciders I’ve tasted. Neige Premiere is really good. One of my favorite ice ciders ever! But..that was before I tasted the next one…
- Neige Reserve: I get Reserve and Premiere every single year because its just so great. Its absolutely awesome! The taste is the perfect balance between sweet and tart and the acidity from the apples.
- Neige Winter Harvest: I remember when I tasted this one at the Salon before Christmas, that it was described in some way like a more exotic experience. This one has a very different taste. Probably more exotic and more fruity. I still like this one quite a bit.
- Neige Noir: We’re heading into the hard liqueur bit here. I think the best way to describe Neige Noir is that its like a Cognac. Its why we love to mix it. According to our guide, the last year’s batch was like maple syrup whereas this year’s batch will have maple syrup and adding hints of hazelnuts. That has us excited because we love maple syrup and hazelnuts. Its more pricey but its really worth a try.
- Gin de Neige: Ending this off with the strongest of the products and also one I haven’t tasted before. Honestly, I’m not a Gin person mostly because it smells super strong and its not something I enjoy because it would just knock me out in a sip. Its not far from how I felt after I drank this. It burnt down my throat and then made me a little dizzy for a few moments.
Luckily, ending the tasting with Gin de Neige was too much for me, but it was also offset with some Ice Cider Sorbet.
This is a sweet idea on top of it tasting amazing. I believe this was with the Crackling Ice Cider. I’m going to try and make some of this.
That was the end of the tasting and tour! Time for some shopping and picture taking! The decor is something to admire also. The interior design is beautiful and actually a funny bit was that a former employee dropped by for a tasting or something with friends and they beelined for the washroom because apparently its super pretty so of course, we checked that out also. It is done really nice. Look at it!
Outside Decor and Plants
Haul & Gift Bag(with Groupon)
The gift bag is with the Groupon deal. It has a 375ml bottle of Neige Method Traditionnelle, Sample bottle of Gin de Neige, two wine glasses with the Neige logo along with a recipe for Sangria Verde (using Degel) and what I assume is the place that provides the cheese samples. I’m sure we’ll be hunting down some of the cheeses because my husband can’t stop talking about two of the four cheeses.
After that is the haul!
To wrap this up is our little haul. Its a little cheaper to buy from the main facilities of La Face Cachee de la Pomme than in the SAQ (our wine distribution stores). We ended up getting our faves and because we had a decent purchase, we got a little coupon for our next purchase.
Overall..this was really fun! I’ve always wanted to do wine routes and I figured this would be a nice way to see if my husband would like to in the future and he had a lot of fun also. I think maybe we might plan for a wine route next year or something.
That was the end of the visit and time to go home!
Have you gone on wine routes? Have you tasted ice cider?
Tranquil Dreams 
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