Posted by Part 1 – A Breathtaking State Park View
Part 2 – Amazing Wine and Cigars
My mid-fall trip to upstate New York included a lot of great discoveries such as the winery, its cigars and just the beauty of Minnewaska state park. However, our main goal in traveling to that particular area was to test out the cider at Angry Orchard.
The hot attraction, located in Walden, NY, had lots of Covid restrictions in place so getting a reservation seemed next to impossible. The online reservations for that weekend had been all booked up and I decided that it was best to go and ask them for a table in person.
We were already there so what did we have to lose?
When we pulled up the first thing you see is an enormous Angry Orchard sign on the side of a barn that mirrors the imagery found in many of the company’s ads and commercials.
After driving into the parking lot we were greeted by a worker who was eager to tell us that there were no tables available at this time and that we had the option of pulling up to the brewery and purchasing some cider to take home or enjoy in our cars.
When we finally got up to the brewery area we found out quickly that we could only buy the cider in cans which was a huge disappointment since we could have just went to a supermarket for that.
We really weren’t interested and this is where my review of the place could have become very negative, but luckily we were able to snag a table after speaking with the host. However, we had to wait a few hours to be seated so we decided to eat nearby and drive back when our table was ready.
We grabbed some food at McDonalds, did a little window shopping in the town, and drove back for our reservation.
The layout of the grounds was nice with picnic tables around the brewery, a food truck, and some 90s rock playing on the speakers.
We were seated fairly quickly after our arrival and given menus to choose ciders from.
At the time, the orchard required us to purchase food with our drinks based on the Covid restrictions for bar-like establishments that were being enforced in New York State.
We ordered a few hot dogs and some ciders that were strongly recommended by the waitress.
One of the standout ciders according to the wait staff was the Rose’ for Sal which was made from red fleshed apples grown at the brewery and mixed with some berries for a slightly different flavor from the regular rose.’
The cider had a dry finish and it tasted better after already having drunk a glass of a sweeter cider. I preferred the regular rose’. We also tried another more traditional cider named Gimme the Juice which was supposed to be a lot sweeter.
It wasn’t as sweet as I had expected to be but it was certainly crisp and refreshing. We also ended up trying the regular Rose’ which had a less dry finish that I preferred to the Rose’ for Sal.
All of the ciders were enjoyable on this beautiful fall day with Rose probably being the standout. They all tasted much better there than in a can or bottle purchased at the supermarket. We even ended up scoring a free glass when the waitress accidentally brought out an extra and let us keep it.
Aside from the drinks, we couldn’t help but notice the types of people who were at other tables. Some of which were celebrating bachelorette parties.
One table hilariously forced their waiter to show off his muscles and even went as far as touching the guy. We felt kind of bad for him as some would consider this sexual harassment, or just downright annoying, but it definitely made for a good story.
In conclusion, a good time was had at the Angry Orchard Brewery and I would definitely recommend it for anyone taking a trip to upstate New York.
There’s a small market on the premise where you can buy growlers of cider and the commercial bottles and cans. This place is definitely worth a visit if you’re into wineries and breweries.
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