Cherry Mitten bourbon barrel-aged cider with cherries is one of our fan favorites, and we are excited to reveal a very special limited batch this summer! The Mitten bourbon barrel-aged cider is our most award-winning cider, and Cherry Mitten (made with local Michigan tart cherries) is always a hit. This Saturday, we'll release a batch of Cherry Mitten that was aged in Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout barrels. 

"You can expect lots of bold cherry flavor, a little cocoa, a little vanilla, and even a little cinnamon. I liken it to a cherry cordial," says James Bothwell, one of our cidermakers. "If you like cherry cordials you're going to love this cider."

A bit on the process from James: "We've been making Cherry Mitten for a few years here at Virtue, but we always wanted to get our hands on the Bourbon County Brand Stout barrels from Goose Island. We were able to do that about a year and a half, two years ago.

"We chose a very neutral cider that wouldn't overpower what we were trying to get out of the barrels. We picked that cider, threw it in the barrels and let it age for a few weeks, about 6-8 weeks, we took that cider out of the barrels, and threw it on top of Balaton and Schaerbeek cherries, let it age on the fruit itself, and we let it age about another 3-4 weeks there, and when we figured it was good to go, we trasnferreed it to one of our big tanks for bottling and kegging."