What if you can make champagne out of apples? That’s exactly what The Four Daughters Vineyard did so let’s see what this so-called loon juice is all about!
Loon juice is a beverage with around 6% ABV made from fermented juice and fresh juice of Honeycrisp apples. Apart from the original Honeycrisp, the company also has other flavors namely Strawberry Shandy, Grow A Pear, Extra Juicy, Mango Grapefruit, and Rose, Eh?
So, does it taste any good? Scroll down to find out!
Where’s Loon Juice From (and What’s in it?)
Loon juice is a beverage made with Honeycrisp apples. Minnesota’s Four Daughters Vineyard & Winery is believed to be the originator of loon juice and made it popular.
Four Daughters Loon juice comes in different flavors such as Hard Cider- Strawberry Shandy, Loon Juice Hard Cider – Grow A Pear, Hard Cider – Extra Juicy, Hard Cider- Honeycrisp, Hard Cider – Mango Grapefruit, and ard Cider – Rose, Eh? (source: Four Daughters Vineyard).
They use what they consider the best apples which are Honeycrisp apples. They start by pressing and mashing the apples into little pieces until the cider is formed.
The cider then undergoes the fermentation process using Champagne yeast. Next, the fermented liquid is filtered and mixed with fresh Honeycrisp juice. The last step is canning the juice (source: Loon Juice Hard Cider).
Loon juice was first introduced in Minnesota by the Four Daughters Winery in 2012. It was a seasonal drink but people started to love it. It was then distributed by 2014 in local restaurants and bars and they expanded by 2016.
It has since been distributed to the whole of Minnesota, as well as parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin (source: Happy Harrys).
What Does Loon Juice Taste Like? Is it Good?
Loon juice is a refreshing cider with an ultra-light with an off-dry aftertaste. It is made from 100% Honeycrisp apples and has a 6% ABV on average (source: Heavy Table).
The company did not follow what others are suggesting which is that Honeycrisp apple won’t work as a hard cider unless tons of sweeteners are added. They definitely proved them wrong.
They stuck by using the natural composition of the apples which led them to their very own concoction.
The Loon Juice Hard Cider is now a bubbly drink that finishes like champagne (source: Happy Harrys). You can think of loon juice as the apple’s counterpart to grape’s champagne.
Their other flavors produce different notes based on the extra ingredients added, such as pear, mango, grapefruit, and others.
On their website, the Extra Juicy Hard Cider is described as having an extra sweet taste due to the additional apples added, intensifying the apple notes compared to the regular Honeycrisp cider. It has great palatability and more pronounced acidity (source: Loon Juice Hard Cider – Extra Juicy).
Their other flavor, Rose, Eh? which is their version of a Rosé, is made with hibiscus and an actual rose to add both flavor and color to the juice. It has botanical and floral notes (source: Loon Juice Hard Cider – Rose, Eh?).
Also according to their Twitter account, their Hard Cider- Strawberry Shandy is a combination of the original Honeycrisp apples, strawberries, and lemon juice which tastes excellent (source: Twitter @LoonJuiceCider).
How Much Alcohol is in Loon Juice?
Based on the product description, Four Daughters Loon Juice products have an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 5.5%.
Is Loon Juice Gluten Free?
Loon juice is inherently gluten-free according to their website. There are also no artificial flavors added (source: Four Daughters Vineyard).
We hope you found this article helpful!
