Locally made hard cider is the craft beer lover’s answer to gluten-free needs. Recently, on a trip to Melick’s Town Farm in Oldwick, I was introduced to the newly added Oldwick Cider Works hard cider and fell in love with its crisp, refreshing tastes. The locally crafted cider has subtle notes of apple but tastes no more like apples then wine tastes like grapes. It’s enough to make you rethink your beer fridge.
With so many Americans now shopping for gluten-free items, cider is in demand—it’s naturally gluten free. Melick’s starts by pressing 100% New Jersey apples, and that’s about it. No gluten. No bad juju. It all starts in the orchard where they choose four to six apple types to be blended together. These apples are then taken to the apple press and that juice is then transferred to the fermentation tanks. Once it becomes apple wine, the dead yeast is removed and the apple cider moves to the sanitized tank where it ages for three to six months. From there, the cider moves to the brite tank where it carbonates. Lastly, the cider is hand bottled, labeled and ready for consumption!
For the past two years John Melick, co-owner, and cider maker Scott Wyant have been toying with various ways to make cider. Developing a delicious hard cider is no easy feat. From farmer to scientist to master blender, Wyant took on a variety of roles through the cider’s long journey from fruit to glass. While there are as many methods to cider production as there are apple varieties, Melick’s uses fermentation tanks similar to wine tanks. The cider is aged like wine and therefore has the potential to have a comparable complexity.
Just as table grapes are different from wine grapes, cider apples have a different profile than eating apples, often dominated by a single character, such as high acid, tannins or sweetness. Melick’s uses eating apples to make its cider but a cider-specific orchard is on tap for the near future. Cider apples tend to have pucker power and I can’t wait to see what new flavors they will develop!
Melick’s just released its first two ciders: Jersey Ginger and 1728 Traditional and it is available for purchase at the farm, located at 19 King Street, Oldwick. I know they have some additional flavors in the works and I am excited to sample their all-local line of New Jersey-made cider as they roll them out!
Swedish Meatballs
The Wings
Before delving into dinner, I urge you to have a drink outside by the fire pits or at the lively bar. After you’ve settled in, make your way to a candlelit table and dig into the food that executive chef Bob Belt has created along with regional operating partner Steve Bidgood.
The 
To start, we did go a little off kilter and ordered the pork dumplings, which were on special. I have to admit I was torn between the dumplings, the Creek sliders (they’re served on King’s Sweet Hawaiian buns – a weakness of mine), and the stuffed jumbo shrimp (bacon-wrapped and horseradish stuffed), but we went Asian and I’m happy we did. Crispy on the outside, a tasty pork filling on the inside, with a simple soy ginger dipping sauce, it was, as Gerard said, “a dumpling done right.”
Let’s start with my dish first. What may look unassuming to the eye, was delightful to the taste buds. The Chilean Sea Bass, which was pan seared (crispy on the edges, soft as butter on the inside – no need for a knife) was delicately garnished with a champagne lemon butter broth, then served with Salt Creek’s infamous Yukon gold mashed potatoes, and a side of green beans. The dish was so light and fresh that I forgot I had eaten half of the mashed potatoes and should have felt somewhat full by then. Oh and did I mention it’s also gluten free? (And just one of the many gluten-free dishes on the menu).
The coffee crust was perfectly seared, creating the perfect bite – crusty giving way to tender. (Before taking that first bite, smear the blue cheese all over that steak.) Another insider’s tip: If you’re not a huge sweet fan, order the bourbon caramel sauce on the side – it’s a sweet and light dipping sauce that when combined with the juicy steak, tangy blue cheese and zippy coffee grinds turns a regular bite into a phenomenal bite. If you love sweets – just go for it and let Chef Belt do the sauce drizzling for you.
Since there was no beer to taste (Kane is only a few minutes away so I stopped there afterwards), I had to ask what will be on tap once they open in the spring. Here’s what I learned: the focus will be on an entertaining and interesting tap room. Standards like IPAs can be expected but I’m told they make a killer Heffeweisse. There was also talk of a tart Berliner Weisse complete with homemade “mit schuss.” (That’s the sweet flavored syrup that German’s often add to that style.) I haven’t seen that in a tap room recently.
