A Cidery's Mistake Leads to a Distillery's New Cocktail

Wild State Cider and Vikre Distillery are partnering to launch Wild State Day Dream and Vikre Reve cider-based cocktails.  Day Dream is described as a "light, citrus-forward, spritzy, with some hints of lavender and notes of a grapefruit peel with pear juice." Reve meanwhile is a "rich, carmely, fruit-forward" brandy with apple-pear juice.

The drinks are unusual in that they are a result of a "fermentation gone wrong," according to Wild State's operations director, Allison Longley.  The result was a "funky, interesting farmhouse flavor."  Investigation revealed the smell was from yeast in a batch of pear cider.  

"Instead of dumping it we decided to reach out to Vikre to see if they wanted to do a little bit of an experiment with us," Longley said.  Vikre distilled it, aged it in port wine barrels for almost two years, and then the two firms collaborated on two cider-based cocktails that were infused with that brandy.