I happened upon three of these at my local store. Don’t waste your time, two of the three absolutely sucked and the third, The Saint, was only passable IMO.
FWIW, my neighbor likes the Crispin ciders quite a bit, especially the honey crisp. Maybe it doesn’t travel well? Or maybe she has a lousy palate. 
Wow…different strokes, I guess.
They may not possess the character of a fine, home made cider…but the Crispin ciders I’ve tried were anything but offensive; in fact, I rather liked the dry one.
As with beer, I guess that it just proves the notion that one man’s poison is another man’s elixer.
I’m lucky enough to have a local retailer that offers a single bottle purchase option for nearly everything new that comes into his store. It’s a godsend these days, especially with so many duds hitting the shelves lately.
I’ve had them and thought they were fine, but whether you like them would depend on what kind of cider you want. Crispin is owned by Miller-Coors, so I’d guess from ownership that they are trying to compete with Woodchuck/Strongbow/etc. and not dry artisinal ciders.
I didn’t much care for the Crispin ciders, although I agree that the driest one was OK.
Angry Orchard ciders seem to me to be pretty good. I found they are made by the Sam Adams guys, so I guess they’re not as “crafty” as they should be, eh?
As far as major commercial ciders go, I think they’re fine. There’s all sorts of better stuff out there, sure, assuming you’re lucky enough to have a good local ciderer, or live near a liquor store that’s curated by someone with an interest in cider. For something that’s readily available, though, Crispin Original (blue label) is pretty decent as a go-to.
That said, I’ll agree that most of their “artisanal reserve” stuff is more gimmicky than good. Just like most things that feature the word artisanal prominently on the label, really.
My wife and I really liked the one made with honey and fermented using a “trappist” yeast. Had a nice “belgian” character to it. Very tasty.
The Trappist is The Saint.
For the rest of you folks, Crispin makes other ciders, be sure we are talking about the same ones which are detailed in the blog post. They are about $7 per bottle.
I’m sure we’re talking about the same ones, she likes them. Different tastes I guess, or maybe we get it fresher. I’ll have to give it a try.
I actually really like this cider - it is quite sweet, but that’s how I like it.
http://organicscrumpy.com/
Cider nerd, here… and I agree with Mike’s sentiments that these ciders suck. To their credit, Crispin’s plain jane ciders are pretty good although by no means world class. My favorite of theirs is Brown’s Lane which is actually an imported authentic English cider ala Gaymer’s, with a lot of that barnyardy flavor going on – yum.
That cider mill is a few miles from my house. You get that out in WA? Never knew they shipped out of state. Don’t expect too much of it this year, crop was devastated by frost.
I will say I have no idea how long these ciders had been around or how they were handled prior to hitting my local store, but they were refrigerated during the period they were there.
Tom, if you can choke down a bottle of Lansdowne you are the man. I immediately headed to the sink and spit it out. Envision cider, fermented with stout yeast and molasses added. I think I puked a little in my mouth describing it.
I’ll agree with that. The Landsowne might just be the most disheartening thing I’ve ever poured out of a bottle. And I’m pretty sure I like molasses more than just about anyone else I know.
Thanks, with a description like that you know I’m going to give it a try now ;D
Available in Delaware too.
I saw these in Total Wine in a gift set in case you really hate someone and fruitcake is too good for them. Looks like even Crispin knows how awful Lansdowne is since it doesn’t appear in the gift pack.
I also thought the drier cider was OK. I’d take any Crispin over Strongbow. Not great, but not awful.