Two of the Boston area’s top craft companies are collaborating to put a modern American spin on a classic drink.
Roxbury’s Prospect Ciderworks and Somerville’s Aeronaut Brewing Co. have teamed up to create Sidro’s Secret, a new take on the famed snakebite. A popular drink in the United Kingdom, the beverage involves mixing equal parts cider with lager or Guinness, and is also typically topped with a dash of red liqueur.
According to Chase Brooks, co-founder of Prospect Ciderworks, his team has been toying with the idea of a creating a new spin on the snakebite since the company first started. As an avid Aeronaut fan, Brooks was very excited to work with the Somerville brewery on Sidro’s Secret.
“This is super experimental,” Brooks tells Metro. “Massachusetts hasn’t seen a packaged product like this.”
Since the snakebite is usually made with whatever’s on tap, creating a canned version of the drink took a bit of work and “a lot of chemistry.” After reaching out to Aeronaut, Brooks and the folks at Prospect Ciderworks stopped by with a few cases of cider for a blending session over the winter.
After testing out several combinations, they found that Aeronaut’s Vic’s Secret Hop Exploration IPA worked well with Prospect Ciderworks’ Sidro. The mix provides a “fuller flavor experience” that plays off the current craft beer trend of low bitterness and hazy IPAs.
“It’s literally the juiciest IPA on the market right now,” Brooks says. “Basically you get a little bit of off dried, semi-sweet cider up front, but it’s rounded out in a really cool way by the malt in the body of the Secret IPA.”
While only 300 cases and a handful of kegs are hitting the market, Prospect Ciderworks will consider creating similar offerings should the company receive positive feedback on Sidro’s Secret.
“The flavor profile you get is super unique,” Brooks says. “It’s not something anybody’s replicated a lot besides making it themselves out of taps at a bar.”
