Sagardoa (Basque Cider)

Sagardoa is bracingly dry and even sharper than its Asturian cousin, tasting of bruised and windfall apple, green apple skin and lemon over a distinct acetic, cidery-vinegar tang, all wrapped in a rustic cellar funk from the wild yeast and a lively lactic sourness that recalls sourdough and fresh cheese. It is hazy and still — only a whisper of dissolved gas — so the aerating txotx pour matters: caught in a thin, breaking jet against the glass it throws a quick foam that rounds the sharpest edges and lifts a nose of wet straw, damp earth and a faint barnyard note over the fruit. There is essentially no sweetness to hide behind; the drink is lean, austere, sour-edged and savoury, finishing bone-dry and slightly astringent with a clean, vinegary acid bite. This is farmhouse cider at its most uncompromising — the opposite of a sweet, fizzy commercial cider — built to be drawn a few fingers at a time from the barrel and drunk cold and fast beside salt-cod, grilled beef and sheep's cheese.