Meet ORIGINAL CINN: An Indianapolis Dry Hard Cider infused with Cinnamon
Every so often a wine shows up in the cellar that feels like it was made for one exact moment. Original Cinn is that wine, and the moment is right now: as the cool evenings of fall settling in and a sweater you forgot you owned comes out of the closet your glass calls for something crisp with the warm smells of baking spices.
Original Cinn is our first hard cider: a dry, crisp cider (or apple wine, depending on who you ask — more on that in the Nerd Alert below) fermented and infused with organic cinnamon right here at our Indianapolis winery. If you've been searching for a local hard cider that isn't sweet, this is the one we made for you. It's a micro batch poured exclusively for our wine club members, but we set aside a small handful of bottles for new members, so keep reading.
Tasting Notes: Our Dry Cinnamon Hard Cider
Fruit | Apples, Michigan-grown |
Style | Dry hard cider, infused with organic cinnamon |
Made in | Indianapolis, Indiana |
Alcohol | 7.5% ABV |
Residual sugar | ~9 g/L (dry) |
Carbonation | Light |
Availability | Wine club exclusive, micro batch |
On the nose: Everything you want from a good hard cider including fresh-cut apple with a warm thread of cinnamon woven through. You'll notice the cinnamon, but it doesn't take over. Think "apple that happens to know cinnamon," not "candle aisle."
On the palate: Crisp and refreshing. The acidity keeps it lively and clean, and the finish is dry, so the cinnamon reads as warmth rather than sweetness.
If you read our article on sugar (Wine vs Latte) you know we love putting sugar in context. At ~9 g/L, a whole 750 mL bottle of Original Cinn carries under 7 grams of sugar. A single 5 oz glass has about 1.3 grams. Your fall latte has a few things to answer for; this isn't one of them. It's also a lot less sweet than many mass-market hard ciders, which often run several times higher in sugar. A 12oz Angry Orchard for example has 18 grams of sugar, which is 50 g/L (about 5x the sugar content).
Why a Cinnamon Cider?
Because apple and cinnamon are one of the oldest friendships in the kitchen, and fall in Indiana almost demands it. But we wanted cinnamon as a seasoning, not a costume. Like everything we make, the goal was minimal intervention: let the fruit lead, and add just enough to make you pause on the second sip and go, "oh, there it is." We used organic cinnamon because what goes into our wine goes into you.
How to Enjoy It
Like any good fall hard cider, Original Cinn is at home on a porch, around a fire pit, or next to a cheese board with sharp cheddar and a drizzle of honey. It's also a great companion for roast pork, butternut squash anything, or a slice of apple pie if you want to lean all the way in. Serve it well chilled.
About that name…
Yes, "Original Cinn" is a wink. But here's a fact most people don't know: Genesis never actually says the forbidden fruit was an apple. It's just "fruit." The apple association grew later, helped along by a Latin pun — malum means "apple," and malus means "evil." So the apple has been taking the blame for a few thousand years on the strength of a wordplay. We figured it deserved something nice for once.
🤓 NERD ALERT ⚠️ Is Hard Cider Wine? And was Johnny Appleseed Indiana's original cider guy?
🤓 NERD ALERT! ⚠️ Things are about to get delightfully dorky. Side-effects may include (but are not limited to): spontaneous laughter, accidental learning, curiosity cravings, and an uncontrollable urge to share fun facts with friends.
What does "wine" even mean?
Technically any beverage made from fermented fruit is wine. So if you ferment apples, pears, peaches, blackberries, and of course grapes, it is considered wine. So a cider isn't a cousin of wine; in American regulatory terms, it is one. Same process, yeast meets fruit sugar, sugar becomes alcohol.
Cider vs. apple wine: what's the difference?
Mostly strength and style, and the line is blurry. Cider tends to live around 4–8.5% alcohol and is often lightly sparkling. "Apple wine" usually means something closer to a grape wine in strength, often 10–12%, sometimes achieved by adding sugar before fermentation (chaptalization, from our post on sugar!). At 7.5%, Original Cinn sits comfortably on the cider side, but it's made with a winemaker's approach.
There's a fun legal wrinkle, too: under US federal rules, a cider at 7% alcohol or above is regulated for labeling as wine, while one below 7% falls under food labeling rules. Original Cinn, at 7.5%, is officially requires a wine label.
Johnny Appleseed: Indiana's Original Cider Guy
I grew up in Fort Wayne so I would be remissed if I didn't talk about Johnny Appleseed. His legacy is found all over the city from the baseball team, to a park, and one of the premier fall festivals in the state. Every September my family made the trip to the Johnny Appleseed Festival. Decades later I can still smell the kettlecorn, taste the apple butter, and feel the happiness of that first bite into a caramel apple. If you've never been, it's held the third full weekend of September in Johnny Appleseed Park, where volunteers dress in 1800s period clothing and the whole park turns into a pioneer village. It's been running since the 1970s, it's free, and it's one of the best fall traditions in Indiana. Make your plans to go.
So who was the man behind the festival? John Chapman was born in Massachusetts in 1774 and spent most of his life walking the frontier of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, planting apple nurseries ahead of the settlers. He died in the Fort Wayne area in 1845, and a grave in Johnny Appleseed Park honors him. (Fun twist: even the festival's own organizers say it's probably not his exact burial spot. Nobody knows for sure where he lies, and nobody at the festival seems to mind.)
Here's the part the storybooks leave out: Johnny's apples were mostly cider apples.
Apples don't grow true from seed. Plant a seed from a Honeycrisp and you won't get a Honeycrisp. You'll get a genetically brand-new apple. The only way to get a predictable eating apple is grafting, which means taking a cutting from a tree you already like. Johnny planted from seed, so his orchards were full of wild, unpredictable apples that were often too tart or tannic to enjoy fresh.
But they made great cider. Sour, tannic apples are exactly what cider makers want. They bring the acidity and structure that make a cider crisp instead of flat, the same reason Original Cinn tastes so refreshing. On the frontier, water could be risky and cider was safe, so most of those apples went into the press, not the pie. When settlers bought trees from Johnny's nurseries, they were mostly buying the future of their cider barrels.
He was also a missionary. Johnny was a devout member of the Swedenborgian New Church and handed out religious tracts along with seedlings as he traveled, sometimes reportedly tearing pages out to share them. He's remembered as gentle, generous, and famously unconcerned with comfort. A man who walked the Midwest planting apples and sharing his faith feels like a kindred spirit around here.
So when you pour a glass of Original Cinn, you're tasting something a lot closer to Johnny Appleseed's actual legacy than a caramel apple. Crisp, a little tart, and meant to be shared.
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📚 Further Reading
Indianapolis Hard Cider FAQ
Where can I find hard cider in Indianapolis? The Rejoicing Vine makes Original Cinn, a dry cinnamon-infused hard cider, at our winery on the northwest side of Indianapolis. It's a micro batch available to our wine club members, with a limited number of bottles set aside for new members while they last.
What's the difference between hard cider and apple cider? Hard cider is fermented, so the apple sugar has been turned into alcohol. "Apple cider" in a grocery store is unfermented apple juice. Original Cinn is a hard cider at 7.5% alcohol.
Is Original Cinn sweet? No. At about 9 g/L of residual sugar, it's dry and crisp. The cinnamon adds warmth, not sweetness.
Is hard cider a wine? In the US, yes, cider is a wine made from apples. Original Cinn is 7.5% alcohol, which also makes it wine under federal labeling rules.
Where can I buy Original Cinn in Indianapolis? Original Cinn is available only to Rejoicing Vine wine club members. Sign-up today and you could get one of our limited number of bottles are set aside for new members who join while supplies last.
What does cinnamon hard cider taste like? Original Cinn tastes like fresh, crisp apple first, with a warm note of cinnamon on the nose and finish. It's dry, so the cinnamon comes across as warmth rather than a sweet, dessert-like flavor.
Is it gluten-free? Yes. All of our wines, including Original Cinn, are gluten-free and also vegan-friendly.
Join the Club, Get the Cinn
Looking for a hard cider in Indianapolis that's dry, crisp, and made by people you can actually meet? Original Cinn is our thank-you to the people who make this place what it is. It's a wine club exclusive, and once this micro batch is gone, it's gone.
Not a member yet? We held back 12 bottles for new members. Join the Rejoicing Vine wine club and one of them is yours - first come, first served, until they're gone. Swing by our tasting room on the northwest side of Indianapolis at 8440 W 82nd St or sign up online, and we'll have a bottle (and a sweater-weather evening) waiting for you.
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