“There lives the dearest freshness deep down things”
God’s Grandeur - Gerard Manley Hopkins | Graft Cider’s Golden Tides
The Poem
God’s Grandeur - Gerard Manley Hopkins
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
The Beverage
Graft Cider’s Golden Tides
I think I’ve used this poem before, but that’s okay because it’s pretty perfect. This cider is also pretty perfect, but I had never had it before today!! It’s a hopped cider, so it tastes a bit like a sour beer.
On the Graft website, they group it under “Sour Ciders” and describe it as “Double dry hopped Motueka, Vic Secret, & Centennial with Lactose & Lemon Zest.” I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS. BUT. The can also includes the words “creamy and fruity” and “sour and dry” on its well-designed exterior. Truth. Golden Tides is all of these things and also truly delicious.
Every single cider on their website sounds like something I want to try, but especially…
“SALT & SAND
Inspired by mezcal/margaritas, a sour cider aged with lemon/lime zest and infused with applewood smoked sea salt.”
I happen to know the one I had today was purchased at Little Red Fox in a neighborhood I call “near Friendship Heights” so I will be journeying out there this week and buying as much Graft Cider as I can get my grubby hands on.