Hard cider, with its fruity base and bounty of bubbles, is neither beer nor wine, just as the moon is neither a planet nor capable of returning Neil Armstrong’s four-wheeler. Savor a celestial body of flavors with today’s Groupon to Wandering Aengus Ciderworks. Choose between the following options:

• For $5, you get a tasting of nine hard ciders plus a cheese plate for two at the Wandering Aengus tasting room in Salem (a $10 value). Groupon subscribers are eligible to receive a free 1-liter bottle of cider with purchase of another bottle.
• For $10, you get a tasting for two people at the Apple Tasting at Portland Nursery October 21–23 (a $20 value). Vendors and children’s activities will be closed on October 21 for Elementary School Field Trip Day, though tastings and cider are still available.<p>

Named for a Celtic folk tale about one man’s pursuit of a mystical woman adorned in apple blossoms, Wandering Aengus Ciderworks crafts fragrant, nuanced hard ciders using organic apples that hail from sustainable farms in Oregon and Washington. Through a low-intervention approach, the cidersmiths allow apples to express their individual sweetness, character, and penchant for action flicks, resulting in a mélange of flavors that can subtly transform from season to season. Cider tasters partake of nine apple-based imbibables chosen from the bottlers’ wide array of special brews, savoring the long ginger-spice finish of the 2008/2009 Wanderlust or the crab-apple acidity of the 2009 Wickson Single Varietal. A spread of gourmet cheeses pays balanced complement to each tart concoction. Once tasters have found their favorites, they can take home a liter for free with the purchase of a second, extending their orchard enjoyment to dinner parties, solo savoring, or invoking a creative loophole in their medically prescribed apple-a-day regimen.

More than 50 apple and pear varieties parade across palates at the Portland Nursery’s annual apple tasting, as aromas of house-made strudel and rhythms of local bands fill the crisp fall air. With vendors such as CookingThyme, Hotlips Pizza, and Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, along with live-cooking demonstrations, visitors find their fill of savory treats and kitchen techniques without summoning the ghost of Julia Child. Face painting, craft projects, and a scavenger hunt enchant children, and straw maestros go head-to-head in the annual scarecrow contest.