Cider Chat

Adam Krakowsk’s new book Vermont Prohibition: Teetotalers, Bootleggers & Corruption (2016 Arcadia Press) carves out the state of Vermont’s cider, beer, and spirits history in relationship to prohibition. Vermont Prohition: Teetotalers, Bootleggers & Corruption Vermont Prohibition covers, the politics, policy, economics, religion and social impact that prohibition had on Vermont. Read about the Liquor Law of 1853 that targeted distilled spirits while conveniently protecting cider. 1880’s to 1890s the term Hard Cider started being used in the law books. So was Hard Cider considered adulterated cider? The jury is out, but the verdict feels pretty close. Adam Krakowski In this chat Adam discusses: Why Vermont actually had 80 years of prohibition The Temperance movement The difference between ethanol alcohol and methanol alcohol How the law was written to help cider avoid prohibition NASCAR’s ( National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) relationship to prohibition Switchel  Adam Krakowski’s bo

Part 2 at Farnum Hill Cider Delve into tasting 7- ciders with the Farnum Hill Cider team. This is Part 2 with this OG cidery and orchard. Steve Woods, whom along with his wife Louisa D. Spencer who founded the cidery, explains how this tasting, which takes place 3-4 times per week, is conducted. Nicole Leibon, Steve Wood, Louisa Spencer In this Cider Chat The descriptors fly, laughter follows and somehow despite tasting 7- ciders the team is able to stay on task and get their notes completed as they work towards perfecting their cider. We then head back up to the orchard with Nicole Leibon and Steve to finish our chat from last week. We explore terroir and discuss the cider market. Soon Louisa Spencer arrives to join in and Nicole heads home. This recording offers a treasure trove of cider info and a front seat to a chat where we wrangle with what is currently going on with cider, how Farnum Hill is maneuvering the market and misconceptions on cider apples. Cider topics covered in this chat Will the cider

Enjoy Part 1 of a two part chat with the founders and cider makers of Farnum Hill Cider, in Lebanon New Hampshire.  This OG cidery sits on the slope of Farnum Hill with nearby town of White River Junction and the Connecticut River to the east. Like many New England orchards and farms there is not necessarily open continuous land, but small acreage here and there, wherein the case of FHC- cider apple trees are planted in large and small fields of 3 to 4 and 20 acres plots. Farnum Hill is highly regarded for their cider, producing select cider apples, and is one of the key tap roots for moving cider out of the back room barns and into the minds of craft libation connoisseurs for the first time post prohibition. Not that there is anything wrong with back room barn cider. The Founders of Farnum Hill Steve M. Wood and Louisa D. Spencer Founded the cidery in 1995 while already planting Poverty Lane Orchards in the late Make sure to note during this chat how many scions have passed out of this site and across the

Sam Reid is based in Tasmania, a state of Australia. He is a partner at Willie Smith’s Cider and President of Cider Australia. Sam Reid Cider in Australia Tasmania is what Sam calls the smallest state of Australia…which by the way mainland Australia is equal in size to the continental United States. It was colonized by the English who used it in the 1700’s as a penal colony. It is also in the southern hemisphere so the apple growing region is found in the south on both Australia and Tasmania. It use to be well known as the Apple Isle a claim to fame that I suspect will in time return full on. Dr Tim Jones Willie Smith’s cider maker Apples and Cider Making in Australia There are 30 apple growers in Tasmania. When asked what would best describe Australian cider, Sam said the overall cider style for the country is a New World commercial style, with fresh apples, filtered (crossed flowed filtered), carbonated and a bit sweet to please the current customer palate – with an overall ph of 3.6. Whereas for Tasm

“There is always something going on” say Nat West at his Reverend Nat Taproom in Portland Oregon. Nat West in the 3500 square foot Packing Room In this Cider Chat Ria met with Nat before she headed over to CiderCon2016 later that same day. This chat provides a tour of the taproom and production space. Discussed are some of his crazy ass fermentations that aren’t cider, but does show Nat’s passion for – Fermenting! The facility has both a Taproom that shares space in the front room which is 3500 square feet. You can hear the cider workers in the background bottling and getting the site ready for a 100-person bus tour that was rolling in later that same morning. Nat chats on how many of the Pacific Northwest cidermakers use Juice from: Hood River Juice and Fruit Smart We discussed non cider fermentations: Tepache – a fermented pineapple drink Kumiss Mongolian Milkwine And the Fermented Lamb Leg Cider made with an 8-pound lamb leg. Listen to 019: Neil MacDonald | Orchard Parks Farm, UK discuss how the Br

Tom Oliver shares his approach to hopped cider and the best of what the US and UK have to look forward to in the cider market. What he saw in US hopped ciders back in 2013 ignited his desire to try his hand at adding hops to cider to his bittersweet cider. He worked with 3-different cider blends and Cascade hops, and in turn “ramped up” the bittersweet element to give a bit more of the drying finish.  The hop from the Czech Republic Kazbet was also used and provided a very different profile and balance to the Cascade. I had a chance to taste his At The Hop pictured below and it was delicious. What makes cider unique? “Sharing our techniques or what some might consider trade secrets.” Tom’s “Free suggestion” for a cider that will conquer the world??? “If you make a bottle fermented cider with Wickson Crab Apple and put it in small bottles with just enough sweetness to balance it out – it will be the perfect celebratory wedding drink! What does a US cider offer that is different than the UK cider? The “massive

When John Bunker talks or teaches Apple Identification he doesn’t begin with the apple. He always goes back to the root of the tree…unless it is one of the Eric Clapton apples, i.e., you immediately recognize it as a variety that you all ready know. John provides a great metaphor for recognizing apples that you have learned to instantly know, much like you would a riff from your favorite musician. The core of the issue is your knowledge base of beginning to recognize key attributes that stand out during the apple identification process. Cammy Watts and John Bunker Where to start with Apple Identification? John says it, Begin by learning at least 24 varieties Two to learn first: Macintosh Cortland “You want to obsess over a Dingaling Sweet, not a Mac or Cortland apple.” Is it a seedling tree? When asked: How old it the tree? John says, “I need to see the tree to determine if it is a seedling.” You learn what are the attributes or the characteristics of the tree Even a hundred years later you can see t

Austin Eastciders is helping to make Austin Texas a cider mecca in a land where the apple root faces harsh growing conditions. Aaron Anderson is the R&D Coordinator at this growing cidery. He sat down for a chat with me at CiderCon2016 in Portland Oregon during the United States Association of Cider Makers conference. The head cidermaker is Preston Nickens. Aaron Anderson Austin Eastciders opened in 2011 and is distributed in cans and draft throughout Texas and into Oklahoma, New York and New Jersey. The cider is selling so fast that come June of 2016 they will be moving into a much larger production facility. Austin Eastciders ciders available Texas Honey Cider, with wild flower honey sourced from Texas 5% Original Dry Cider 5% An English cider called Gold Top was produced but at that point Texas cider drinkers weren’t ready for a bittersharp/sweet cider. That cider is still being produced, but is barrel aging. There is also a hopped cider made with full cones. The juice from the cider is sourced fr

Keeving Made Simple, but oh so Dandy at Worleys Cider Neil Worley’s makes cider in the area of Great Britain called Somerset. Climb the high hill at the farm and your can see the Bristol Channel. It is a remote location by UK standards and the soil at the farm is only 3 inches in depth before you hit limestone. Thus, instead of growing apples at the farm, the apples are brought up the hill from the orchard at the old Taunton Cider Mill. Neil Worley Meeting Mr Worley Neil traveled to Portland Oregon in February 2016 to speak at the United States Association of Cider Makers annual event called CiderCon, which is were I caught up with him to chat about the cider making technique called “keeving”. What is Keeving? It is a process, whereby the nutrients of the sweet cider (before fermentation) are removed from the juice. During this process the nutrients float to the top of the juice forming a brown cap that Neil says looks like a “brown omelette”. The brown cap is punctured and the juice is rack over into a ne

Jim Wallace is a cheese maker and cheese tech a.k.a the "Cheese Guru" at New England Cheesemaking Supply in Ashfield Massachusetts. When not helping the cheese world sort through problematic cheeses, he teaches classes at his home...in his cellar where he also ferments wine, beer, and cider and has his beloved cheese cave. Our goal for this chat was to have a cider and cheese pairing and discuss a baseline approach for discerning between the right cheese to choose for a pairing. Find the full show notes to this chat at ciderchat.com Go to Episode 25 Jim Wallace | Cider Pairing with a Cheese Maker at https://ciderchat.com/podcast/025-jim-wallace-cheese-maker/ Follow Cider Chat on Twitter @ciderchat

Leonard Koningswijk owner/cidermaker of Bear Cider in the Netherlands is turning his country towards cider one palate at a time. The idea was sprouted at his family home in the rural village of Beerze on the border of Germany. (Beerze means bear in Dutch.) Like many cider folk he saw the bounty of apples laden on the trees and thought something must be done with those apples. Via the internet he learned how-to press apples and make cider and took a course with Peter Mitchell on cidermaking.  Leonard Koningswik cidermaker of Bear Cider He knew his country was great for growing apples but there are not any large volume of cider apples being grown. Note this is changing as the demand for cider increases, most notably south east of Amsterdam where UWE Betuwe Cider has an orchard.  The cider revival is slowly gaining speed in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag, and Rotterdam. Listen to 002: Wouter Biljs | CiderCider, Rotterdam and 010-Margot Sanderse | Het Ciderhuis, Utrecht and see how two importers are making craft

Alec Steinmetz, Will Correll and Matthew Meyer are sharing their story of starting an urban cidery. This is Part 1 of what will be an ongoing story of the start-up Buskey Cider of Richmond, Virginia.  The cidermaking tanks arrived in February 2016. 5 wine tanks 4 brewing tanks, which are conical They pitched the yeast for Buskey's first cider on March 16, 2016 2 - 30 barrels tank pitched with one strain 4- 15 barrel tanks all have different strains 3- 4.2 barrel tanks for specialty ciders Opening date is expect in late April when they hope to be serving  the first cider to the public. They are working towards a 20-24 day production time. Full show notes and Alec's startup tips at https://ciderchat.com/podcast/alec-steinmetz-buskey-cider-virginia/  

Getting to cider for Gregory Hall, was one part luck and a whole lot of beer. When his father John Hall founded the Chicago based Goose Island Brewery in 1988, it took only 3 years before Greg was at the helm of brewing.Twenty years later in 2011 the brewery would be sold to Anheuser Busch-B InBev. The 2011 sale set Greg free to move on to his next great adventure - Virtue Cider.  I was curious to ask Greg about what a cidermaker should consider for the long run if they want to parlay their business to the next level as father Hall's did with Goose Island and Greg did with Virtue only 3 years later again - this time selling Virtue's majority stake to A-B InBev. Obviously one must have a good product and as Greg tells it he looked to the European cidermakers for inspiration and direction.   "I went with my laundry list of question that I was use to asking at breweries,most of which were fairly technical and found out very quickly that I was asking the wrong questions.Traditional cider making is a multi generat

Bill Bradshaw is a photographer, an author of three cider books and consider by many to be a Cider Ambassador for UK ciders.  I met with Bill at the United States Association of Cider Makers annual conference in Portland Oregon in February 2016. Later that same day, Bill was to present an overview of UK ciders to the conference attendees.   For this chat I asked Bill to give us a peek on some of his highlights for the OMSI presentation and to discuss what a cider tourist might find or where to go when seeking ciders in the UK. Find the full show notes at https://ciderchat.com/podcast/021-bill-bradshaw/ Follow on Twitter @ciderchat

Curtis Sherrer is barreling aging single variety apples at Millstone Cellars. An old grist mill dating back to the 1850s houses the Tasting Room. “We will have 50 barrels and then settle on 15 to pick from to blend for that one cider that will be bottled” Curtis Sherrer, Millstone Cellars “If you are looking to save money, all you need is a barrel. You don’t need chillers.” Millstone’s Cider Making Instead of pressing multiple apples and creating the sweet cider that will then be fermenting – Curt keeps apple varieties separate until he finds the perfect balance At the “Old Grist Mill” they use a cloth press on site that dates back to 1850s. Says Curt of the goal behind choosing to become a cidermaker, “Let’s take apple juice and see how close we can get to making a chardonnay” “No one knows what the Jonathan apple variety can do at different maturity levels or what it can do on different yeasts. So we will have 20 barrels of Jonathan with different yeasts. We used beer yeast, cider, wine, sherry yeast and

Neil MacDonald is a self described “man of the soil”. He co-launched Orchard Pig Cider in 2004. His specialty is apple growing and the primary process of the cidermaking at Orchard Pig Cider. This recording was taped with Neil at CiderCon 2016 in Portland Oregon. Neil MacDonald, Orchard Park Farms and Orchard Pig Cider The Path to the Orchard Pig Cider Neil was granted a scholarship from the Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust which has helped him hone in on his apple growing passion and helped him travel around the world.  Neil uses what is a called a “Bush Orchard” in the UK, which works well with the mechanics of harvesting within high density orchards for a maximum harvest. What is a bush tree? Free standing root stock. A 111, 106, or M25. Neil’s farm is currently doing some trials with an A2, B118, P18 root stock. Anything smaller than a 111 or 106 are not strong enough to handle the mechanical harvesting. The trees are growing 18 feet tall….And they join up like a high hedge. The width of the row i

You might know Darlene Hayes by her blog All into Cider. There you can find some quick cider cocktail lore and recipes. Yes, Cider Cocktails are hot…again! That’s right, again! Mixing spirits with cider has been favored by farmers to royalty alike (okay, not sure about the royalty, but I know my gramps used to love to age his cider in a bourbon barrel) ever since cider and spirits have been pouring. Yes, Ciderville we are both going to become a bit more “in the know” with this special chat with Darlene Hayes on how to make cider cocktails. Darlene Hayes measures out the bourbon for the Stone Fence cider cocktail New Cider Books By Darlene Hayes Author Darlene Hayes has captured the “spirit” of a cocktail made with cider in her book aptly called “Cider Cocktails, Another Bit of the Apple” (2015) Spotted Cat Press, Canada. The 2nd Edition of this book is now available! Go to this link to purchase! 2nd edition of Cider Cocktails The book provides an historical overview of classic drinks like the Stone Fence

Getting the right blend or single variety juice to make the perfect cider is part of every business plan for cideries both in the startup phase an ongoing. If you are not growing your own orchard, getting apple juice could be a real constraint – Thus these chats with two juice suppliers. In this Cider Chat on Juice Merchants At the 2016 CiderCon , two chats were recorded with global suppliers of juice. We wanted to find out what is happening both in the US and globally. Are orchards seeing the current cider market vital enough to plant trees that produce cider apples? What are the steps one would have to take to get juice from orchard to your cidery whether it is located in a tucked away island or in the middle of a city? You may find the answers in this episode surprising. And may they charge you up enough to let your local orchards or large apple suppliers know that “Yes we want cider apple juice! What are the top 5-6 varieties grown in Washington State? or 85% of the market. Red Delicious Galas Fuji Gr

John Bunker “Friend of Apples” John Bunker in this chat helps to trace the lineage in the US between cider apples and cidermakers. If you ever doubted whether you are on the right track with your cidermaking skills, Have no fear. Not only does John affirm even one’s most basic cidermaking skills, but our basic love of the apple. When I asked John what he would give himself as a job titled, he thought for a moment and then said, “Friend of Apples.” That friendship is helping apples throughout the US find their rightful place in history as they get identified one apple at a time. Cammy Watts and John Bunker John Bunker on making your own cider Take a clue from John when tasting your next cider or thinking about fermenting apple juice for the first time, “When it comes to my own cider, I’m just happy if I like it. Cuz it’s a long way till next year. All I want is to like it, I don’t care if you like it. I just want to like it.” John founded Fedco Trees in Main, is involved with the Maine Organic Farmers and G

At Freedom Farm, cider is on! Chris Jackson who is new to cidermaking has an enthusiasm for fermenting that is contagious. At the Farm his family is working towards sustainability and he is blogging about it all, via his website FreedomFarmTV. Chris had shared his photos of his homemade Peach Cider on Twitter and I liked him immediately. Finding out that he was blogging about grafting fruit trees made it a natural fit for Cider Chat. In this Cider Chat Different types of grafts one could do to get a different variety of apples on an apple tree. Chris Jackson Grafting methods discussed: Cleft Grafting involved cutting off a tree at its trunk. Whip Grafting is less dramatic, as you would only cut off a limb the width of one’s pinky and then add on a new variety of your choosing. Grafting allows cidermakers to diversify an orchard quickly – say a 3 year period, versus waiting for a sapling to fruit. More on a number of different grafting methods via wikipedia Contact Chris Jackson at Freedom Farm TV YouT