Cider Chat

Flynt could have grown pot, but it was apples that really caught her eye Flynt casually joked during this interview that perhaps she could have chosen to become a pot (cannabis) grower as a career before becoming an apple farmer.  I think I can speak for the whole of Ciderville in saying, "we are sure glad she went for the apple" Diane Flynt For Virginia and the rest of the cider industry we all g...

Keynote Speakers of CiderCon 2022 Gary Flowers is a keynote speaker, radio host and the tour guide who leads the Jackson Ward history tour. The tour was one of a number of pre-conference tour offerings for CiderCon2022 attendees who had flocked to the city of Richmond, Virginia in the first week of February. The food and cider was abundantly delicious, with stops at the wildly popular restaurant M...

Elegast Cidery Beginnings Arjen Meeusem shares his story of living in Portland, Oregon and how a stop at Reverend Nat's Hard Cider to taste the cider inspired him to find out more about this niche market and its viability to make cider in the Netherlands. Arjen Meeuwsen outside the estate based cidery Arjen and his business partners began their cidery in an old green house and then moved to their...

Maker Arjen Meeuwsen of Elegast Cidery  Offers business tips before you break ground, when your product is being sold and how to tap into a wider audience. Arjen's goal is "Being Present and Being Visible... and Providing a Good Product" Arjen Meeuwsen Maker Tips Size Growing with the market Managing your stock Cash flow Labor vs the economy of machines Widening your cider audience Contact Elegast...

Falling for the Chocolate Pear Forager of fruits enjoy the hunt of finding hidden trees and more often than not fully laden trees in plain site. Ben Kunesh's path as a forage has led him to fruits of all natures, including the once famous and now newly rising star known as the Chocolate Pear.  Ben Kunesh holding Chocolate Pears The Chocolate Pear has been discussed on two episodes of Cider Chat. F...

What is a Wassail A Wassail is a celebration of the orchards, most typically apple orchards to honor the natural world and pay tribute with hopes of an abundant fruiting season moving forward. A Wassail is also a cheer When you hear someone say "Wassail" it means -Be Healthy! The reply is "Drink hail" -   To your health! When does it take place? Historically a Wassail would be held on the 6th of J...

Washtenaw County Cider Mills 1841 - Present Day Patrick McCauley grew up in south eastern Michigan and recalls visiting cider mills as a child, enjoying in the fresh pressed apple juice and the cider donuts. Today he is avid cider maker and realtor in the Ann Arbor area a job that allows him to have an eagle eye on backyard orchards. Patrick McCauley Go to this link to see the October 2021 article...

Building a Water Wheel to Power a Cider Mill Phil Watson grew up on an old farm with an old cider press that powered a water wheel. When a water wheel turns it produces a lot of force, so his mom back then had the old wheel taken down. That water wheel made a big impression on Phil so years later he built his own water wheel powered cider press on his 200 acre lot where he mills up lumber. In this...

Episode 300 and the song "Strange Apples" In this episode we celebrate the 300th episode of Cider Chat and release a new cider song titled Strange Apples! This song is one part poking fun at ourselves as cidermakers  and enthusiasts for all things cider. I began writing this song one night while sitting along on a sailboat in the Santa Cruz Harbor in Santa Cruz California in August of 2021. I was...

The Boomers of America's Cider Trade Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider founder Elizabeth Ryan tells the back story of key legislation that reduce taxes for US cidermakers in the 1990's. Though she may consider herself to be mentored by others, Elizabeth and her fellow cohorts of the day were giants before their time. [caption id="attachment_6714" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Elizabeth Ryan[/captio...

Gallettes at Scott Farm with Eden Specialty Cider Gallette dinners have been showcased at Scott Farm in Dummerston Vermont on Wednesday throughout 2021. Gallettes are a French cuisine where a batter is swirled around a flat cylindrical plate to form a round, flat, flexible bread. A gallette can be savory and stuffed with main course items such as cheese, mushroom and meat or savory. A savory galle...

Are Apples Odd? They sure are for those who solely define apples not by their names (which are often rather exotic like Mountain Rose or Kingston Black) but rather call them  by their color, red, green or yellow. In this episode hear Sean Turley and William Mullan present Apples 101, an overview on apples, and their origin at an open air event at Scotts Farm in Vermont on October 10, 2021. Turley...

Who is Bauman Cider Christine Walter is the cidermaker and visionary of Bauman's Cider.  She grew up on an apple farm in Oregon runned by her family. As she tells it, Angry Orchard's "Crisp" was the first cider she ever tasted and it was a wake up moment that helped her realize that her family could ferment and sell cider too. Christine Walter   Bauman's is a destination farm these days with a far...

Who is Western Cider Texans Michael Billingsley and Matthew LaRubbio are childhood friends who now both live in Montana and founded Western Cider in 2010. The cidery is based in Missoula and has an indoor and outdoor tasting room alongside the Clark Fork River.  Michael credits his love for Montana to the television series Lonesome Dove which he describes as an "epic journey of two Texas Rangers w...

Who is Lockhorn Hard Cider Alaskan natives Anna and Glenn Deal opened Lockhorn Cider in 2010 in Bozeman, Montana. Anna is a botanist and Glenn came to Montana to study and is a nurse. Lockhorn makes modern ciders with apples from Washington State and choice Montana apples like the McIntosh, but the goal is to upscale the ciders as people's palate continues to be drawn to dryer ciders. Anna & Glenn...

Who is Montana CiderWorks Lee McAlpine is the Founder and Owner of Montana Ciderworks based in Darby, Montana. In 2022, Lee will celebrate the 20th year of operations and has a special Pommeau release made with her cider and distilled locally. It has been aging for 3 years and will only be available at the cidery. In 2002, she planted over 700 cider varieties that focused on 7 English Cider variet...

Who is Westwind Orchard and their cider Fabio Chizzola & Laura Ferrara are the owners/farmers of Westwind Orchard located in Accord, New York on the west dies of the Hudson River. The orchard was bought in 2002 and was as Fabio described it "abandoned". Over time her pruned and replanted and open the area for Pick Your Own in 2008.  In addition to offering the apples, pizza was being made and sold...

Who is Ploughman Cider Ploughman Cider is based in Wenksville Pennsylvania on a family farm owned by the Wenks Family for the past 100 years. The farm is called Three Springs and it is exactly 1.5 miles from the ancestral farm that started back in 1818 when the first Wenk arrived from Switzerland. Dave Wenk The farm today has dedicated 6 acres to cider specific varieties. In addition the family gr...

The Publican at Tattiebogle CiderWorks Cidermaker Curt Henry has been envisioning a future cidery in Acme Pennsylvania overlooking the lowland valley in southwestern portion of this commonwealth for years.  In 2017 he had already planted a cider orchard on the site and this year the tasting room at Tattiebogle opened to the public. As Curt says, "This isn't my first rodeo (read: running a successf...

The Makers at Big Hill Ciderworks Troy Lehman and Ben Kishbaugh are long time friends who originally met while working in the automotive industry. Years later they team up on a very new career path as cidermakers! Both men were not originally orchardist, but that didn't stop them from purchasing farms about a 1/2 mile apart (as the crow flies). Troy purchased his farm in 2010 and Ben's family move...

Who is Spacetime Mead & Cider Works Dan Schreffler had been home brewing and fermenting for many years before opening Spacetime Mead & Cider Works in 2018. He is a self proclaimed science nerd, which is part of the reason why he went with the name "Spacetime" (listen to the full story behind his fantastic branding in this episode).  After beating a cancer diagnosis in 2010, he began wondering what...

"Every hand that touches the apple has a story to tell." Who is Elizabeth Ryan? She is the founder of Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider, but that is only part of the story. At heart she is a farmer having grown up in Iowa on a family farm. She moved east to Ithaca to study at Cornell University to originally study engineering. Life had other plans for her and she soon found herself involved in farm ac...

The quest to find the Language of Cider Richie Brady is a graduate of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) who also happens to have a love of cider. This scholarly Irishman used his shelter in place time during Covid to take a deep dive into cider's history on the Emerald Isle where the first known writings on cider dates back to 1115! On this journey to he has found that cider and wine both s...

Who is Cider Chat? In Part 4 of this series on Cider's Media it is time to talk about Cider Chat - the podcast that is hosting this series! As you listen to this episode you will hear Ria discussing and reading from her interview for RealBrew a magazine that features Cider in one issue per year. Note RealBrew publishes their hard copy magazine 6 times per year. The heading of the interview is: Cid...

Who is Cider Scene? Identical twins Trevor and Nolan O'Malley launched Cider Scene in 2016. They describe it as not quite a publication, but more of a "focused blog", marketing company, and a little bit of a publication. Cider Scene is designed for the average drinkers who like a little bit of everything. Nolan and Trevor It all began with a winning ticket The O'Malley's entered a contest to win t...