Cider Chat

Swilled Dog Hard Cider is a family owned cidery located in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia. Swilled Dog launched in January 2017, and and began selling its wares in March. This is the 2nd cider company to launch in the past five years in West Virginia, the first being Hawk Nob Appalachian Hard Cider & Mead. Currently there is not Tasting Room at the cidery, but that shouldn't deter you from visiting the area, which borders Virginia and a plethora of ciders. Swill Dog is approximately 3 hours from Baltimore Maryland and 2 hours from the District of Columbia. Why try Swill Dog? This new startup sent four of their ciders to  the Great Lakes International Cider & Perry competition and each cider received a medal. Current list of their Ciders Bunny Slope - hopped cider "Our Bunny Slope 6.0% Carmel Apple - semi-sweet cider 6.0% Walk the Dog - semi dry cider 6.0% Seasonal Ciders Island Vibe -  pineapple  apple cider 6.0% WV Scrumpy - made with locally foraged apples 6.9% Apple Bottom 6.5% Granny Gol

Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. If you missed part I of this chat (episode 90) with Eve’s Cidery, you’ll want to go back and listen as we tour the orchard with Autumn Stoscheck and Ezra Sherman and talk about where their ciders begin. In part II of this chat, we move down to the ciderhouse to talk about: the champagne method what it takes to run a small cidery and Autumn shares some tips for home cidermakers. Disgorgement is often regarded as an art. In removing the closure of a bottle, the pressure built up in the bottle pushes out the yeast that has settled at the top, but it also pushes out some cider. The art is in timing the turning upright of the bottle with the removal of the closure so that, as Ezra explains, the pressure can do its job removing the yeast, but gravity can act to keep the cider in the bottle. Obviously, the goal is to waste as little cider as possible and it takes practice to master this. Thankfully, there is a video to show exactly how this

Guest Podcaster and cidermaker, Alex Kroh, bring us into the orchard at Eve's Cidery. This episode 90 is Part 1 of a two-part show with  the makers at this New York State cidery! Find Part 2 when it goes live next week on episode 91. Pulling up to Eve’s Cidery in the small town of Van Etten, NY, you would be forgiven for thinking your GPS is broken. There’s no indication you’re in the right place unless you happen to peer in through the barn door to spot some inconspicuous ferment ers back beyond the wooden apple bins. I don’t know what I was expecting. Perhaps because of the reputation Eve’s Cidery has for producing some of the finest ciders in the country, I thought their operation would be more… built up, perhaps. After spending a generous four hours touring through the orchard and ciderhouse, I realized that the humble infrastructure that supports Eve’s is secondary, or even inconsequential compared to the place, the apples and the people. I see, now, that this is a reflection of the values and aspiration

Find this episode with photos and all archived episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts Subscribe and Listen via iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher (for Android), iHeartRadio and wherever you love to listen to podcasts. Barrel aging cider is as old as time. Considering that, one would think that it should be pretty straight forward to pour fresh pressed apple juice into a barrel and create a delicious end product.  Right? Wrong! Barrels require preparation and maintenance to make sure that the end product is well balanced. In essence, you are not only managing the cider, but the wood too since both are alive with microorganisms. In this chat we delve into reusing a barrel that was originally charred, then had whiskey added. Brooklyn Distillery the orginaial owner of the 25 gallon barrel sold it to Exhibit A Brewing Company. Matt Steinberg owner and brewer of Exhibit A put an Imperial Stout in the barrel. I purchased the empty barrel from Matt for cider and share with you my long weekend of discovery on prepa

Please Help Support Cider Chat Please donate today. Help keep the chat thriving! Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. Simple Cider's is located on the southern tip of Tasmania in a region dripping with Apple history. Tasmania was and is still called the Apple Isle making it the perfect place for makers like Patrick and the team at Simple Ciders to launch into the craft. The cidery started commercially producing ciders in 2014. It is an orchard based cidery, meaning that the apples are grown right alongside the cider mill. Patrick worked as a system's analysis and then winemaker, after as he says jokingly that he was looking  "for a job that allowed me to get really messy, cold and wet on a regular basis. So I went into making wine and cider." Simple Cider makes small batch, dry apple cider. The ciders are unfiltered and are naturally carbonated, meaning bottle conditioned. Right now they are making approximately 15,000 litres/year or nearly 4000 gallons. Patrick says, "The

Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. Listen also at iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher (for Android), iHeartRadio and where ever you love to listen to podcasts. Follow on twitter @ciderchat   Three guys and an endless supply of credit cards helped build what is today called Artisan Beverage Cooperative (ARTBEV) in Greenfield, Massachusetts. General Manager and co founder Garth Shandyfelt provides an overview on how ARTBEV grew plus; working in a cooperative getting capital to expand via a  direct public offer of stock what is mead what is cyser creating a sustainable model for growth Started in 2010 making mead, ARTBEV's multi tiered business now produces a range of products to keep stock rolling out the door. Mead and Cyser, for instance, can take upwards to a year or longer to condition, whereas the Ginger Libation made by ARTBEV can be made in two weeks, much like beer. What is Mead? Fermented Water, Honey and Yeast or what Garth calls wine made with honey. "It is a mead i

Please Help Support Cider Chat Please donate today. Help keep the chat thriving! Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. Cider presses have come in a number of different shapes and forms over the centuries. Listen to episode 78 with Oscar Busto and Mayador in Asturias. A Mayadar (usually a man) crushed apples with a long pole with a blunt end. It was hard laborious work. The cider press itself might be huge and weigh a ton, such as the presses used at large cider mills where a pole the size of a tree would weigh done upon crushed apples that often would be held in a swath of straw. Colonist in the New World used a flat stone that was grooved in a circle and fitted a basket. One end always had a spout for the apple juice to pour out. The common way if you were lucky, was to have a basket press. Even today basket presses are used by both commercial and non commercial cidermakers. Listen to episode 3 with Robert Colnes as he describes Building a Cider House and making a cloth an

Subscribe to the Cider Chat newsletter : eCiderNews Attorney Lindsey Zahn specializes in wine law, but there is no denying that her interest in cider and the laws governing it commerce...and yes these there is a difference between wine and cider! Her wine Blog On Reserve has been selected as on of the top 100 wine law blogs by the American Bar Association Journal.  In this chat we discuss: The differences between wine and cider. Gray areas of cider law What comes first the licensing, permitting or trademark of your new cidery? Branding Promotion Certification of Label Approval (COLA) Advertising Social media and how they are subject to government regulation 27 CFR part 4 which is the Labeling and advertising of wine from The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) Tide House and how it affects regulations on alcohol And, what can Cidermakers do in regards to labeling vintage on their cider? Contact Lindsey Zahn email: lazahn@winelawonreserve.com. On Reserve wine blog http://www.winelawonreserve.com

Charles McGonegal has been teaches a workshop on Sensory Analysis for cider judges, makers, enthusiasts and at both CiderCon (the United States Association o Cider Makers annual conference) and GLINTCAP (Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition. Charles calls this workshop The Element of Cider. It provides a vocabulary check or what he considers the basics of cider from the sensory and the chemical perspectives. He had 10 flights at the Chicago CiderCon - where he changed just one thing in each glass of cider. He is asking people to define the taste of the cider. Enjoy this chat and if you like this chat and I expect you will! Listen to the previous episode #83 with Charles as he discusses both his cidery, AEppelTreow in Wisconsin and making perry! Contact AEppelTreow website: http://aeppeltreow.com/ telephone: (262) 878-5345 email: cider@appletrue.com address: 1072 288th Ave Burlington, WI 53105 Mentions in this Chat Cider Chat episode 081 Stephanie & Aaron Carson | Gypsy Circus Cider Co, T

Enter the Giveaway for 2 tickets to Cider Circus August 26, 2017 at Copper Mountain Ski Resort in Colorado http://cidercircus.com/  Enter by subscribing to eCiderNews and be automatically entered or become a Patron of Cider Chat and be entered automatically to all Cider Chat contests and giveaways. 2 winners are picked on July 1st! Charles McGonegal is full time cider geek who also happens to have a day job as a petro chemist. He and his wife Melissa founded AEppelTreow Winery in Wisconsin in 2001. Why AEppelTreow? Charles says, "I wanted a name that was a little pretentious and not French" Charles has a particular fondness for Perry and has what he calls "the country's (US) only Poire collection (meaning perry pear trees)." He spent years getting permission from the a USDA to plant imported perry pears. "I have what are suppose to be the top three Breton and top three Norman perry pears in a test orchard." In this chat we find out more about AEppelTreow (pronounce Apple True) and get a bushel of tips on maki

Kurant Cider is back on Cider Chat discussing the opening of a Tasting Room in the area of Philidelphia called Fishtown. Cider will be available to go in can and growlers at the 436 E. Girard Ave location. The production facility will remain in Perkasie, PA Kurant Cider is co owned by Joe Getz and Michael Meyers. Joe is the head cidermaker at Kurant and the Vice President of the Pennsylvania Cider Guild, the commonwealth's organizing body for cider producers and apple growers in PA. In this chat, Joe tells us about lessons learned over the past two years in regards to what is a cidery startup needs to pay attention to, news on the PA Guild work on having cider recognized as a "zone commodity" and where to find Kurant Cider this summer. Kurant has moved around a bit finding a home from one brewery to another. Kurant sources local juice and is able to make cider year-round. Kurant Ciders, currently being offered on draft at many great bars in Philadelphia Daily 5.5% Earth 5.5% Bees 5.5% Tropic 5.5% Farm 5.5%

Gypsy Circus Cider Company founders and makers, Stephanie & Aaron Carson, are helping to put cider on the map in Tennessee. They have two facilities with one dedicated to barrel aging ciders and the main production site which is also the location for their Gypsy Circus Taproom. The cidery opened for business in April of 2016 and has produced over 16 ciders each with whimsical names that connect to the backdrop of their gypsy lifestyle (the couple like to travel) and to the circus life. Names like; Whilring Deverish - a coffee cider make with Nashville based Frothy Monkey coffee took home a gold from GLINTCAP in 2017 Shadow Puppet - a barrel aged wild cider garnered a silver medal at GLINTCAP The Carson's pay attention to detail not only with their ciders, but also their branding. Take a look at a can of their dry cider Raindancer and listen to Aaron talk about the hidden graphics that they put on the label. Part of the couple's success is that they are keenly aware of how the beverage market works. Aaron

Tin Hat cidermaker Teddy Weber is stewarding a 25 year old orchard in Waitsfield Vermont. This musician by trade got his taste for cider in the UK during his music gigs while there. He teamed up with Sue and Gib Geiger who own the orchard that Teddy has been stewarding and where this chat takes place.  In this chat, Teddy and I walkabout in the orchard in Waitsfield and discuss the beginnings of Tin Hat, apple varieties, working with culinary apples for cider and culinary pears, cultured yeast vs wild yeast. His enthusiasm for apples is contagious. Apples in this Chat Northwestern Greening Kerr Crabapple Atlas Barry Red Honey Gold Scott Winter Golden Russet Dolgo Crab Lodi Yellow Transparent Red Astrican Duchess of Oldenberg Northern Spy Pears Nava Luscious Cidermaking techniques used cyro-extraction - getting the juice directly from a frozen apple cyroconcentration - the apple is pressed and then you freeze the juice Tin Hat Ciders (currently) Ole Pome Traditional still cider, unfiltered, wild fermente

Tandem Ciders is the result of two hearts coming together in one spot of Ciderville (the east coast) and finding their way to Michigan. In the late 1990's Dan Young who was the co-owner and brewer at The People's Pint in Greenfield was full on with the craft beer scene. It was at The Pint where he met his future wife Nikki Rothwell while she was working towards her Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts. With Nikki's roots in Michigan(she now works at Michigan State University's Extension specializing in Agriculture and Fruits) a trip to the UK during the courtship and the abundance of Michigan apples it was only a matter of time before Dan set his sights on cider. Tandem Ciders buys most of their juice for their cider making locally, but they also press apples using an Oesco rack and cloth press. Ciders: Smackintosh Early Day The Crabster Pretty Penny Cherry Oh Ida Gold Pomona Handcrafted Sodas Ginger Ale - I've had Dan's Ginger Ale that he made when at The Pint and it was fantastic! Sparkling Apple Da

The Mayador cider brand came about from a lot hard work and ingenuity. Manuel Busto Amandi born in 1906 founded his cider business originally as M.Busto in 1939. Between that time and 1966, Manuel's ingenuity kept the business growing. He had a number of innovation that were ground breaking for the cider industry. From the Mayador History Book: - He was the first to engrave the brand (M. BUSTO - 1959, certified by the Patent and Trademark Office in June 1946) on his cider bottles, produced in the old glass factory in Gijón. He was forty years ahead of a measure that would eventually become compulsory in the sector. -He also promoted using 10-bottle boxes, while all other presses preferred the customary 12-bottle box; and he was a pioneer in trading cider vinegar in Spain, which up to then had only been of domestic use. -He was also the first to produce sterile apple juice in 1971. But that is not all: he invented a machine to pour cider and registered it on December 4, 1964, under Patent No. 280.757. In the e

The US cider market share in 2017 is growing. This episode on Cider Trends in the US and abroad is a replay of a webinar from April 5, 2017 presented by Danny Brager and Matthew Crompton of the Nielsen Company. The webinar was originally aired by the United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) for their members. The USACM and Nielsen graciously provided Cider Chat with the main recording so that this critical cider trend data could be shared even more broadly. Danny is the Senior Vice=President, Beverage Alcohol Practice. Matthew is the Associate Client Director at Nielsen. Together they speak during this 53 minute presentation in conjunction with a visual aide that I recommend you download the pdf file below as it follows along seamlessly with the presentation and provides excellent visuals of Danny and Matthews overview. Click on photo to view the slides the data charts and visual aides that are referred to throughout this presentation. What is covered in the podcast episode? What does Nielsen do?

Lou and Sue Chadwick of Second Chance Farm in Greenfield Massachusetts are what I consider the "Apple Pied Pipers". For nearly as long as CiderDays (the oldest cider event in the US) has been running I have seen the Chadwicks touting the bounty of apple varieties. This means they have dozen of fresh picked apples on a long table, that they set up outside no less in early November and welcome everyone to stop by  to take a look and try a taste of a Razor Russet, Baldwin or Arkansas Black. If you get a chance to attend CiderDays make sure you say hi to this lovely couple. In this week's chat I recorded a walkabout with the Chadwick's at their Second Chance farm where for the past 12 years they have been nursing small apple varieties and grafting an assortment of rare cider apples ( at least rare right now in 2017 for the US). Lou made a Rind Graft, a V Graft and an Omega Graft. Take a look at the Cider Chat YouTube channel to see Lou in action. See the photos of this chat via ciderchat.com post link here The Ch

Alan Shapiro wasn't looking to get involved in cider, being a craft beer enthusiast, one sip at the right time changed his mind and he isn’t looking back. He is founder of the widely popular Cider Summits that takes place currently in 4 major US cities (with a 5th city expected to come on board soon). His roots in libations began taking stock while working as one of the first sales representative for Pete’s Brewing Company ( does Pete's Wicked Ale sound familar?) which helped him cultivate a relationship with Mark Browner, whom he credits with planting the seed for today's Cider Summits. In 2003 he founded SBS Imports and secured the rights to import Aspall Cyder of Suffolk, England . He says after a visit to this legendary cidery in Suffolk,  “I had what I call a ‘Wow Moment’ when I realized that cider has more to offer than what I had expected. In 2012 Artisanal Imports of Austin acquired SBS Imports. The first Summit had already taken place two years earlier in 2010. From the start that first Summit was a

Nicole and Rafe Ward of Forgotten Ciders are celebrating 3 years of cidermaking this April of 2017.  This Michigan cidery has over 1000 variety of apples growing on 16 acres, many of which are cider varieties and red fleshed to boot! Rafe's Grandfather Douglas Eastman and Uncle John Eastman started planting apples trees 30 years ago to what would one day become Eastman Antique Apples.  Eight years ago Rafe, his parents and brother bought the apple orchard. After getting involved in the family's orchard, Rafe Ward began making cider in their basement and then realized that the fruit could be transformed in to liquid gold. Rafe says, "It was a happy day when I realized I own an orchard and I could make alcohol out of them apples." Nicole mentions, "It was good fortune that the family didn't pull up the apple trees thinking that because they didn't taste good they weren't worth growing." Forgotten Ciders are made out of a 100% fresh pressed apple juice. Aside from adding yeast, there is no back sweetening or sug

Shea Comfort began dabbling in home brewing in 1996. This History of Art and Philosophy major didn’t choose to become a Yeast Whisper. Some names can’t be chosen, they just come along. Having read extensively the books of the day he is, suffice to say, a self taught technical  yeast expert. “You realize you have to get some type of competency in science…basic formulas, concepts, ideas and just get use to it [the language of science].” But, “You can be really good with science and the numbers and still make average wine.” In 2011, Shea began focusing on cider. “You need tools to do the job.” Shea began with trials with yeast, oaks, tannins. Around 7-8 years ago (2010) after stepping away from a winery startup, Shea was looking for a job. It was during this time, that friends began calling him a “Yeast Whisper”. The name stuck and it was then that he began working with Lallemand, a manufacturer of yeast. “If you want to get competent on this and learn more and go deeper about this you have to have an understand