Hudson Valley Cider Guide

Category: Production

  • Inside that Glass (or Can) of Local Cider

    Inside that Glass (or Can) of Local Cider

    AN EARLY BLOSSOM HERALDED THE START of the 2021 apple season in the Hudson Valley, an exciting – and nervous – time for the get prednisone 5 mg online growing number of local cider producers, whether they tend orchards, or depend on others for fruit. It is also a heady moment for the craft cider scene, a decade-plus renaissance that is reaching critical mass in terms of volume and distribution. It is a big part of the cider sector explosion in ambien online New York State, which has grown 450% over the last ten years and sports the largest number of cider producers in the U.S. (over 140), according to the provigil New York Cider Association.

    From the region’s wine shops, to Beer World, to even Hannaford grocery, these artisanal tipples have won shelf space – and fans – in the home market, not just in Brooklyn or clomid generic Manhattan’s LES. Which begs a question, as one cracks a cold Doc’s Draft Hard Cider on the porch: what goes into that glass (or can) of local cider? Quite a lot, actually.

    APPLE CHOICES

    Hard cider is simply fermented apple juice, and any apple will do. However, as quality wine comes from wine, not table, grapes, great ciders involve particular traditional and heirloom apples, most often in blends. These apples bring special attributes like high sugar content, good acidity, and tannin for some grip. While the Hudson Valley has long been an apple region, Prohibition snuffed out hard cider from the apple equation, and growers focused on culinary/dessert apples for decades thereafter. Ironically, when the local cider revival started in the 2000s, despite New York State being the second largest U.S. apple producer, suitable cider apples were in short supply. Many dessert apples, like Gala or Golden Delicious, do not make for compelling ciders (linear flavors, scant tannin). Fortunately, enough of these types, like the McIntosh-cross family (e.g., Empire, Cortland), are serviceable for quality ciders.

    Some neglected antique culinary varieties have even become cider stars, appearing as single varietal ciders. Northern Spy, traditionally used for applesauce, is a stellar example, owing to its vibrant acidity, flavor depth, and surprising tannins. The cider revivalists initially made do – via their own orchards, partnerships with apple farmers, or even foraging feral trees from abandoned orchards. But a number of them, like Elizabeth Ryan of Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider (and Stone Ridge and Breezy Hill Orchards), Orchard Hill Cider Mill at Soons Orchards and Treasury Cider at Fishkill Farms, began to cultivate cider and heirloom varieties in their orchards, including English cultivars, like Dabinett and Ellis Bitter, and antiques, such as Winesap and Golden Russett. The transformation to cider apples in the orchards has been remarkable (and is ongoing), leading to exciting results.

    IN THE ORCHARD

    Cider is a value-added agricultural product, subject to the vagaries of farming and climate. For many cider businesses, acquiring existing orchards have made long-term sense, for both apple supply and quality control, like Brooklyn Cider House’s acquisition of a 200-year-old orchard near New Paltz in 2015. These orchards often require major improvements, upkeep and, likely, conversion to cider-friendly varieties by grafting onto existing trees, or planting new ones. Alternatively, some apple farms have vertically integrated into the cider business, like Hardscrabble Cider, and Bad Seed Cider which represents a sixth generation apple farm (and has a tasty flagship dry cider for your fridge). The big question, however, is this: will a cider operation use conventional pest and disease management in the growing season, i.e., spraying trees with chemical preparations, or something more environment-friendly, even organic? Appearance does not matter for cider apples, so more sustainable, organic, and biodynamic practices – even crowdsourcing unsprayed backyard apples, as Abandoned Hard Cider does – are options.

    Establishing a new orchard is a big commitment, with the first viable crop two to ten years away, depending on the variety of apple and choice of rootstock. Cultivated varieties must be grafted onto a rootstock, which determines the spacing, size, and vigor of the trees, as well as when they bear. The trend, like with new plantings at Angry Orchard, is for dwarf rootstocks that allow tight spacing, early bearing, trellising, and extreme pruning, increasing yields, and making harvesting easier. The process is arduous, but quality apples are the first step towards great cider.

    THE PROCESS

    While the technology and equipment have improved, the process of cider has remained essentially the same for centuries: ripe apples are shredded or milled, so that a pressing yields juice, which will naturally ferment via wild yeasts into a moderately alcoholic beverage (6-8% ABV). Today, once harvested, the apples sit for time to ripen further, concentrating sugars and flavors. Then comes washing, sorting and discarding leaves, twigs, and any rotten fruit. Mechanical milling is the next step, turning the firm apples into a pressable pomace. Pressing is often via a pneumatic press, but sometimes by old-fashioned (and effective) screw-pressing of stacked sackcloth packs of pomace (as Treasury Cider does). The resulting juice, or must, is then measured for sugar content and potential alcohol.

    The big decision at this stage is which apples will make up the blend, and whether the blending will be done physically, by sight, before pressing (more traditional), or if the various varieties are pressed for juice separately, and then blended  together in a process more like winemaking.

    The next step, fermentation, is where the magic happens.

    IN THE CELLAR

    Here, the big decision is this: go with wild yeasts that naturally come with apples, or “pitch” a cultured yeast, for a more predictable, consistent result? A “natural” fermentation can generate amazing complexity and nuance, but even with careful monitoring there is more margin for error, like bacterial infection. Commercial yeasts, mostly those used for wine, offer stylistic choices and more consistent outcomes.

    Vessels are another choice. Temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks are ideal, but pricey; large format, food-grade plastic cubes are another option; and for smaller production, glass carboys or demi-johns. Barrel fermenting, too, is an option. Cider fermentations are generally done low, in terms of temperature (60-70º F), and slow, in terms of time, to maximize aromas and flavors. Racking the cider to another vessel after primary fermentation is standard, leaving the considerable spent yeast by-product behind, but further racking and/or filtering is a style choice. If the cider maker wants a sweet version, then either the fermentation must be stopped before all the sugar is converted to alcohol, or unfermentable sweeteners are added at the end. In some cases, the maker introduces other fruits into the must, like blueberries, to co-ferment and flavor the cider.

    STYLES AND FLAVORS

    Craft ciders generally range from bone dry to semi-sweet, with tannins present, giving them more structure and mouthfeel than bland, treacly-sweet commercial brands. After fermentation, but before bottling, some cider makers infuse certain batches with natural flavorings, often botanicals, like hops, ginger, or hibiscus. Nine Pin Ciderworks does this with aplomb. While many ciders go to market soon after fermentation, some producers like to age ciders, usually in wood or whiskey casks, to build complex and caramelized flavors. Other fruit flavors, like citrus, melon and pear are common (and desirable). The goal, however, is to highlight the amazing local apples, with apple character and aromas present. A certain funkiness/earthiness is acceptable, even considered an asset, if not dominant. Floral notes, like acacia or orange blossoms, are nice possibilities, depending on the apples and yeasts employed.

    Ciders can be still (an underrated style) or sparkling, with a wide spectrum of bubbles, from petillant to Champagne-like. Carbonation choices are bottling before the fermentation is finished (méthode ancienne); by adding sugar and/or yeast at bottling (méthode champenoise); or by forced carbonation with CO2. The former two methods are more artisan and difficult, the latter more precise and dependable, if less romantic.

    Finally, there is the packaging of the finished products. Local producers have embraced variety – and colors. Artfully decorated cans in 4-packs are all the rage, and work perfectly for the fridge. Glass bottles remain a go-to, many in the 12-ounce, longneck format. Special blends/cuvees and varietal ciders, often sparkling, readily appear in Champagne-style bottles, aiming for a more wine-like experience. Similar to the craft beer scene, growler options exist at many cideries and other outlets, too, where ciders flow on tap.

    Clearly there is much more in the bottle than meets the eye, but the easiest thing about craft cider is in the drinking.

     

    By Christopher Matthews

     

     

  • Exploring American Cider: History, Politics and Social Issues

    Exploring American Cider: History, Politics and Social Issues

    GETTING OUT AND EXPERIENCING CIDER firsthand is the best way to learn about the country’s oldest beverage, but with Dan Pucci and Craig Cavallo as your well-versed and deeply passionate guides, cider culture from coast to coast is at your fingertips. More

  • 100 Years Ago When Cider Ruled the Nation

    100 Years Ago When Cider Ruled the Nation

    AT ONE MINUTE AFTER MIDNIGHT on July 1, 1919, the dream of “dry” reformers became a reality when the Wartime Prohibition Act went into effect. Passed to conserve America’s food, grain, and fuel during World War I, the new law made the manufacture and sale of “intoxicating liquor” a crime against the United States.

    Patriotism and war frenzy was at an all-time high when Wartime Prohibition was first introduced in April 1918 as a rider to an emergency agricultural appropriation bill. Known as the Food Production Stimulation bill, it came on the heels of a full nationwide Prohibition bill banning alcohol, which had already been passed by both houses of the Congress in December 1917, and was waiting for ratification by 36 states.

    Attached to the bill was the “Jones Rider” which banned “beer, wine or other intoxicating malt or vinous liquor for beverage purposes”. Thinly disguised as a contribution to the war effort, the rider was in actuality the work of the Temperance movement, backed by the powerful Anti-Saloon League, who took advantage of the war hysteria to force their moral agenda on the American population. Their ultimate goal was to get a nationwide “dry” law, in any form, onto the books with the hope that once enacted it would be difficult to overturn.

    PROBLEMS NOT SOLUTIONS

    The wartime ban, however, created more controversy and problems then it offered solutions. For one, by the time the law went into effect, the war had been over for more than six months. For another, it never clearly defined the word “intoxicating.” A later ruling declared that any liquor in excess of more than one half of one percent alcohol in volume was “intoxicating”, and therefore illegal. And, by strict interpretation, possession of liquor was never banned—only the manufacture and sale of liquor was prohibited. Further interpretation revealed that hard cider was neither a “malt or vinous liquor,” so fruit juices, such as cider, were outside the reach of Wartime Prohibition.

    How Dry I am Prohibition pinIt was common knowledge that farmers and the rural population were strong supporters of the Prohibition crusade, so when legislators framed the law, they took great care to prevent any infringement on the drinking habits of their farmer constituents back home. Fearing that any prohibition law would lose the farmers backing, it was their intent to interfere as little as possible with the generally recognized right of farmers to manufacture their beloved hard cider for home use. Therefore, the manufacture and sale of pure apple cider, fermented or not, was permissible under Wartime Prohibition regulations. Cider could be sold without regard to alcohol content, though technically nothing could be added to raise the percentage of alcohol.

    Resistance to the dry experiment soon began mounting in the big cities. For the most part, the urban population ignored the dry mandate and city dwellers continued to drink openly throughout Wartime Prohibition. New York had difficulty dealing with the ban, as 92 percent of its population was previously living in “wet” [anti-prohibitionist] territory. By comparison, in the rest of the country nearly 60 percent of the population was under some form of local or state prohibition before Wartime Prohibition went into effect.

    As the “wets” continued their resistance, filing endless lawsuits in their fight against Prohibition, the Treasury Department was eventually forced to admit, in an announcement in November 1919, that cider was indeed not “a vinous liquor” as determined by the Jones Rider, and therefore not subject to the ban on alcohol.

    Cider, whether hard or sweet, could be sold without regard to its alcohol content, or at least until January 16, 1920, when constitutional Prohibition, finally ratified as the Eighteenth Amendment, would go into effect and replace Wartime Prohibition. Almost immediately, cider supplies in many communities dwindled, and cider prices leapt to more than several dollars a gallon. Apple prices also rose with reports of growing shortages, as farmers and speculators began hoarding apples for cider making before the January deadline. In the cities, many hotels, restaurants, and bars substituted hard cider for the usual spirits to celebrate the 1920 New Year, which would have otherwise been dry. In this new era, where beer, wine, and liquor were illegal, cider now reigned supreme.

    MORE THAN A RURAL FAVORITE

    Barely six months into national Prohibition, the newly formed Bureau of Prohibition could no longer avoid the cider dilemma. In July 1920, the Bureau made public a ruling that settled any doubt on the legality of hard cider, virtually lifting the ban on cider, fruit juices and “non-intoxicating” beverages.

    Citing the Volstead Act, the law enacted to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, the Bureau pointed out that Section 29 of the Act specifically exempted cider and other “fruit juices” that might acquire an alcoholic content through the natural process of fermentation. These beverages were not subject to the legal limit of “one half of one percent” alcohol. The Bureau ruled that these beverages were not “intoxicating”, but rather “intoxicating in fact”—an ambiguous, contradictory term that implied that if wine, cider, or other fermented fruit juices were made for use exclusively in the home, the burden was upon the government to prove that they were “intoxicating in fact”.

    There were various regulations attached to the ruling. Items that could raise the sugar content and percentage of alcohol in the final product—like dried fruits, dandelions, rhubarb, and elderberry blossoms—technically could not be “added” to the mixture. It was also a violation to make wine from flowers and herbs, but not from fresh fruits. Apples, peaches, pears, strawberries, cherries, and, of course, grapes, were permitted even though the fermented results could reach as high as 15 to 20 percent.

    What was intended as a loophole to enable the farmers to escape the drastic provisions of Prohibition had turned into an equal protection for city dwellers, who by law were now fully protected to make“non-intoxicating ciders and fruit juices.” And if cider, wine, and other fruit juices were protected, why not beer? This question was raised time and again, and as the years went by, challenges to Prohibition laws, both public and private, increased.

    SEEKING STATUS THROUGH CIDER

    Among the more notable challengers was Congressman John Philip Hill from Baltimore, MD, who took on the authorities and pointed out the discrepancies between homemade cider and beer, and the ability of farmers to make and drink hard cider, while the city dweller was denied even 2.75% beer under the same law.

    In 1924, Hill hosted a high-profile party at his backyard farm, and as a publicity stunt invited the commissioner of Prohibition to sample his homemade cider and wine. Hill, of course, was promptly arrested and tried on six counts of violating the Volstead Act. The publicly covered trial only lasted two days, though it took 20 hours of deliberation for the jury to find Hill not guilty on all counts.

    Just a year later, New York’s own Congressman Fiorello LaGuardia argued the same point, and invited reporters and photographers to his Washington, DC, office where he mixed a “near beer” (the legal no-alcohol beer) with a bottle of malt tonic, took a sip of the 2% “beer” and declared that the alcoholic beverage was perfectly legal under the definition of the Volstead Act. This and many other stunts were covered in the newspapers, leading to a slow erosion of the public’s already deteriorating views on Prohibition.

    ENDING THE NOBLE EXPERIMENT

    Wartime Prohibition was meant to be a temporary situation—it lasted a little more than six months—but it was viewed as an experiment to prepare the public for lifelong constitutional Prohibition. Homemade cider remained legal throughout the long years of National Prohibition, and although public debates and legal challenges continued to arise, they were always rejected.

    Despite the popularity of cider in rural America, the rest of the population couldn’t survive on fruit juices alone. Ten years into Prohibition, it was apparent that millions of Americans were manufacturing large quantities of wine and beer, as well as cider, in their homes. In fact, the amount of homemade wine produced was estimated to be more than 10 times pre-Prohibition levels. Homemade cider production was so widespread that it couldn’t be accurately measured. So much for the dry experiment.

    Eventually, it was a matter of simple economics that ended the nation’s “noble experiment.” Three years into the economic depression which began with the market collapse in 1929, the potential of restoring billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury by repealing the ban on alcohol outweighed any moral considerations or national sacrifice that might have once existed. The amendment mandating repeal of National Prohibition was ratified December 5, 1933, and went into effect immediately.

    By Robert Bedford

  • Is Your Cider Dry or Sweet?

    Is Your Cider Dry or Sweet?

    TANNINS ARE POLYPHENOLS found in apples (and red wine grapes, tea leaves, and other fruits and vegetables). Thanks to decades of research, especially in the wine world, we have a good understanding of how tannins interact with sugar and acid to reduce the perception of sweetness in your mouth. Tannins create dryness.

    But “dry” is a term that has confused cider drinkers, and so the New York Cider Association is working to explain what “dry” means, by creating an honest, consistent, reliable framework in the form of a scale, describing what level of dryness or sweetness will be experienced when you try a cider.

    This scale will objectively position any orchard- based cider on a spectrum that ranges from Dry, to Semi Dry, to Semi Sweet, to Sweet. Lab testing will quantify the ratio of Residual Sugar to Total Acidity in a cider, and adjust the cider’s place on the scale to factor its Tannin content, giving it a score that is used to place it on the scale.

    The result of the scale’s adoption will be the elimination of “talk dry, taste sweet” misinformation on labels, and will boost confidence on the part of cider drinkers. You should begin to see the scale on labels in late 2018. Cheers to that!

    Visit CiderWeekNewYork.com to learn where to meet makers and sample their cider during Cider Week Hudson Valley and throughout the year.

    By Jenn Smith, NYCA Executive Director

    Photo: Courtesy Naked Flock
    Illustration: Flint Media
  • Building Cider: The Future in the Hudson Valley

    Building Cider: The Future in the Hudson Valley

    HUDSON VALLEY CIDERS RUN THE GAMUT from organic orchard-based bottlings to others more closely associated with craft beers. The different styles and approaches to ciders made in the Hudson Valley is a microcosm of the greater farm-based cider community. For nearly 400 years, the Hudson Valley has been at the center of apple production in North America, so its eminent role in cider is no surprise.

    Dutch settlers first introduced apple seeds to the Hudson Valley in the early 1600s. French Huguenots and other European settlers quickly realized the potential of the Valley and established orchards along the hillsides. The region has been at the forefront of apple growing ever since. Writers, farmers, and consumers around the world took notice of New York’s apples, including the Newtown Pippin, Esopus Spitzenburg, and Swaar varieties, which emerged as favorites during Colonial America.

    Later, in 1803, Robert Livingston Pell established the first modern commercial orchard in Esopus, in Ulster County. Pell’s apples fetched $8 a barrel (approximately 144 pounds) in New York City and a whopping $21 per barrel in London, the equivalent of about $167 and $439, respectively, today. Pell’s success cemented the Hudson Valley as a premium apple-growing region. Many other great American apples, such as Jonathan and Rome, started out as a single tree in the Hudson Valley.

    But the Hudson Valley is not one homogenous region. It’s a large and diverse area of valleys, streams, and estuaries that individually impact the apple-growing landscape. The mighty Hudson River is, in part, an extension of the Atlantic Ocean. The native Algonquian name for the river is muh-he-kun-ne-tuk, or river that flows both ways, because the river is tidal until Troy, NY.

    Keen observers can witness the river flowing north (upstream) during high tides. The effects of this massive climate moderator, combined with glacially eroded soils, has resulted in one of the preeminent fruit-growing regions in the world. Its diversity was noted by the renowned 19th- century orchardist William Coxe, who observed that Esopus Spitzenburg apples grew best in orchards north of the Hudson Highlands at Beacon, NY, while Harrison apples were unparalleled in the orchards in the southern portion of the river.

    For centuries, cider from these orchard apples found a home in the Hudson Valley. Cider sat on the tables of wealthy Manhattan traders and subsistence farmers. Its virtues were written about with gusto by 19th-century horticulture and pomological associations, but for a variety of reasons its full potential has only recently begun to reveal itself.

    THE STATE OF CIDER

    Many of today’s cider producers operate from farms that have been in existence for years. These producers interpret cider in their own style while staying true to the spirit and diversity of the Hudson Valley.

    An hour north of New York City in New Hampton in Orange County is Soon’s Orchard—home to Orchard Hill Cider Mill. Situated on a slope of thin, poor soil and shale and protected from the frost, the orchard bears fruit with intense flavor and complexity that makes for an exemplary cider, owner Karl duHoffmann says. The apples— predominately Golden Russet, Newtown Pippin, and Northern Spy—were mostly sold retail or pressed into fresh cider that was sold at the farm store before duHoffmann started making hard cider with them on the Soon’s family farm.

    About 40 miles east, in Dutchess County, is Fishkill Farms. Josh Morgenthau’s family has owned the orchard for over a century. He opened the orchard to the public so they can get a better understand of how cider is produced and learn about the work that goes into tending the land and the apples.

    In 2016, Morgenthau launched Treasury Cider. The name honors his grandfather, Robert Morgenthau, who was Secretary of the Treasury during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. By designing an experience for visitors with cider as the centerpiece, Morgenthau pays homage to his family’s history and the land that produced the fruit. He notes that the old trees that his grandfather planted 60 years ago produce intensely compelling and interesting apples. Those deep-rooted trees push the limits of flavor and complexity which makes for great cider.

    Communicating the importance of their orchard and its history to drinkers is a different challenge.

    “When people come to our farm, they’re able to wander among our trees,” Morgenthau says. “They’re able to pick their own apples and see the differences that the site makes. Then they can taste hard cider made with fruit from those same trees.”

    Elizabeth Ryan, owner of Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider, has been making cider since 1996 and echoes Morgenthau in communicating the importance of the orchard setting to the final cider. Ryan believes in the power of conversation to reach new drinkers. If she cannot draw customers to a glass in her orchard, she and her team spread their message at farm markets and events throughout the Hudson Valley and New York City. They offer cider as part of their larger agricultural bounty; the cider inseparable from the rest of the farm produce.

    Brooklyn Cider House looks at cider through a Spanish lens. Despite the name, the cider maker started in 2014 as a farm stand at Twin Star Orchard in New Paltz in Ulster County. They opened a cider house in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn last December.

    The two venues offer contrasting experiences. In New Paltz, visitors can observe an orchard once filled with conventional eating apples like Gala and Macintosh being transformed to an organic orchard filled with unique heirloom and cider varieties like Dabinett and Golden Russet. In Brooklyn, visitors can witness the transformation of an old warehouse into a cider house and restaurant influenced by Asturian and Basque cider traditions, where the massive steaks rival the large cider barrels. The cider house is the heart of the Spanish cider tradition—it is a community gathering point for celebration and identity. In Bushwick, Brooklyn Cider House wants to recreate that place for a new audience to enjoy a bounty of New York’s farm ciders, wines, and beers.

    Bad Seed Cider Co. followed a similar route when they opened a tasting room in Brooklyn last year to complement their existing location in Highland, in Ulster County. Wilklow Orchards, a family-owned operation since 1855, launched Bad Seed in 2011. At first, they sold their cider only at farm markets in the Hudson Valley and New York City, but they can now be found in several states across the East Coast. While the orchard has always had a loyal following of customers, the opening of the Brooklyn location greatly boosted their profile and awareness in the mind of cider drinkers, partner Bram Kincheloe says.

    DEFINING CHARACTER

    The character of Hudson Valley cider is a marriage of acid and texture. It is character that comes from the orchard apples, and obvious when tasted next to grocery apples from other places around the world. This harmony creates ciders that are rich in texture, balanced by acid, and retain a great deal of character during fermentation, Ryan says.

    “I’m convinced of the concept of terroir,” Morgenthau says. “The impact of site, season, and how the tree has grown can produce wildly different results in the apples, detectable not only in the juice and the fermented cider, but also in the fruit when eaten out of hand.”

    Unfortunately, the subtleties of orchard ciderhas suffered from muddied expectation. Until now, the public was largely unaware of what to look for, or what to expect, when buying and drinking cider. To remedy that, the New York Cider Association has developed a dryness scale to provide customers with clear language about a cider’s sugar-acid-tannin ratio. The scale puts scientific research behind the terms: “dry”, “semi dry”, “semi sweet”, and “sweet”, so they will no longer be subjective. (See sidebar on the next page.) This will give producers an opportunity to clearly communicate what’s inside the bottle and open up a discussion about the types and  origins of the apples used to make the cider.

    Public awareness of cider has been hampered due to Federal labeling laws. Since 1980, wine makers have been allowed to refer to American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), such as the Willamette Valley or Niagara Escarpment, on their label, yet cider makers remain unable to do so. They are not permitted to use or make reference to wine appellations, which can lead to confusion for the consumer. Local cider makers have found a loophole by labeling their products with the designation, “Hudson Valley”, so as not to infringe on the Hudson River Valley Region AVA. Cider is also barred from being labeled with vintages, so cider makers use Roman numerals or batch numbers to clue in the buyer. Legislation on both the State and Federal levels to help promote and protect cider is ongoing. In the future there may be infrastructure to label cider within the Federal system, but until then, drinkers have to seek clues on the bottle.

    Engaging conversations between producers and consumers greatly impacts cider drinking habits. Events such as Cider Week Hudson Valley, now in its eighth year, focuses on the concept of “destination ciders” to encourage people to enjoy cider as part of a larger experience, and to educate them about cider’s wide diversity. By promoting the provenance of cider, producers and organizations seek to strengthen a foundation for local cider that was built hundreds of years ago.

    The Hudson Valley has been a cradle for the industry—first, for the growth of the American apple and now for the production of cider. Talented and passionate cider makers throughout the region are discovering the potential of cider; building a culture and cultivating a cider terroir. The groundwork has been laid, now all that needs to be done is to drink it in.

    By Dan Pucci

    Photo: Courtesy Fishkill Farm
  • The Curious Character of Varietal Ciders

    The Curious Character of Varietal Ciders

    Cider makers often blend inedible bitter-sharp and bittersweet apple varieties with crossover apples to create their signature house styles. But some, like Doc’s Draft, Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider, and Angry Orchard are experimenting with single varietals, using just one type of apple to create ciders with a distinct flavor profile. While these modern and heirloom apples are gaining popularity as varietal ciders, they can also be the backbone of blends:

    Ashmead’s Kernel

    This is a rather lumpy, misshapen English apple that would never win a contest for its beauty. But, appearances can be deceiving. Ashmead’s Kernel has remained popular for well over two centuries, and with good reason: it has a taste that sets it apart from most other varieties. For some, the elusive flavor is reminiscent of a sweet- smelling hard candy known in the UK as a pear drop.

    Esopus Spitzenberg

    This buttery-yellow, antique variety was discovered by Dutch settlers in 1770. Its crisp, juicy flesh, rich aromatics and concentrated flavor make it the apple of cider connoisseurs.

    Gold Rush

    A smooth-skinned modern dessert apple with a flavor profile similar to Golden Delicious, but with a bit more acidity. It is late harvested and has excellent juice, but as a relatively new variety there isn’t much experience with it yet in cider production.

    Golden Russet

    The “I can do anything better than you” apple. Discovered in New York in 1840, this dynamo’s sweet, honeyed fruit has the perfect blend of acid, sugar, and tannin to enhance any blend, and enough finesse to be used for a single varietal cider.

    Newtown Pippin

    Early New York settlers propagated this varietal in Queens in the 18th century. The green-skinned, late harvested Pippin has a well-balanced, sweet-tart flavor and tannins that make it a good candidate for barrel-aged ciders.

    Northern Spy

    This sharply flavored late ripening variety was introduced in the 1840s in Rochester, NY. With possible connections to Esopus Spitzenburg it shares many of the same qualities including heady aromatics and luscious fruit.

    Winesap

    Winesaps can be eaten fresh, but they also shine in cider production. This heirloom apple has a unique tartness, intoxicating aroma, and lingering spice that sets it apart from other varietals.

     

    by Wendy Crispell