When it comes to holiday foods, the virtues of cider pairing with ham, turkey, goose and pork are clear to all cider lovers. But, the real pairing challenge comes in matching classic holiday sweets with cider. Pairing desserts can be tricky, balancing sweet and savory elements in both the beverage and the food.

Here are eight classic holiday desserts, and my suggestions for cider pairings:

Panettone

Panettone is a traditional Italian sweet bread made of candied citrus and dried fruits. The sweet citrus is contrasted by the light fluffy texture of the bread. This dessert, or the similar Pandoro, is always on my family’s holiday dining table. Often, it is served with moscato or another light sparkling sweet wine. But, in South America, the Italian community there drinks sweet sparkling cider with the panettone. Christmas and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are the biggest cider drinking times throughout South America. For a comparable cider here in North America, reach for a delicate bottle of perry like E.Z. Orchards Poire or Snowdrift Perry Reserve. The light floral citrus and celery tones of perry are a great addition to the candied fruit and light foamy texture of the sweet bread.

Macaroons

Macaroon expert Spencer Brill of the artisan macaroon business, Plenty of Good, says coconut cookies pair excellently with a wide variety of beverages. He suggests matching against the delicate sweetness, and often finds himself wowed by how baking spices and cinnamon draw out the exotic flavors in the coconut. Ciders like Woodchuck‘s Smoked Apple, made with applewood smoke-infused heirloom apples, can draw out the savory flavors from the cookies. While the savory-but-sweet Eden Sparkling Semi-Dry can lend a rich baked fruit element to the pairing, with just enough honey sweetness. 

Rugelach

Rugelach is a holiday favorite of Ashkenazi extraction. They’re dense sour cream-based cookies filled with a variety of different fillings like poppy seeds, walnuts, raisins and fruit preserves. These nutty cookies are a great partner with bittersweet cider, like Big Hill FuManchurian or Black Duck Woody, both balanced, rich barrel-aged ciders that are similar in texture and flavor to rugelach. The tasting notes from the barrel aging match the cookies’ nutty, cinnamon-laced crunch.

Gingerbread

New England cider is the winter-warmer of cider. The cider is chapitalized with additional sugars, typically molasses or brown sugar complemented with raisin and other dried fruits, then left in a barrel to mature. This strong cider would remain liquid throughout the freezing temperatures of a New England winter. This style of cider would be a great pairing with molasses-rich gingerbread. The baking spices and vanilla absorbed from the spirits barrel harmonize with the rich baking spices found in gingerbread. Try BlackBird New England Style Cider with your gingerbread this year.

Russian Tea Cookies with Jam

Russian tea cookies are nutty shortbreads filled with jams and preserves. To pair cider with these holiday delights, look for something that is going to be very sweet to stand with — and not overpower — the wonderful fruity flavors of the Russian tea cookies. Eden’s Heirloom Blend Ice Cider is an ideal fit in many ways. It is intensely rich and sweet, with tons of acidity to match. It also has a distinct core of baked apple and citrus that pairs well with the jam in the cookies, while the barrel-aged texture of the cider is great with the dense butteriness of the cookies.

Fruit Cake

Fruit cake, the annual butt of holiday-themed jokes, is another favorite with my family. My sister-in-law makes an intensely rich rum-forward fruit cake made with prunes and dates and loaded with nuts. To match the density of this traditional treat, reach for a bottle of something equally rich and boozy. American pommeau are coming into their own, and several producers now make excellent examples that have extended barrel aging to develop that oxidized, caramel sweetness to handle fruit cake. 

Anise Seed Cookies

These light and crumbly shortbread are nutty, with a “love-it-or-leave-it” anise note. Traditional Italian anise seed cookies are often paired with vin santo or passito made from dried grapes, intensely sweet wines that remain light on the palette. For a cider equivalent, seek out a lighter, non-oxidized style of pommeau or ice cider. Slyboro’s ice cider and South Hill Cider‘s pommeau retain a lot of the fresh-fruit character without any of the more secondary aromas. These ciders would also make for great dipping.

Marzipan

This moldable almond dessert is a frequent centerpiece and accent to many cookie plates. The super sweetness, light citrus and soft texture of marzipan need to be respected when searching for a cider pairing. An ice cider, like Eve’s Essence, brings a weight and intensity of toffee and nuts, while remaining light. Only something this concentrated can hold up to marzipan.

Are you serving cider to accompany holiday desserts this year? What pairings are you going for? Let us know!

• Pannetone and marzipan photos: Bigstock
• Macaroon photo: Plenty of Good
• Gingerbread and anise cookies photos: Pexels
• Fruit cake photo: Pixabay

The post How to Pair 8 Classic Holiday Sweets with Cider appeared first on Cider Culture.

COVID-19 has changed the way the entire world works, eats, drinks and lives. While we all learn to exist in our new reality, our small cider producers around the country — on the razor’s edge of profitability in the best of times — are struggling during the pandemic. One thing that may serve to help them is that many states have thrown out once immutable alcohol laws to allow producers access to consumers in new ways.

In New York State, on-premise licenses can now sell wine, beer, spirits and even cocktails to-go, as restaurants pivot from being gathering places to running take-out windows. New York has also allowed farm cideries, distillers and breweries to ship direct to consumers for the first time. The New York Cider Association tried unsuccessfully for years to get the law changed, until mid-March, when Governor Cuomo’s executive order opened the floodgates. What this means is that farm cideries (hard cider produced with apples grown exclusively in New York) can ship within the state!

Some such farm cideries include:

• Awestruck Ciders (Sidney, NY)
• Blackduck Cidery (Ovid, NY)
• East Hollow Cider (Petersburgh, NY): 50% of their gross profits are going to COVID-19 relief funds
• Embark Craft Ciderworks (Williamson, NY)
• Graft Cider (Newburgh, NY)
• Nine Pin Cider (Albany, NY)
• Rose Hill Ferments (Red Hook, NY)
• South Hill Cider (Ithaca, NY)

If you live in New York State, it’s easier than ever to support local cider makers right now. And no matter where you live, it’s very easy to buy cider online, especially since one of the biggest challenges, (an adult signature at the time of delivery), has been made moot by the lockdown. Many cideries offer case discounts or free shipping to help compensate for the shipping expenses. 

• Feature photo: Nine Pin Cider

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Countless pieces of cider writing start by documenting the long and rich cider history of the 18th and 19th centuries in America. Modern day cider drinks love to revel in the mysticism of the the glorious cider culture of the past: Cider was consumed by the barrel; John Adams drank two tankards a day; The lore of Johnny Appleseed. All of this heritage and tradition has been fuel for the modern cider movement used in its marketing and message.

There is no shortage of 19th century texts about fruit growing, and even a few about making cider. But there aren’t many resources talking about what people actually drank. That’s why it’s so exciting that The New York Public Library has assembled and cataloged an impressive amount of restaurant menus from the mid-1800s to today. This collection gives insight into what drinkers have been consuming on a regular basis for almost 200 years. The brands, language, position and price all give insight into people’s relationship with cider and cider’s relationship to other beverages.

Cider, in some form, appears on menus throughout the final years of the 19th century and up to Prohibition. The standout difference, comparing many of these menu to the restaurants of today, is the vast diversity of items. It was not uncommon for simple restaurants to serve over 100 different dishes. Beverage lists mirror the complexities with deep cellars at even more casual establishments. Cider did not play a large role on any of the menus, but you can definitely find it on historic menus from across the country.

The ongoing debate for the place of cider on menus is not new to our generation. Cider appears under countless different headings and categorization throughout the Library’s collection. In 1900, Dorlon’s Oyster House, formerly located at 6 East 24rd Street in Manhattan, ciders were listed under the “Ale, Beer, etc.” category. While in 1918, cider was given its own category at Healy’s Forty-Second Street Restaurant, though the restaurant only boasted two offerings.

Healy’s Forty-Second Street Restaurant

At many other places cider is grouped under a miscellaneous category that might encompass ginger ale, mineral water and lemonade, like at the posh Cafe St. Denis in midtown Manhattan, or the Kensington Hotel, both from 1901. Uniquely, Mouquin Restaurant and Wine Store on the Upper West Side listed cider in two places on its wine card: First, it appears under the “Beer and Mineral Water” category (for twenty cents a quart), while elsewhere on the menu “Imp. Champagne Cider” is listed for 70 cents under “Imported Champagne.”

Mouquin Restaurant and Wine Store

Another confusing point on the menus is the term “cider.” Within the cider community it’s long been believed that the term changed from meaning alcoholic cider to sweet unfermented juice as a result of Prohibition. The menus in this collection challenge that assumption. Menus from 1905 at the Harvard Faculty Club and the Hotel Metropole in St. Joseph, Missouri both list cider alongside strictly non-alcoholic beverages. This suggests that these ciders were non-alcoholic. Duff’s Golden Russet Cider may have been a sterilized non-alcoholic cider, but often appears with other alcoholic brands. Temperance establishments thrived throughout the 19th century, and this suggests that the vocabulary shift may have begun decades before Prohibition.

Generally, at most establishments, the cider selections are limited to a single cider, but a handful had multiple offerings. Dorlon’s Oyster House featured a generic cider by the mug or glass, as well as pints and quarts of Wood’s Newtown Pippin Cider. At 10 cents, the unbranded cider cost the same as local New York beers, while at 25 cents, Wood’s Newtown Pippin cider costs the same as Budweiser shipped in from St. Louis or Manitou Ginger Champagne from Colorado.

Dorlon’s Oyster House

Cafe St. Denis in 1901 listed several ciders: Sweet Cider, Cider Cup, Hick’s Russet (sparkling) and John F. Wood Co. Champagne Cider, making it one of the largest in the collection. At 80 cents a quart, the Champagne Cider is priced closer to domestic American wines but above several of the red Bordeauxs. The Gould’s Hotel in Boston in 1900 listed two ciders: S.S. Pierce and Gerry, both at 10 cents for a half pint and 20 cents for a full pint. It is priced closer between domestic beers (15 cents) and imported (25 cents). It appears that cider’s pricing a century ago was just as all over the place as it is today.

Pauldings Newtown Pippin Cider was made in Jericho, Long Island, New York and supposedly shipped around the world. On the wine menu of the USMS St. Louis, an Atlantic ocean liner making trips to Europe, one could buy a pint of Volnay or Rüdesheimer for nearly the same price as a quart of Pauldings. It was certainly one of the most common ciders in 19th-century New York. Rear Admiral Hiriam Pauldings, a career naval officer who served in both the War of 1812 and the Civil War, purchased the orchard in 1837 and it was run by his descendants until after the second World War.

Specificity in apples is a consistent theme throughout the menus, not just in cider but as fruit. For decades, The Waldorf Astoria in New York had the option of Newtown Pippin or Esopus Spitzenburg on its dessert menu. Chateau Frontenac in Quebec and the Palliser Hotel in Calgary in 1937 both list local Canadian apples on their menu as a point of pride.

These century-old menus from some of the finest establishments of the time offer a window into the cider culture of a century ago. Cider had a place among the library of selections offered by restaurants, and while it held a consistent market in cities, cider was eclipsed more generally by wine and beer (sounds much like today, huh?). After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, wine and beer culture were able to slowly rebuild themselves, while cider withdrew from the cities and returned to its rural roots.

While it is difficult, and perhaps unwise, to draw direct parallels to today’s craft cider market, it is fascinating to observe the similarities and differences. Most importantly, we get to see how our market will grow and evolve without a 13-year period of Prohibition to stand in our way.

The post Peering Into the Past: Exploring Cider on Historic Restaurant Menus at The New York Public Library appeared first on Cider Culture.

As we progress through the international cider revolution, we have to look ahead toward the horizon of this constantly evolving industry. 2017 was the year of reform (CIDER Act), retirements (Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider), and the seemingly unstoppable growth of regional cider. 2018 promises to be another important year for cider to better identify itself on the ever-growing craft beverage market. Cider will continue to endear itself to more and more consumers.

While we can’t really predict the future, here are some of our ideas about the craft cider trends we expect to see in 2018 and beyond:

New Orchards

The seeds of the next wave of cider were planted years ago when ambitious cider makers and orchardists planted the next generation of heirloom and cider-specific apples. In 2018 many of these trees will be coming into production, and this will give those cider makers the tools to create some truly excellent ciders with distinct regional flavor.

Heritage Regional Cider

One of the greatest and most challenging parts of cider is its sheer diversity. In 2018 we will see a growing conversation about how cider from different parts of North America vary, not just in the apples they use, but in their approach, techniques, intention and terroir. Places like the Finger Lakes or Willamette Valley have an imprint that is hard to ignore, and brands will embrace their regional identity, not only to sell within their local market, but also to the rest of the country. In the future, consumers will be seeking out Michigan Northern Spy or Virginia Pippin the same way they look for Tuscan or Napa wines.   

If you want to learn more about this burgeoning trend, CiderCon 2018 has a number of different programs, lectures and seminars on heritage cider (including one with me, the author of this post!).

Renewed Focus on Adjuncts

This growing identity will not be limited to just premium heritage cider. In the past few years, we have seen hopped, black currant, ginger, chili — and everything in between — blended with cider. In 2018, we will see adjuncts cider develop the language they use to talk about these additions. Things will move away from “flavor of the month” and into long-term sustainable products that people will buy for many years to come.

Format Debates

2018 will be another year of in-fighting about how to best package craft cider. The Cider Grown collaboration between Stormalong, Eden and Farnum Hill put cider varieties in a can at a price of approximately half their normal price. Eden has another one of these projects in the works for 2018, and it will be sold at a price point lower than their traditional offerings. The liquid capital from these ciders will help revitalize producers, enabling them to continue to produce some of the best cider in the world. These ciders will also help bridge the gap between the culinary/ dessert apple cider and heirlooms/bittersweet cider.

New developments will also include adoption of TTB new policies toward cider (pending comment period). The new Federal tax rates to craft beverages are also going to have a large impact on producers’ bottom lines.

But, ultimately, cider in 2018 will be about creating new divisions and categories to create a fuller, richer cider world for people to drink up.

• Orchard photo: Ronald Sansone
• Spruce Glider Cider: Colorado Cider Company
• Cider Grown 4-pack: Cider Grown
• Feature photo: Tom Oliver

The post Craft Cider Trends for 2018 appeared first on Cider Culture.

The development and maturity of alcohol as it ages and changes is one of most fascinating and rewarding aspects of the beverage world. The breakdown and revelation of new flavors and textures keep glasses full of excitement and exploration.

Tracking the maturity and aging is uncharted ground for the North American cider community. The economic reality of the market dictates that producers need to get their product out the door and to customers as soon as possible. But as the cider community develops in North America, many producers are beginning to consider cider maturity and aging, and are pushing the expectation of the apple.

Historically, producers aged alcoholic beverages because of the infrastructure limitations of preindustrial Europe. Product shipped by boat or over land was often sold long after it was produced. Entire styles of fortified wine, like Madeira and Port, emerged as a result of the realities of shipping wine.

The rough edges of wine or distilled spirits are softened with time in a barrel. Bordeaux in the 19th century generally was less than 10% ABV, and consequently needed time to mellow, integrate and open up. German Riesling of the past was often so acidic that the wine need a decade before it was ready to drink. Besides these export-centered wines, most wine remained local and was consumed fresh, within a year of production. Today, even with a global market, most wine is meant to be drunk young, with only a small percentage of wine intended to be enjoyed in the years to come. Traditional European cider was mostly kept local and also usually consumed with haste.

Fifteen years ago, the concept of aged beer was a novelty, and aged amaro and bitters were strictly to be found in your great-aunt’s house. Now both can be found at bars and restaurants around the country. Felix Nash of Fine Cider in the UK said that most mature ciders he comes across are unintentional, with a few exceptions like some Once Upon a Tree’s 2011 Carpenter Croft, which is aged for 5 years on the lees before disgorging.  

Maturation is a challenging and misunderstood process. Simply put, it is a process of gentle oxidation where the tannins and acid begin to give way to secondary flavors as the primary fruit flavors of fermentation fall away. For as long as people have been writing about wine and cider, they’ve been questioning and examining the role and benefits (or pitfalls) of maturation.

Wine writer Jamie Goode in a 2015 article “Eating Sugar: Why Old Sweet Wines Often Taste Drier,” said that older wines lose their fruity flavors, which masks their sweetness and brings forward more tertiary flavors.

Master of wine Clive Coates developed the Cotes Laws of Maturity, which states that “when a wine ages, its key elements, which make up its character, fade. The aging applies to some flavors, textures and aromas. They do not fade uniformly and, depending on the individual who tastes the same wine for evaluation, they may perceive it differently.”

Steve Selin of South Hill Cider said that this controlled oxidation can lead to complexity, citing several recently enjoyed decade-old bottles of the Maloney family’s West County Cider in Colrain, Mass.

Nash noted that in a few years, ciders lose their “fresh-juice sumptuousness of the new seasons” and move toward nuance and maturity.

Like wine, not every cider is meant to mature. The division between what is meant to be drunk young and what can last begins in the orchard. The first distinction is the variety of apple. Culinary and eating apples generally do not have the structure or acidity to make a cider that will mature gracefully.

Eric Shatt of Redbyrd Orchard Cider, located in the Finger Lakes of New York, said, “Some cider’s main component is bright, lively fruit. With age, if fruit and only fruit is the cider’s main characteristic, it will fade, revealing behind the fruit a rather bland and simplistic cider.” Shatt feels that cider needs to have a backbone and life beyond the fruit in order to develop. This backbone can be found in the cider apples either of European or American persuasion.

Tom Oliver of Oliver’s Cider and Perry in Herefordshire is a firm believer of  “tannic varieties with good, soft tannins, as long as the acidity is appropriate and the alcohol volume decent … you need to add some sharp apples in greater quantity than normal.”

Tom Oliver

He warned that tannic ciders need some balancing acidity from pressing; otherwise, outcomes can go awry (bitterness/harder to integrate at blending). Oliver blends these bittersweets with some Foxwhelp for acidity. Shatt agreed that striking that balance between phenolic texture and acid is the key to great mature cider.

European apples, however, do not have the monopoly on lifespan. Apples like Northern Spy, Golden Russet, Wickson and others are all suited to give a cider the ripeness, texture and acid needed to reach maturity. Golden Russet in particular can become honeyed, waxy and wrapped in fruit leather when given a few years to mature.

The key to all these apples—European or American—is how the fruit is grown. Ripe, well-grown apples have a texture and concentration that only comes from good farming and stewardship. Variety is not everything. The same way we would not expect a value bottle of Central California Coast Chardonnay to age like a Grand Cru Burgundy, why should we expect industrial Kingston Black to perform the same way as a carefully cultivated one from the Finger Lakes?

Once the apples are selected, decisions made in the cellar can lead cider toward a long maturity. Both Selin and Shatt are firm believers that extended maturation on the lees can gain the lead to more texture and complexity. Lees are yeast cells that have fallen out of solution and are no longer active in fermentation.

Shatt will keep his cider on their primary fermentation lees until he is ready to bottle. Selin’s Pomme Sur Lie 2015 (French for “on the lees,” a la Muscadet) was left with little sulfur for more than a year before it was time to bottle. South Hill Pomme Sur Lie is made from a blend of very high tannins and acid apples from around the Finger Lakes and bottled still. It underwent malolactic fermentation that rounded out the intense acidity and created a stable cider without the need for filtration. That cider has developed wonderfully, and Selin said the tannins, acid and flavors have married to become a more united chorus of cider. Both Selin and Shatt credit lees aging with increasing the stability of the cider and allowing them to intervene less with the cider.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUO84OfFjmH/?taken-by=southhillcider

Once bottled, the cider enters into the next stage of development. For traditional sparkling cider, cider makers add a tirage, which is simply more sugar and yeast that begins a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Ciders like Redbyrd’s Celeste Sur Lie and Cloudsplitter spend a considerable amount of time with the lees that drop out of solution during secondary fermentation.

Shatt said that lees in the bottle improve the stability of the cider and slow down the process of oxidation, allowing autolysis to have a great effect on the cider. Autolysis is a process of gentle oxidation from lees contact and leads wine or cider to develop a toasty, brioche or nutty flavor. Shatt found that his ciders develop these flavors after 10 to 12 months and play a large role in dictating when he releases his ciders. He speculates that the lower ABV of cider leads autolysis to have a more profound effect sooner than compared to grapes.

Naturally sweet keeved ciders further complicate the maturation process. As Kevin Zielinski of E.Z. Orchards explained, keeved cider is never really finished fermenting, but rather slowed to a crawl because of lack of yeast nutrients. Tom Oliver explained that “a keeved cider is not stabilized at all; it will keep moving in the bottle, but I do find this usually only adds to the charm of the drink and does not detract.” These living ciders will progress and develop in the bottle in a special way. A recently opened 2009 Dupont Brut showed tons of earthy, shiitake character while keeping the inherent sweet core of the fruit.

Mature cider does not mean old cider. Steve Wood of Poverty Lane Orchards and Farnum Hill Ciders has cases of cider from the late ‘90s in his barn that have not improved, but also do not seem to be going anywhere. The second part of Cote’s Laws of Maturity says that wine will be in its prime for an equal amount of time that it took to get there. If we apply the Cote’s Laws of Maturity to cider, then we can understand why cider may not last for decades, but will taste great in a few years.

Autumn Stoscheck of Eve’s Cidery delved into the depth of the aging curve of her ciders. “The first year seems to be about integration. The cider becomes less a jumble of components and more a synergized whole. Between a year and two years I find the tannins to get smokier, softer and sexier. This, I believe, is the sweet spot. After about three years, the ciders we make seem to stop getting better and begin a slow or fast decline.”

Eve’s Cidery produced a larger-than-usual volume in 2015, disgorged some of it in 2016 and disgorged the rest in the summer of 2017. The differently disgorged ciders have both evolved. Both are exhibiting the softer, smokier tannins while the fruit is much fresher in the recently disgorged cider. 

Stoscheck said that old cider tastes lifeless and takes on a “tinny” flavor that is not appealing. Oliver said that older keeved ciders can exhibit band-aid and sulfur, which are intensely hard to drink. He also noted that older Kingston Black can lose its fruit quickly and is simply phenolics without depth of fruit or character. On the other hand, on a recent visit to Eastern Washington, Tim Larsen of Snowdrift Cider opened a 2008 traditional method—bittersweet cider that was savory, earthy and mouth filling while keeping the heart of ripe orchard and stone fruit that makes his cider special. Felix Nash said that he recently found a 79-year-old bottle of cider from a defunct Devon producer. After all this time, the cider was oxidized and brown, but remained sweet and had gained an interesting spice element.

Cider has a long way to go before the industry has a level of experience and expertise comparable to the wine community. Everything right now is worth exploring. Stoscheck noted that in a few years, she may have totally different opinions and beliefs based on her experiences. The antioxidative effect of gross and fine-lees aging is still in its early phases of understanding as it applies to cider. While there is an understanding of fruit selection and its impact on the final cider, these are all early trials.

• Celeste Sur Lie photo: Eric Shatt
• All other photos: Tom Oliver

The post Playing the Long Game: The Longevity, Development and Evolution of Cider appeared first on Cider Culture.

New York state is home to several distinctive apple-growing regions with distinct challenges, pressures and rewards, all of which have a profound impact on cider. Various environmental, geographical, geological and cultural and historical factors define the fruit and its products.

Still in the infancy of the cider industry, these regions are being defined and negotiated as their true potential becomes more understood. Examining these regions in their youth can lead to a better understanding of New York’s effect on apple culture in the Americas.

History

New York’s potential has been recognized since our country’s founding. George Washington is often cited as the source of the term, “the Empire state,” when he remarked on the naturally advantageous terrain.

The Prince Nursery, located beneath modern Flushing and according to the Smithsonian it was founded in 1737 was America’s first tree nursery. It became an epicenter for American apple research and propagation. Many of the country’s greatest trees, like Esopus Spitzenburg, and NYC’s own Newtown Pippen, spread across the country thanks to the work at Prince. Later, in the 1830s, Robert Livingston Pell created one of the first modern commercial premium orchards in Esopus, NY, where his apples received previously unheard of prices and were so lauded that they were exported to Europe.

The inherent quality of the fruit, because of the practices in its development, is paramount for making excellent cider. This is alien to the modern super market mentality, where gloss, crunch and shape are valued over character. Not every variety is suited for every orchard. Many orchardists are following the work of Steve Wood at Poverty Lane Orchards, but his choice varieties came after decades of research and trials. Qualitative assessment of fruit for cider making has only just begun in the modern context, but its importance was noted in earlier work like Andrew Jackson Downing’s 1846 Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, where he mentioned importance of terroir when trying to grow high-quality fruit.

“We may here remark that almost every district of the country has one or more varieties which, having had its origin there, seems also peculiarly adapted to the soil and climate of that locality. Thus the Newtown pippin, and the Spitzenburg are the great apples of New-York; the Baldwin, and the Roxbury Russett of Massachusetts; the Bellflower and the Rambo of Pennsylvania and New-Jersey; and the Peck’s Pleasant and the Seek-no-further of Connecticut; and though these apples are cultivated with greater or less success in other parts of the country, yet nowhere is their flavour and productiveness so perfect as in the best soils of their native districts — excepting in such other districts where a soil containing ihe same elements and a corresponding climate are also to be found.”

The apple industry of today often ignores these warnings from the past, and instead plants trendy apples like Honeycrisp in orchards that are unsuitable. Much of the cider made today is from apples that were planted with non-cider intentions. These intentions vary across regions. Linked to history, tradition and location, these often have a larger impact on the cider decisions than the soil, climate or other traditional terroir expectations. The Finger Lakes, Lake Ontario and the Hudson Valley are the largest, most-developed regions within New York. They each bring their own unique set of qualities and traditions to the bottle.

The Hudson Valley

The Hudson Valley is home to New York’s oldest and warmest orchards. The region was the original bread basket for the growing metropolis at its mouth and loamy rocky soils proved excellent for apple cultivation. The Hudson River is an amazing body of water. Called Muhheakantuck in Mohican, meaning the river the flows two ways, ice floats can be noted as flowing in both directions.

The river is tidal and originally founded by Nantucket whalers who pursued their prey up and down the river. The river helps extend the growing season late into the fall by moderating the climate. The river encompasses several different climate zones and geology as it runs its course, and pockets of calm wind and cold temperatures exist over each hill and bend.

Pomolgist Mike Biltonen notes “The Hudson Valley has many distinct meso-regions throughout beginning with those that are closest to the river and extending all the way into the foothills of the Catskills. Of course, there is also north and south from Albany all the way to New York City. So, the Hudson Valley probably has a least five or six distinct growing regions.”

Today the Hudson Valley is dotted with farms of every size, from small single-family holdings to large commercial enterprises. The long history of the valley is tied to the growth and needs of New York City for dessert and eating apples. Although the entire state is putting in more and more cider trees, organization like Glynwood in the Hudson Valley were early advocates and backers of the cider industry.

The ciders being made in the Hudson Valley are as varied as its landscape. Much of the cider is made from the dessert apples like Cortlandt, Golden Delicious, Fuji and Gala, and leans towards the fresh, light and refreshing side of the cider spectrum. The nearby metropolitan market spurred the development of fast turnover for easy-drinking ciders as well as high-quality ciders that are sold at some of the finest restaurants. The diversity of soil, terrains and pressures of the valley are united by a shared history and tradition pointed towards the river and the city at its mouth.

The Hudson Valley has the longest growing season and can successfully ripen a range of different apples to levels beyond the other regions. Varieties like Golden Russet, Ashmead’s Kernel and older heirloom fruit can produce some excellent ciders with depth and complexity. Hudson valley fruit is broader, richer than other parts of the state; the acidity is never as dominant as what is found in the Finger Lakes.

Hudson Valley Factoids

• Climate zone: 5b-7a
• Geographic features: wide tidal river valley
• Soil: alluvial loam, granite mixed with shale
• Number of cider makers in the region: 25
• Common apples: dessert fruit, Fuji, Gala, McIntosh and Macoun with older heirlooms like Golden Russet and Winesaps throughout
  Cider fruit: an increasing amount of European cider fruit going in the ground
• Examples of producers: Orchard Hill, Bad Seed, Hudson Valley Farmhouse, Sundstrom, Metal House, West Wind.
• Character of cider: most of the cider is light and lean but ranges toward fuller textural with little-to-no bittersweet character.

The Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes were carved during the last ice age by the crawl of Laurentide ice sheet. When the glacier rescinded 20,000 years ago, the river valleys eroded and widened into the valleys (Ithaca is 382 feet above sea level) with deep lakes (Seneca is 613 feet deep) and high crests (Finger Lakes National Forest, between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, is 1800 feet).

This dramatic landscape creates an ideal growing climate for many fruits. The Iroquois adopted prosperous peach and other European fruit trees along the banks of the lakes until a brutal scorched retribution campaign in 1779 pushed entire communities off their land. The region was never one of New York state’s largest apple growing regions, but has emerged as a great cider region because of the quality of the fruit being grown there.

What sets the Finger Lakes apart is not the benefits of a moderate climate or a long history of growing apples, but to as Autumn Stoscheck of Eve’s Cidery put it, “a dedication towards cider making and growing fruit with that expressed propose.” The Finger Lakes cider is acid driven with tension that creates a distinct texture. Thanks to pioneers like Ian Merwin, formerly of Cornell and proprietor of Black Diamond Cider, the Finger Lakes is home to not only an amazing collection of local heirlooms but also European cider apples and countless other malus oddities.

Many of the Finger Lakes’ best ciders are made from estate-grown fruit where the same person is responsible for the health of the orchard as well as the cider in the bottle. Stoscheck said that her focus is in the orchard and “practices in the cellar need to be respectful of the time and focus we spend in the orchard.”

The ciders coming from the Finger Lakes are ripe generally over 7% ABV with many examples bordering on the 10% mark. These textured ciders maintain balance thanks to acidic intensity and fruit that makes the drinker ready for more. They are dominated by structure and finish with a distinctly rocky/slate finish.

New orchard at Redbyrd

Stoscheck attributes this to the commitment to organic and sustainable growing practices that many producers use in their orchards. Orcharding and cider making in the Finger Lakes is no easy task and crafting these ciders is a considerable amount of work. Stoscheck estimates that her Northern Spy costs 10 times as much to produce than commodity apple of the same variety. This dedication of quality and orcharding makes the Finger Lakes one of the premier regions in New York State.

The Finger Lakes Factoids

• Climate zone: 6a
• Soil type: shale, limestone, slate
• Geographic features: eroded deep glacial lakes that help moderate temperature; steep steady grades into wide valleys.
• Number of cider makers in the region: 15
• Common apples: Northern Spy, Golden Russet, Golden Delicious and Macintosh
• Cider apples: Porter’s perfection, Dabinett, Wickson- several older planting with lots more coming online
• Examples of producers: Eve’s, Redbyrd, Kite and String, Southill, Black Diamond, Black Duck
• Character of cider: Ripe, high-acid cider, often with a bittersweet/sharp component to it; many cider are bottle conditioned and natural sparkling

Western New York and The South Shore of Lake Ontario

The South Shore of Lake Ontario is the largest apple-producing region in the state. This region often gets consolidated with the Finger Lakes, but with such a long apple-growing history, unique geography and now multiple producers it is important for this region to stand on its own.

Lake Ontario is the second deepest of the Great Lakes and protects the farmland to its south from volatile swings in temperature. This is intensified by the Niagara Escarpment, whose cool breezes prevent trees from blossoming before the last frost and whose warmth of water in winter keeps the region in a loop that maintains a constant airflow in the orchards. The limestone of the escarpment forms a cliff overlooking the loam, shale and the lake a few miles in the distance. The flat arable land of the region lends itself to larger farms in a way the hillside terrain of the Finger Lakes does not.

The history of these larger farms is dominated by Mott’s, who has operated a processing plant in Williamson since 1953. Mott’s remains the largest buyer of apples within New York state. Jacob Lagoner of Lagoner Farms and Embark Craft Ciderworks noted that ”There are still a few old (50+ years) orchards of Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, McIntosh, Winesap, Northern Spy around our area and on our farm because of the long standing processing market.” These multipurpose apples are becoming the backbone of the newest wave of cider makers coming to the lakeshore.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMmz4qbD-ZH/?taken-by=embarkcraftciderworks

Ciders from Lake Ontario are high in acid and are reliant on American heirloom apples. They tend to be more herbal and lean when compared to their riper counterparts to the Finger Lakes. Lagoner noted that, in the future, this will change because of the commitment on the part of growers like him and others in the region to plant more cider varieties.

An excellent example of the difference can be found in the 2014 and 2015 Eve’s Northern Spy. The 2014 was made from purchased fruit from Wayne county while the 2015 was made from their orchards in the south Finger Lakes. The depth of flavor, texture and concentration from the Finger Lakes fruit outshined the leaner more herbal cider from further north. The differences are shocking and contributed Stoscheck’s commitment and belief in her own fruit.

Western New York and Lake Ontario Factoids

• Climate zone: 6b-6a
• Soil: limestone on the top of Escarpment, shale, alluvial sandy loam on Lake shore
• Geographic features: Lake Ontario, Niagara Escarpment
• Number of cider producers: 9
• Common apples found in region: Cortlandt, Northern Spy, Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Macintosh, Honeycrisp
• Cider apples: Older Heirloom trees along with repurposed crabs more European trees coming online soon
• Examples of producers: Embark, Leonard Oaks, Black Bird, Rootstock.
• Character of cider: lighter and more acidic than their HV counterparts without the weight of the Finger Lakes

Other Regions

New York state is home to other remarkable terroirs like the Catskill mountains, whose short growing season is home to a notable collection of old homestead trees and new plantings. Biltonen says, “The fact that there are few managed apple orchards and that remaining wild apples have survived many years of neglect give the region a unique starting point for having apple varieties that have their own genetic lines.”

The St. Lawrence valley (shared with Canada) is home to a bounty of distinct varieties on both sides of the border. According to Kaneb Orchards  apples like Macintosh, Richardson and Atlas thrive in the brutal winters and orchardists there claim only ripen properly in their frosty orchards. Lake Champlain is home to a thriving apple industry but much of the cider development is happening on the Vermont side of the lake.

Long Island is New York’s warmest region and is the glacial morrine marking the southern extent of the glacier. This once-thriving agricultural regions is still home to a strong grape growing culture but the suburbs are quickly encroaching on old orchards. These regions each have their own story to tell but are only beginning their cider journey.

Other regions number of producers:

• Catskills: 4; example: Wayside Cider
• St. Lawrence: 2; example: Kaneb Orchards
• Champlain: 1; Adx Cider
• Long Island: 2; example: Ancestral Flora

Cider is still very young within New York state with everyone from the farmers to producers to consumers still learning about the trees, the beverage and the future. Right now, a lot of cider is being made with ready materials and not the diligence of experimentation and correction.

Stoscheck said that her practices have evolved in the past few years to be more reflective of the orchard. “Many things you can do obscure the quality of the cider. In the past we were dogmatic about controlled fermentation and control regime that practice created flavors in the cider.”

The industry has a lot of room to grow and learn. Biltonen explains that “each region has its plusses and minuses. This doesn’t even begin to touch the micro differences within regions (like, east side versus west side of a hill or lake). This is I think where Napa and Sonoma have us beat in that they truly understand the micro variations of their landscape.”

The continued development of new orchards and more varieties have the potential to change the face of the cider industry in New York state. As fruits of convenience are replaced by apples and practices of purpose, then the conversation can move towards the finer details of terroir.

• Photos: Lucy Huffman

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