One of the coolest parts of craft cider is that it’s ever-growing — we are not a static entity, but one that is alive and evolving. For instance, the American Cider Association recently added mistelles to the dessert cider family. This category of cider isn’t well-known to us, and prompted us to ask (as any curious cider-lover might): What is mistelle?

The long and short of it is that a mistelle is a drink made from unfermented or just slightly fermented fruit juice that has been fortified with a distilled spirit, typically one made from the same kind of fruit. Very often (at least with apples) the spirit has been aged in oak for some period of time before fortifying the juice, and the combination is also often aged further. They are sweet and have higher alcohol than your typical cider (16% to 20% ABV) and are most commonly made from apples or grapes, though really any fruit can be made into a mistelle.

In the cider world, pommeau is one of the most well known mistelles. Pommeau de Normandie, Pommeau de Bretagne, and Pommeau de Maine hold Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status, a certification of authenticity granted to certain geographical indications. They are made under strictly controlled conditions from a list of particular apple varieties grown only in the area of the AOC. Other similar products in France have names like ratafia and apéritif de cidre as well as mistelle such as Eric Bordelet’s gorgeous Mistelle de Pomme. Cidermakers outside of France also sometimes call their products pommeau, but more are beginning to give them other names.

Tom Oliver of Oliver’s Cider and Perry, based in Herefordshire, England, explains a bit more: “Pommeau, being both a French word and also a drink so clearly connected with France, particularly Normandy,” he notes. “It seems mistelle is a cover-all term for any drink made by using part distillate and part fresh juice or fermented juice to create a drink about 18% ABV and multiple variations on that theme.”

Apple-based mistelles can be found in many parts of the world such as Australia (Carmel Cider Mistelle and Small Acres Cyder Mistelle), Canada (Michel Jodoin’s Golden Mistelle and Mistelle Rosée) and elsewhere in Europe (Germany-based 1785 Cider Mistelle. 

While the word mistelle is less commonly used in the US, Alpenfire Cider in Port Townsend, Washington, began releasing a dessert cider called Apple Mistelle in 2018. Nancy Bishop, owner of Alpenfirer, credits a sense of whimsy to her choice to label that particular fortified cider as mistelle versus pommeau.

“The simple reason is that I have always liked the word mistelle — it makes me think of mistral, the wind that blows over the Mediterranean sea,” she says. “I knew that mistelle was a fortified wine but I wasn’t sure the TTB would allow it for a cider. But they did, and gave us a COLA (Certificate of Label Approval/Exemption) for it in 2019, as a fanciful name.”

Have you seen mistelles out there in the wild? We’re curious to see if this term becomes incorporated into more packaging, as it is a looser umbrella term and less tied to Normandy than pommeau!

• Feature photo: Bigstock

The post What is Mistelle? appeared first on Cider Culture.

This essay originally appeared in Issue 13 (2021) of the zine Malus.

Isaac Granger Jefferson ca. 1845, blacksmith at Monticello and son of George and Ursula Granger. There are no images of his enslaved parents, who were both involved with cidermaking there.

Historical research can be a frustrating business. Documentary records tend to be maddeningly incomplete. What might be key documents are often absent — tossed out by a well-meaning clerk, destroyed by water or rodents, or simply left to molder away in some forgotten corner. Unremarkable farm work, like cidermaking, was often left uncommented upon anyway, and was typically done by ordinary people — working people, farmers and hired hands, skilled perhaps, but often illiterate, and certainly not part of the venerated class of Great Men who get scholarly biographies. Documents containing information about the lives and work of enslaved Africans and their descendants are even sparser.

This is the challenge of writing about Black cidermaking in America. But one can hardly hope to understand the history of American cider without considering African participation in it. So far, the cider community as a whole has done a pretty poor job of ferreting out this history, especially when it comes to narratives involving the enslaved. There has been a fixation on Jupiter Evans, an enslaved man at Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia plantation, Monticello, while other Black people involved in early American cidermaking have been largely ignored. There is much to be learned for those with the courage to dig beyond the half-dozen websites that pop up with a simple internet search. This essay just scratches the surface.

Patriots, Puritans, and White Gold

We start here with New England. We don’t think much about the existence of slavery in New England, but the farms and plantations there were major suppliers of essential goods to the West Indies, where resources were more profitably spent on producing sugar, often referred to as white gold. With continual labor shortages, landowners made used of enslaved Africans, though in fewer numbers than in the Southern colonies as the labor required to produce subsistence goods was less than that for tobacco or cotton. New England producers provided the sugar colonies with meat, lumber, and wheat as well as apples and cider. 

As with so much of early American history, definitive documentary evidence showing that slave labor was used to produce cider in New England is scant, but much can be inferred from the available records. By carefully examining probate records in eastern Rhode Island between 1638 and 1800, for example, one historian concluded that planters that owned slaves were much more likely to produce cider for sale than their non-slave owning neighbors (Garmen, 1998) and that cidermaking took more skill than, say, field work. Two particular examples of this practice can be found in the records of Sylvester Manor in New York and Ten Hills Farm in Massachusetts.

Sylvester Manor was built by Nathaniel Sylvester (1610-1680) on Shelter Island at the eastern end of Long Island, land purchased from the Manhasset, many of whom remained living there. His intention was to provision the Barbados sugar plantation he owned in partnership with his brother and two others, and the inventory made at his death shows that he owned a cider mill, as well as a number of Africans, including Tammero, Oyou, Black John, J:O, Maria, Jenkin, Tony, Nannie, Japhet, Semenie, Jaquero, and Hannah, plus their children. Nathaniel Sylvester left neither accounts nor a diary, so we cannot know for certain who of these might have made cider. Considering the amount and scope of work on the plantation, and just how few people there were to do it, it would not be unreasonable to imagine that almost everyone contributed at one time or another. The account books left by Nathaniel’s eldest son and heir, Giles (1657-1708), support this notion, for they show that outside help was needed on the plantation during the fall, the busiest time of the year. He hired a number of local Manhasset men to augment the work done by his enslaved laborers, including one named Henry who was paid for 55 days of cidermaking one year. Cider was used to pay for labor, in trade for corn, and was also sold locally to neighbors, nearby Native Americans, and, in one entry, to Black John. 

18th Century cider mill along the Schuylkill River, PA

Provisioning sugar plantations was also the business of Ten Hills Farm, owned by Isaac Royall, Sr. (1677-1739) from 1732. A New England native, he made his initial fortune in trading slaves, sugar, and rum from his Antigua plantation. After a slave revolt there in 1737 (Royall’s enslaved driver Hector was executed for his role in the uprising), Royall and his family returned to Massachusetts where he had been building a stylish house with outbuildings and orchards on 500 acres abutting the Mystic River in Middlesex County near Boston. Documents show that he brought slaves with him (he petitioned the general court to avoid paying import taxes on them because they were “for his own use, and not to sell them”), and these he divided among his heirs upon his death in 1739, including his only son, Isaac Royall, Jr. (1719-1781) who carried on the family business. 

Royall, Jr. also does not appear to have left a diary, but his cidermaking activity can be seen in his tax records. Along with wool, grain, and livestock, tax records from 1771 show the production of 26 barrels of cider and five “servants for life,” as they were so delicately referred to, though with no names. They may have been Betsey, George, Hagar, Myra, Nancy, or Stephen, who were all still at Ten Hills Farm in 1776 when Royall directed they be sold (he fled to England at the start of the Revolutionary War and needed the money). There were at least 254 enslaved persons in Middlesex County that year and 34,164 barrels of cider made, more than any other county in Massachusetts. Can we be absolutely certain that the Royall’s cider was made by enslaved people? Not with the current records, though given the Royalls’ history in Antigua it is hard to imagine otherwise. Isaac Royall, Jr.’s bequest to Harvard College, incidentally, was a key factor in the founding of its law school.

Business as Usual

We know a little more about cidermaking at Ferry Hill, a 700 acre plantation owned by John Blackford (1771-1839) on the Potomac River outside Sharpsburg, MD. It was a mixed agricultural operation whose main commercial crop was wheat, though Blackford also sold wood in various forms and a number of apple products, including cider. He used a combination of slave labor and hired whites and free Blacks, owning roughly 25 people at his death according to probate records. He seems to have been intimately involved in running his farm, and kept a good diary (the one for 1838-1839 is available digitally). He also seems to have had trouble with his cider mill, for he hired someone to work on it several times throughout the fall of 1838. 

Blackford recorded the days his slaves gathered apples (Daphne, Caroline, and Isaiah) and worked with a hired hand to grind and press them. Others (Will, Enoch, and Julius) also pressed cider from pomace to make water cider (ciderkin) and vinegar. His son Franklin and a tenant pressed cider, too. Everyone seems to have been working alongside everyone else, which sounds almost egalitarian, and it seems that he gave many of his enslaved workers plenty of autonomy. The ads he placed seeking the capture of several that ran away, and his readiness to return the fleeing slaves of others he found hiding near the Potomac, make clear that his “people” weren’t people, though. They were property.

Early American Patriarchs

The two men that we probably think we know the most about when it comes to early American cidermaking involving enslaved people are George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They both fall into the category of Great Men, therefore much effort has been put into preserving, analyzing, and digitizing their written legacies. Even so, we are still confronted with the ordinariness of cidermaking, and the smallness of the people doing the actual work.

Washington’s 8,000 or so acre plantation at Mt. Vernon on the Potomac River in eastern Virginia consisted of a number of different contiguous farms: River Farm, Dogue Run, Muddy Hole, Union Farm, and Mansion House. Each farm had its own set of buildings and purpose — one had a mill, another a distillery — and its own separate set of workers, most of whom where enslaved. There also were hired laborers and an overseer, who reported to a single farm manager that was responsible for the whole plantation. We know many of the names of the enslaved, thanks to the annual tithe (tax) reports required by the Virginia colony as well as two inventories written by Washington in 1786 and 1799, when there were 251 enslaved persons at Mt. Vernon, though we know little more than that. A number of Washington’s “people” were trained in skilled trades like carpentry, cooperage, or smithing, and a few worked as overseers. This is an important point, for several written contracts between Washington and his various white overseers clearly show that it was the overseer that had responsibility for annual cidermaking, and that this was probably the norm. “By the Bearer you will receive a Gross of (Hues) Crabb Cyder, wch[sic] you will much oblige me by accepting,” wrote Washington’s nephew William Augustine Washington in 1785, “‘Tho not so good as I could wish, from the management of my Cyder last fall being left intirely[sic] to the Negroes, from the Loss of both my Overseers.” 

Who were Washington’s Black overseers then? Will oversaw several farms including Muddy Hole (1785) and Dogue Run (1792). Israel Morris oversaw Dogue Run from 1766 until 1794. He was gone by the making of the 1799 inventory, and had probably died. Davy Gray ran Muddy Hole from 1770 until 1785, then River Farm for a few years, moving back to Muddy Hole in 1792 and remaining there until Washington’s death in 1799. Cider was made at many, possibly all, of the farms. “My Ox Cart finished drawing in the Wheat at Doeg Run–but during this time it was employed in getting home the Cyder from all the Plantations,” Washington wrote in his diary in September 1768. ”In the Neck [River Farm]…The other hands except those at the Plow and employed in getting in and Stacking the Wheat—were threshing out Oats, & pressing Cyder,” reads an entry in August 1788.

Davy Gray was born in 1743 (deducible from the 1799 inventory), and was married to Molly (born 1723). It is possible that he trained as a gardener; that was Washington’s stated intent in a 1762 letter, at least. Gray, Molly, Will, and Morris were among the 80 dower slaves that came to Washington upon his marriage to the widow Martha Custis. As such they, and their children, could not be freed or sold; those still living were inherited by the heirs of her first husband upon Martha Washington’s death in 1802. Davy Gray’s appearance in the probate inventory is the only reason we know his last name as it appears nowhere else in Washington’s records.

Monticello

Jefferson’s records are possibly more complete than Washington’s, for he not only kept accounts but also a farm book and a garden book where he recorded much of what went on at his Monticello plantation, at least sporadically. Both planting/grafting trees and cidermaking show up in his correspondence as well. It is fortunate that Jefferson has held such a fascination for so many for almost everything that remains of his writings has been digitized and is freely available to the public.

Which brings us to George Granger, or Great George as Jefferson called him. Jefferson bought George Granger (1730-1799) from Wade Netherland in, probably, 1773 near the time when he bought Granger’s wife Ursula (1738-1800) and their children from the estate of John Fleming. Martha Jefferson apparently admired Ursula Granger’s cooking. Some time before 1787, George Granger became responsible for Jefferson’s orchards. “. . . George still to be reserved to take care of my orchards,” he wrote to his overseer that July, and by 1790 was the overseer of Monticello, the only Black overseer to work there. He is said to have been literate, something that was not the case for all of Jefferson’s white overseers. He very clearly also made cider. Jefferson’s entry for 1 November 1799 reads “70 bushels of the Robinson & red Hughes . . . have made 120 gallons of cyder. George says that when in a proper state (there was much rot among these) they ought to make 3 galls. to the bushel, as he knows from having often measured both (emphasis added).” To have that kind of knowledge, Granger is likely to have been making cider for some time. 

The entry in Jefferson’s Farm Book documenting George Granger pressing apples for cider; Granger died the next day.

Ursula Granger also had a hand in the cidermaking process. “I must get Martha [Jefferson’s daughter] or yourself to give orders for bottling the cyder in the proper season in March,” Jefferson wrote to his son-in-law on 4 February 1800. “There is nobody there but Ursula who unites trust & skill to do it. She may take any body she pleases to aid her.” Ursula was a pastry cook, from what little we know of her, though she also supervised the salting of meat to preserve it, washed and ironed the Jeffersons’ clothes, and sometimes acted as wet nurse to the Jefferson children. Both she and her husband, as well as their son George, Jr., died within six months of each other in 1799-1800.

Jefferson’s records don’t have much to say about cidermaking after 1800, with the exception of an instruction to Edmund Bacon (1785-1866), overseer at Monticello from 1806 to 1822. “We have saved red Hughes enough from the North orchard to make a smart cask of cyder,” Jefferson wrote to Bacon in November 1817. “[T]hey are now mellow & beginning to rot. I will pray you therefore to have them made into cyder immediately. let them be made clean one by one, and all the rotten ones thrown away or the rot cut out. nothing else can ensure fine cyder,” again suggesting that managing cidermaking was part of an overseer’s job.

It is from Bacon that we get one more hint about the role the enslaved at Monticello played in making cider there. Late in life he sat down with one Hamilton Pierson and reminisced about working for Jefferson. In Pierson’s book recounting their conversations, Bacon speaks of some of the house servants: Betty Brown, Sally, Critta, and Betty Hemings, Nance, and Ursula (not Granger, who had died many years before). “These women remained at Monticello while he was President,” he said. “I was instructed to take no control of them. They had very little to do. When I opened the house, they attended to airing it. Then every March we had to bottle all his cider. Dear me, this was a job. It took us two weeks. Mr. Jefferson was very particular about his cider.”

Jupiter Evans: the Documentary Record

What then of Jupiter Evans? To be frank, there is little in the primary documents — the farm and garden books, memorandum book, or correspondence — that connects Evans to cidermaking. On 11 February 1800, Jefferson wrote a letter to his daughter. “The death of Jupiter obliges me to ask of Mr. Randolph or yourself to give orders at the proper time in March for the bottling [of] my cyder,” it said. He had also mentioned Evans in his letter of the previous week, “I am sorry for him [Evans] as well as sensible he leaves a void in my domestic administration which I cannot fill up—,” it says, followed by the sentence about Ursula and bottling cider (the mark between the two sentences appears in the original). Letters at this time weren’t typically divided into distinct paragraphs, appearing as one continuous flow even when subjects changed and the author moved on to the next item. Knowing that, and in light of the obvious mark dividing the two sentences, are they unambiguously part of the same thought? In the absence of any other documentary evidence, can these two statements alone be read to mean that Evans was Jefferson’s cidermaker?

Jefferson had known Evans his whole life. They grew up together, born on the same plantation in the same year. Evans spent 10 years as Jefferson’s personal attendant, replaced by the young Robert Hemings, then was put in charge of the stables, seeing to the wagons and carriages and Jefferson’s precious blooded horses. He was trained as a stonemason, working on a range of projects at both Monticello and hired out to others, especially when Jefferson was away for an extended period. They traveled together often, and records show that Evans was sometimes sent out alone with important documents or large sums of money. Jefferson clearly trusted him, and Evans probably had, from long experience, a good sense of how his master liked the household run. The fact that Jefferson sent instructions that either Martha or her husband, who were not cidermakers, were to step into Evans’ place and order the bottling suggests that Jefferson simply trusted him to see that this part of his domestic affairs ran smoothly. Perhaps as overseer, it would have been George Granger directing the bottling if he had not died the previous November.

Most of what we know about Evans and the Grangers comes from work done by Lucia Stanton, Senior Historian at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, now retired. In the early 1990s she began conducting detailed research into the lives of the enslaved population at Monticello, work that transformed how the enslaved were presented both on site at the plantation, during tours there, and on the historic site’s website. It is interesting to note that Stanton’s published work includes aspects of cidermaking when she writes about the Grangers, but not when writing about Jupiter Evans.

In truth, though, whether or not Jupiter Evans was involved with cider at Monticello is not really the point. What is the point is that others clearly were, and that while the cider community lauds Jupiter Evans, the Grangers remain invisible. Tens of thousands of enslaved people lived, worked, and died in service of their owners, some making cider that would enrich those owners either in the marketplace or on their tables. To avoid spending time and effort to learn more of their lives, even if it is just their names, does a grave disservice to their memory, and perpetuates the dismissal of Black and indigenous people’s part in America’s cider history. Black John, Henry, Daphne, Israel Morris, Davy Gray, George and Ursula Granger all deserve better. 

Resources and Suggested Reading:

• Chan, Alexandra A., “The Slaves of Colonial New England: Discourses of Colonialism and Identity at the Isaac Royall House, Medford, Massachusetts, 1732-1773, Vol. I of II” PhD diss., Boston University, 2007
• Garman, James, C., “Rethinking “Resistant Accommodation”: Toward an Archaeology of African-American Lives in Southern New England, 1638-1800”, Int. J. of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1998): 133-160
• Grivno, Max L., “Historic Resource Study: Ferry Hill Plantation” (National Park Service, 2007)
• Pierson, Hamilton W., “The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson from Entirely New Materials” (New York, Charles Scribner, 1862), 106-107
• Priddy, Katherine Lee, “From Youghco to Black John: Ethnohistory of Sylvester Manor, ca. 1600-1735”, Northeast Historical Archaeology, Vol. 36 The Historical Archaeology of Sylvester Manor, Article 4 (2007): 16-33
• Stanton, Lucia, “Those Who Labor for My Happiness”(University of Virginia Press, 2012)
• Thompson, Mary V., “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret” (University of Virginia Press, 2019)
• Trigg, Heather, and David B. Landon, “Labor and Agricultural Production at Sylvester Manor Plantation, Shelter Island, New York”, Historical Archaeology, Vol. 44, No. 3 (2010): 36-53
• Trigg, Heather and Ashley Leasure, “Cider, Wheat, Maize, and Firewood: Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor”, Northeast Historical Archaeology, Vol. 36 The Historical Archaeology of Sylvester Manor, Article 10 (2007): 113-126
• Documenting the American South
• Founders Online at the National Archives
• Medford Historical Society Papers at the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University 
• Monticello
• George Washington’s Mount Vernon
• Royall House and Slave Quarters
• 1771 Massachusetts Tax Inventory
• Sylvester Manor

Thank you to Angry Orchard Hard Cider for sponsoring the re-print of this post on Cider Culture. 

• Photos and images: Courtesy of Darlene Hayes

The post George and Ursula Granger: The Erasure of Enslaved Black Cidermakers appeared first on Cider Culture.

CiderCon 2024 is right around the corner, and just ahead of this industry-leading conference and gathering (held this year in Portland, OR), the American Cider Association (ACA) has announced the recipients of the 2024 Cider is for Everyone Scholarship. The scholarship, which was conceived of by the ACA’s Antiracism, Equity and Inclusion Committee, is meant to “bring individuals from historically marginalized populations within the beverage industry to CiderCon to increase the accessibility of cider education and catalyze the careers and ownership-pathways of these burgeoning cider professionals.”

“This scholarship is one of our best tools for fostering a more diverse cider industry,” says Michelle McGrath, CEO of the ACA. “The scholarship needs to work in lock step with our efforts to create a more inclusive industry so that, as we have more diverse CiderCon attendees, they are surrounded by a welcoming community and equitable environment.”

This is the third year that the Cider is for Everyone scholarship has been offered, and there were four times the number of applications than in the previous two years combined. Each scholarship includes registration, travel and lodging to attend CiderCon 2024, as well as a year of ACA membership and study materials and waived exam fees to pursue recognition through the Certified Cider Professional and Certified Pommelier education and certification program offered by the ACA. The 10 (!) recipients this year were made possible with support from: Yonder Cider, Seattle Cider Co, Nine Pin Ciderworks, 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Alma Cider, the Great Little Box Company, John’s Marketplace, Beer Kulture and Lifting Lucy.

The recipients are:

Recipients are Genevieve Regalado (Benny Boy Brewing), Robert Freeman (EsoTerra Ciderworks), Britt Evans, Javier Naranjo (Oklawaha Brewing Company), Tasmine Fraser (Girl with a Cider Review, Cider Canada), Rae Adams (Wehrloom Honey & Meadery), Emily Ptasinski (Republic of Cider), William Santiago (Crafted Concoctions), Jonathan Osei (Artisanal Brewing Ventures), and José Sabas (Grape Ape). Head to the ACA’s recent blog post for full bios of all these folks.

The Cider is for Everyone scholarship can have an effect that lasts long after CiderCon wraps up for the year.

“There is a stark difference between being invited to an event and actually belonging in a space. The American Cider Association is doing the difficult and meaningful work of building a culture within the organization and the industry at-large that fosters true belonging by challenging itself to thoughtfully and carefully evolve and expand,” says ACA Scholarship Coordinator Olivia Pener, a recipient of the scholarship in 2023. “The rapid growth and development of this scholarship program is both a testament to that thoughtfulness and indicative of the program’s importance. Its transformative impact on the lives of not just the individuals who receive it, but also the industry professionals who interact with recipients, spans far beyond the CiderCon® experience. This program, its participants, its sponsors, and its supporters collectively demonstrate that cider is, indeed, for everyone.”

The post The ACA Announces the 2024 ‘Cider is for Everyone’ Scholarship Recipients appeared first on Cider Culture.

Many of us probably share this experience: as a kid, walking around the woods or a little patch of farmland, coming across a gnarled old tree heavy with teeny tiny apples, and excitedly picking one to try. However, usually, that first bite is instantly spat out, as your tender young taste buds are flooded with an intensely unpleasant sourness or cotton-y mouthfeel. Crab apples, one quickly learns, do not make good snacks.

They do, however, make really good ciders. Crab apples (sometimes spelled “crabapples”) can be a hugely important element of a cidermaker’s tool kit. Why, though? The TL;DR of it all is that they provide potent little pops of acidity and tannin, the two flavor/texture elements can be tricky to develop in cider. Crab apples are, as we’ve learned, like glitter: A little goes a long way, but when you get it right, the “wow” factor is undeniable!

Some varieties that you might come across in hard cider include Wickson, Dolgo, Columbia, Hewe’s Crab, Chestnut Crab and Geneva Crab.

Crab apples are small trees of the genus Malus, and are native to Asia and North America. What separates them from apple trees are the size of the fruits: technically, a crab apple tree grows fruits 2-inches or less in diameter, while a regular apple tree grows fruits 2-inches or larger in diameter. They’re not really farmed, and they are considered more of an ornamental tree, but are often used as rootstock to graft other apples onto.

Crabs were likely included in some of the first American ciders, largely because of their versatility. Troy Lehman, the owner of Big Hill Ciderworks, right smack in the heart of apple country in South Central Pennsylvania, notes that in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a crab apple tree was part of pretty much every farm.

“The actual reason the farmers planted them way back when was for jellies and jams, because the pectin content in that fruit is just so high,” he says. “Crab apple trees are also great pollinators because their blooms are so prolific.”

Lehman, who planted a cider apple orchard on his farm in 2011, he did not plant crab apple trees, despite knowing that they’d grow very well. It’s all about the process of harvesting — it can take 10 times as long to pick a bushel of crabs versus a bushel of culinary or cider apples.

“I didn’t want to grow them for commercial sales, for sales to other cider makers, because harvesting them is so labor-intensive,” he says. “If I’m being honest, it wouldn’t be worth my time to pick them for what I’d get paid.”

However, he does appreciate what crab apples can bring to the table in terms of making fantastic cider. All of the acidity and tannins that make crab apples so gnarly to eat out-of-hand make them a powerful balancing and brightening agent for ciders. For Lehman, though, their greatest strength is in the tannins.

He harvests Manchurian crab apples (“just an incredible little apple,” Lehman says) for Big Hill’s Manchurian Cider, and has since planted some Dolgo apples on his farm for a single-varietal Dolgo cider. Like the English bittersharp and bittersweet apples he grows, crab apples have unique flavor profiles and levels of acidity and tannin.

“For me, if a crab apple doesn’t have tannins that are off the charts, I’m not interested, because I can get acidity elsewhere in apples that are easier to harvest,” he explains.

Neither of the crab apple ciders that Big Hill produces are particularly big sellers, compared to their modern ciders, but Lehman sees a different value in continuing to make them.

“We only make the Manchurian cider every other year, 500 gallons at a time, and we sell it to people who are really into cider online and at farmer’s markets. Plus, stuff like crab apples ciders keeps me interested and having fun.”

Across the country, at Dragon’s Head Cider in Vashon, Washington, head cidermaker Jeren Stoneman makes one single varietal crab apple cider in the brand’s lineup of traditional English-style ciders: Columbia Crabapple. Some crabs are best for showcasing on their own, while others shine better as blending agents.

“The Columbia we make into a single varietal because it has very high acidity, which we can temper with certain yeast strains, and beautiful aromatics and a bright, tropical flavor that we want to showcase,” he says. “On the other hand, the Puget Spice crab apple that we grow has more aggressive tannins and higher acidity,  and that one is more of a blender that I might use for a cider that’s lacking a little pizzazz.”

Stoneman echos Lehman’s statement that as a crop, crab apples can create some logistical issues.

“They’re such tiny apples, and are difficult to pick,” he says. “Also, on our belt press, there’s an elevator that goes up to a grinder and drops the apple mash into the press, but when you start working with smaller and smaller apples, you can lose some through grating or small holes in the machines, which is sad.”

One interesting thing about crab apples that Stoneman has noticed is how differently they grow and express flavors depending on the geography. He grew up in Humboldt County in Northern California, where the Wickson Crab was originally developed by plant breeder Albert Edder (locally the variety is referred to as Edder’s Champagne). When he moved to Vermont earlier in his cidermaking career, Stoneman noticed that the East Coast Wicksons were not what he was used to. In California, the longer growing season meant that the Wickson crabs developed a high sugar content and made aromatic ciders weighing in at 10-12% alcohol. In Vermont the shorter growing season meant Wickson ciders with much lower alcohol content.

“It seems like overall, the Wicksons didn’t like growing in Vermont, because they’d crack and sometimes you’d lose portions of the crop due to rot b/c of the wetness,” he says. “Back in Humboldt County, Wicksons love it there, the branches look like grape clusters. If you’re growing crabs in the region they like, they thrive and are resilient.”

If you’re looking for some crab apple ciders to try, here are a few to keep an eye out for: ANXO Cider Crabapple Ciderkin, Albemarle CiderWorks Virginia Hewes Crab, Haykin Family Cider Snowdrift Crabapple Cider, Liberty Ciderworks Wickson Crabapple, Ploughman Cider Rosedale, Farmstead Cider Bitter Local, Tandem Cider The Crabster and Wheel Line Cider The Leveler.

• First four photos: Big Hill Ciderworks
• Second two photos: Dragon's Head Cider

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In our monthly column, “Cider Loves Food,” contributor Meredith Collins (blogger extraordinaire at Along Came a Cider) is looking at different cuisines and finding the perfect ciders to help take your meals to the next level.

It’s officially summer: the season of fireworks, watermelon, vacation and long evenings filled with fireflies. There are so many opportunities for activities that just aren’t possible the rest of the year, like swimming and managing the overactive garden, that sometimes I’m too busy for the kind of cooking I do the rest of the year. And sometimes the kitchen is just too hot to cook! My solution in these situations is to make sandwiches, and I’d love to share a few ways to make delightful cider and sandwich pairings. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

BLTA

My preferred version of the classic BLT is vegetarian bacon, red leaf lettuce and heirloom tomato with avocado on whole wheat toast (hence a BLTA). It’s such a great interplay of textures and flavors! Pair a BLTA with Ploughman Rosedale Cider, a super-tart dry cider made with crab apples. The high-acid profile helps lift up the richness of the avocado and cut through the salty veggie bacon. 

Falafel Pita with Feta and Roasted Carrots

Good falafel is herbal and fragrant, a perfect journey through the initial crunch, followed by a steamy, yielding center. Adding piquant feta, creamy tzatziki sauce, cool diced cucumber and roasted carrots makes a falafel pita a sandwich to be reckoned with. Making homemade falafel is a lot of work, so I recommend getting one to-go from your local falafel joint and accompanying it with Gowan’s Heirloom Cider’s Gravenstein. This cider has just a bit of sweetness, making it perfect for the bitter notes from cucumber skin and parsley.

Smoked Salmon on Rye

No one in my house craves smoked salmon like I do. I prefer its salty satisfaction on thinly sliced rye bread with sprouts and cucumbers. It’s a delicate sandwich, if you go light on the ingredients, but you can really pile them on to make this a full meal. With this sandwich, try a lightly oaked or barrel-aged cider: I like the oaked version of the Fennville AVA Series (Wyncroft & Wyncroft Aged On Oak), but you could open both and see which you prefer. There’s just something about the cider’s warm and twiggy barrel character that pairs so well with the smoked fish flavors.

Halloumi and Beets on Baguette

Ever since I visited Scotland a few years ago, Halloumi has been one of my favorite cheeses. Sometimes called “bread cheese,” Halloumi is a dense, firm Greek cheese that’s a mix of goat and/or cow and sheep’s milk; its main party trick is that you can fry it or grill it for a really cool interplay of textures.

I like Halloumi with baby spinach and sliced beets on a baguette, with either lemon tahini dressing or a zesty horseradish sauce. The beets bring mild earthiness and sweetness, which contrast beautifully with either sandwich spread. This sandwich travels well, so it’s great to pack for a picnic. Drinking Castle Hill Cider’s Celestial with this baguette sandwich is a wonderful treat. The cider reminds me of sweet oranges and green tea. The pairing works because the Celestial brings plentiful bubbles and body, while the sandwich is hearty with firm greens and an almost meaty-textured cheese. Even thinking about this makes me crave this duo!

Banh Mi

Whether you prefer a meat-filled banh mi or vegetarian version with seitan (as I do), this Vietnamese sandwich is distinctive, with pickled carrot, cucumber, chiles and cilantro layered in a beautifully crusty roll. Because of the spicy and sour toppings, try pairing banh mi with sweet ciders. I like using a keeved cider, like South Hill Cider’s 2020 Keeved, for this match. And a keeved cider is a very special way to maintain natural apple sweetness after fermentation.

Grilled Manchego and Quince Paste with Arugula on Sourdough

I couldn’t possibly make a sandwich list without including some form of grilled cheese! This version is a completely decadent one. Start by softening salty Manchego cheese on sourdough bread open-faced style, then spread the other piece of bread with quince paste and toast that, too. Once these two key ingredients are in place and warm, put them together with a small heap of peppery arugula. I pair this Spanish-inspired grilled cheese with Isastegi Sidra Natural. The logic goes, “If it grows together, it goes together.” This sandwich is forcefully flavorful, therefore it needs the high-acid refreshment of this natural Spanish cider. (If you want to try a Basque-style cider made in the US, check out this Cider Culture feature!)

Here’s wishing you a summer of wildly delicious cider and sandwich pairings! For more warm-weather pairing ideas, check out my Cider Loves Food features about Picnic Pairings, CSA Veggies and Grilled Cookout Fare.

• Photos: Dish Works

The post Cider Loves Food: Sandwiches & Cider appeared first on Cider Culture.

Alexsis Cassady is a cider influencer and Certified Pommelier who can be found on Instagram @ciderminded. This article was originally published on the American Cider Association blog and is shared here with permission.

Ready to get in on the fun this Dry Cider July? Let’s talk about the best ways to find dry cider at the supermarket. With a plethora of options from fruity summer flavors, botanical ciders, and distractingly beautiful labels, it can be hard to determine which ones are dry. Thankfully, there are some telltale signs whether the cider that’s caught your eye is dry or not.

First, let’s talk about the difference between dry vs. sweet cider labels. Ciders in the U.S. are labelled based on their residual sugar, and fit into one of four categories: Sweet, Semi-Sweet, Semi-Dry or Dry. This month celebrates the driest of the dry. Dry ciders have zero grams of sugar and what we’ll be focusing on. We’ll also touch on semi-dry ciders if that’s more your speed. It still counts on the ‘gram.  So, how to choose? Here are four strategies to determine whether or not a cider is dry.

Cider Name or Subtext

On the face of the cider, the can or bottle should have a name. If the name or subtext includes dry, semi-dry, off-dry or brut, we’re on the dry end of the spectrum. Conversely, if we find sweet or semi-sweet listed, we can eliminate those options.

Brut aside: Brut is a style of cider modeled after the French Brut Champagne. Cideries take different approaches to honor this beverage’s French origin by means of aging the cider in French wine barrels or using champagne yeast. What all Brut ciders have in common is their sparkling nature and zero grams of residual cider.

Cider Descriptors

Another way to tell if the cider in your hand is dry is to spin the can around and look for descriptors provided by the cidery. Many cideries provide a brief description of the cider, highlighting tasting notes and how to best experience it either temperature-wise or with food pairings. Some cideries go above and beyond by providing a sweet-to-dry sliding scale, denoting where this particular cider falls.

Sugar Content

If the other two methods haven’t brought you an answer yet, another option is to check the nutritional facts. This method can be unreliable as nutritional facts are not universally required for cider. However, if the nutrition facts are available, check how many grams of sugar are in the can. Generally, if there are 0-3 grams of sugar in a 16-oz. can, you are squarely in dry country. If you’re more in a semi-dry mood, look for 4-10 grams of sugar.

Earlier this month in the ACA blog, Tim Godfrey highlighted that a dry cider might not taste dry after all. My favorite examples of this phenomenon are fruit ciders and ciders featuring the McIntosh apple. Fruit ciders bring their own character to the table and the fruitiness can trick our brain into thinking a cider with zero grams of sugar is a sweet cider. Similarly, McIntosh apples are flamboyant, botanical apples that bring what our brains interpret as sweetness to the drink. These ciders can provide a different kind of dry cider experience.

Zero (or no) Sulfites

This final strategy to determine if you have a dry cider is a tried but not always true method. Look to see if the can lists zero (or no) sulfites. The addition of sulfites is a common method to stop the cider’s fermentation process before the cider is fully dry. If the cider lists that it is sulfite-free, you most likely have yourself a dry cider. Many cideries let their cider go completely dry to negate the need for sulfites. Because sulfites are a method of halting fermentation before a cider is fully dry, their presence likely indicates a sweeter cider. Note that some cideries may choose to add sulfites to their dry cider as a precautionary measure.

Whichever method you choose to follow here, listen to your gut. What sounds good to you? What flavor profile will appeal to your friends at the bottle share? And, if you follow these tips to your next favorite dry cider, let us know on Instagram using #dryciderjuly and #pickdrycider. Cheers!

Want a cheat sheet for dry cider near you? Check out the ACA’s Dry Cider Finder!

The post Crack the Code: Your Guide to Finding Dry Cider in the Supermarket appeared first on Cider Culture.

We’d like to send big congrats to the 20 folks who are newly minted Certified Pommeliers! This comes on the heels of the most recent exams held at CiderCon® 2023 in Chicago, Illinois earlier this year. Fun fact: This is the largest passing cohort of any Certified Pommelier exam to date.

The new Certified Pommeliers are:

• Ann Marie Thornton of James Creek Cider House (NC)
• Anthony Lopez of Casa de Oro Cider (CA)
• Brian Wing, James Kerr and Khris Johnson of Green Bench Brewing (FL)
• Cam Workman of Schilling Cider (WA)
• Casey Simpson of Artifact Cider Project (MA)
• Danny Dispo of Hydraulic Hearth (NY)
• David Lugo of the Clyde Theatre (IN)
• Deirdre Birmingham of The Cider Farm (WI)
• Geoff Happel (NC), Ian Niblock (VA), Karl Hartdegen (NC) and Max Finnance (CT) of Bold Rock Hard Cider (NC)
• Janelle Balsillie of Carolinia Cider Company and Heeman’s Cidery and Meadery (ON, Canada)
• Joseph Nosse of Frontier Ciderworks (OH)
• Sarah Pozgay of Twin Cities Somms (MN)
• Walker Smith of Goldeneye Cider (WA)
• Cidermaker Eric Gasser (CA)
• Cider enthusiast Brandon Buza (CA)

“To see 20 people pass the Certified Pommelier exam in one sitting is remarkable for many reasons,” says Michelle McGrath, CEO of the ACA. “People are valuing the Certified Pommelier designation and putting in the hard work of preparing for the exam. It’s exciting to watch ACA’s cider appreciation program grow and succeed.”

Being a Pommelier is akin to earning sommelier or cicerone certifications in the wine and beer worlds. As cider grows, people across professional beverage industries are using the American Cider Association‘s program to set themselves apart as an individual with specialized knowledge. Today it is the world’s most comprehensive and in-depth cider certification program for beverage professionals.

The Certified Cider Professional program began with a Level 1 certification to help those on the front lines of cider sales achieve a fundamental understanding of cider. The Certified Pommelier certification was developed to go further in encouraging cider professionals to think critically while demonstrating a higher understanding of the elements of cider. The rigorous test consists of five types of questions: short answer, fill in the blank, matching, essay and blind sensory (based on tasting). Test questions fall into seven categories: Apples, the Orchard & History, Cidermaking, Evaluation, Families & Flavor, Keeping & Serving, Food & Cider and Social Responsibility.

While the Certified Pommelier exam is designed to be challenging, the ACA is dedicated to making sure all the information tested on is accessible to those desiring to learn, and recently announced the release of a new textbook to help candidates prepare to take the exam. Anyone interested in preparing for the exam can purchase the new textbook through Kindle Direct Publishing. In addition, sensory analysis practice webinars and a Facebook study group are continually being updated with resources for candidates studying for the exam. Links to all CCP resources can be found on the ACA’s website.

“We have seen a huge advantage for candidates that utilize the study aides we make available,” states Jennie Dorsey, ACA’s Cider Education Outreach Manager. “We’ve also witnessed new professional connections form through ACA prep-webinars and informal study groups. It’s exciting to see networking as one of the CCP program’s many positive impacts on the cider community.”

For more info about the Level 1 Certified Cider Professional test or the Certified Pommelier exam, contact Cider Education Outreach Manager Jennie Dorsey The next Certified Pommelier exam will be scheduled for the Bay Area of California in September, and more tests dates will be announced shortly!

• Feature image: American Cider Association

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If you’re a cider fan, you know the particular thrill of the pop and fizz of opening a fresh can or the enticing sparkle of the gentle bubbles from a bottle of cloudy pet-nat cider. While not all cider is sparkling (to learn about still ciders, head here), a lot of it is, and dang if we don’t love that carbonation.

But not all sparkling ciders are the same. There are different methods to getting those fun bubs, and each one yields a different style — one isn’t particularly better than the others! They each have their place in the cider canon.

To learn more about sparkling ciders, and why cidermakers chose certain methods for certain ciders, we checked in with Pete Bresnahan, the current cidermaker at Eden Ciders in Vermont. Eden utilizes a range of methods to achieve sparkling ciders, so we thought they were a good candidate to weigh in on the topic!

Pét-Nat

To review: pét-nat is short for pétillant naturel, an ancient and relatively lo-fi method (sometimes called Méthode Ancestral) that produces naturally sparkling wine/cider. Basically, the cider is bottled before it has completed its first fermentation; while it finishes fermenting in the bottle, the carbon dioxide produced by the yeasts eating the remaining sugar is trapped in the vessel, creating little bubbles.

Dive a little deeper into pét-nat ciders here!

Bresnahan says that Eden chooses the pét-nat method to show off really nice, high-tannin juice blends, and want to feature the fruit flavors without too much manipulation.

“Tannin is helpful in a pét-nat because it increase age-ability; the tannins act as a natural preservative, retain flavors and change with age, so you could potentially have something that ages for several years and gets better and better,” he says.

Making this style of cider takes a certain amount of finesse. For instance, for Eden’s Benjamin cider, Bresnahan and his team take specific gravity readings and to measure sugar content and then use a series of calculations to determine when it’s time for bottling. Whenever they decide it’s ready, it must be immediately bottled right from the tank, crown capped, then left in the warehouse to finish fermentation in the bottle.

“There have been times where we planned to bottle something on Friday, but the readings say it’s ready on a Wednesday, so we have to get it done right then!” he says. 

Generally, pét-nats are bottled in 750-ml glass bottles, as they don’t work in cans, and are tricky to manage in kegs (though it can be done). They tend to produce a gentler, smaller bubble, though can be volatile in the bottle — so make sure they’re properly chilled and open them slowly. The flavor profiles range wildly, but because they’re unfiltered, they tend to be hazy and sometimes a little funky.

Bottle Conditioned

Bottle conditioning is when, after fermentation, a cidermaker adds a source of sugar, and then a strain of yeast, to kick off a second fermentation in the bottle, which carbonates the cider. At Eden, their sugar source is their ice cider (they’ve also used honey in the past) and the added yeast is a strain of champagne yeast. This is akin to the Champagne Method.

“We do this with blends that we’d like to disgorge, like our Brut Nature, which is a blend of different base ciders, with our heirloom ice cider and champagne yeast added,” Bresnahan explains. “It’s aged for 18 months then disgorged by hand to clarify.”

He continues that this is their preferred method when they have finished aged ciders that they’d like to blend into something sparkling, but don’t want to worry about filtration or over-processing the cider. And though it’s a stylistic choice, it’s also a practical one.

“One thing bottle conditioning allows us to do is eliminate the chances of what happens when wild ferments goes wrong … because we’re using a very competitive yeast, it’s going to eat up resources before any spoilage organisms can,” he says. “It gives us a little insurance on that. And because we use our ice cider as a source of sugar, the acid and tannins and those flavors and aromas still make their way in. It’s like a boost of apple character without losing the qualities of the cider you start with.” 

Bottle conditioned ciders tend to have a higher level of clarity, thanks to the disgorging, and elegant, cleaner aromas and flavors, with persistent, champange-to-soda sized bubbles. These types of sparkling ciders can be very vinous, and are great for toasting!

Force Carbonation

Most ciders that are canned, as well as bottled sparkling ciders with residual sweetness, are force carbonated. This means that the fermented cider is sterile filtered, then put into a brite tank, which is a temperature controlled, pressurized vessel. There, the cidermaker runs carbon dioxide through a stainless steel element called a carbonation stone; the bubbles are so small that they dissolve into the cider and create carbonation.

“The slower and colder you carbonate, the finer the bubbles you get,” Bresnahan says. “If you turn up the pressure on the gas and really let it rip, you get those larger, seltzer-style bubbles. We like the smoother, finer point bubbles, because they’re more textural.”

Force carbonation can be done in a larger scale, and are usually how kegs are carbonated!

We hope this has been a helpful 101 tutorial on some of the different types of sparkling ciders. Whatever you choose to say “cheers” with, we hope it’s delicious!

• Photos: Courtesy of Eden Ciders

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In doing your own research into ciders, perhaps you’ve seen little icons or medals alongside a cider’s description, letting you know that it’s been awarded or medaled at a cider competition. If you work in the industry or have been a cider fan for awhile, you’re likely aware of some of the bigger named cider competitions, like the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (better known as GLINTCAP) or the popular Awards held every year by Cidercraft Magazine.

The judges at cider competitions are usually a mix of cider professionals, cidermakers (those whose ciders aren’t in the mix) and sometimes other industry folks. There are a number of certifications that judges can receive — the Beer Judge Certification Program is a big one — but you don’t necessarily have to be certified to be a judge. For instance, I’ve now judged the Pennsylvania Farm Show Cider Competition three times, and once at The Big E, and besides being a cider fan and the editor of Cider Culture, I don’t have any formal certifications!

Judging a cider competition is a specific and kind of intense experience. I recently traveled to Harrisburg to judge at the PA Farm Show once again, and I thought I’d share a little behind the scenes of the process. Please keep in mind that this is only my experience at this one competition, and at others, things may work differently!

I received a letter over the summer asking if I’d commit to the competition in early December. Travel assistance and lodgings were offered, as well as a modest honorarium. As the date drew closer, instructions were sent by the organizers about when and where to go on the day of the competition. On the day of, I drove from Philly to Harrisburg and arrived at the massive Pennsylvania Farm Show complex, which will soon host hundreds of thousands of people for the farm show in January. I wound my way through the huge, empty building to a banquet hall tucked into a second-floor corridor. The other judges included cider celebs, like Meredith Collins of Along Came a Cider, Ron Sansone of Spoke + Spy Ciderworks and Eleanor Leger, owner of Eden Ciders and current president of the American Cider Association Board. Along with a few Farm Show staff and volunteers, the logistics of the competition were headed up by Ben Wenk of Ploughman Cider, who is the current president of the PA Cider Guild.

The judges were divided into groups and assigned different cider categories, such as modern dry, hopped and dessert ciders. The ciders were brought to us in small flights, poured into clear plastic cups, labeled with the category and entry number. Pretty much all competitions are judged blind, so you’re assessing each cider devoid of any preconceived notions or expectations.

There is a detailed form that the judges use for each entry, which includes your own contact info (so the cidermakers can follow up if they have questions about your feedback), descriptor definitions (where you can check off any notable flavors or potential flaws), and then lines to fill in your remarks about various factors of the cider, including appearance, aroma and flavor. Each of those sections are scored accordingly.

I usually start by observing the cider’s color, clarity and carbonation levels. Then, I give the cup the best swirl I can and smell for the aromas, making notes along the way. After that, I take an exploratory sip, and hold it in my mouth without swallowing (then spit it out into a spit cup). I try to do this a few times, looking for potential faults and flaws (like any off aromas, metallic tastes, volatile acidity, etc.) and trying to gauge how well it fits the parameters of the category. After all, as a judge in this situation, it’s not so much about how much you personally like the cider, but if it is a strong showing of the traits and characteristics you would expect from the category its entered in.

At the bottom of the page, you add up the points and that is the cider’s overall score. We started the day off with a calibration cider to warm up our palates and to compare notes and make sure that all of the judges were in somewhat of a close range to each other. Then, over the course of the next four hours, with a break for lunch, the group tasted our way through the 50+ entries. My judging cohort tasted around twenty ciders spanning three categories. It can be very tricky to put all of your focus on the cider you’re tasting and to be truly present with it, and in addition to great palate training, it’s a pretty powerful mindfulness practice. Everyone spits the cider so that you don’t become intoxicated, and there are packets of saltine crackers on the table to help reset your palate between ciders.

Toward the end of the day, all of the judges put forth their nominations for Best in Show. These are ciders that stood out or scored particularly high from the individual categories. Then, as a group, we tasted, re-tasted and whittled down those ciders until there were two ciders remaining. We took a final vote, and the winner was deemed Best in Show. Our group had a respectful, open-minded discussion during the Best in Show proceedings, though I’ve heard it can get heated in other judging situations, with lots of strong opinions and feelings!

Afterwards, we all hung out for awhile, chatting about the ciders and making plans for later that evening, or discussing our CiderCon itineraries. All in all, it was a positive experience and a challenging exercise — when you see ciders that have received awards, just know that they aren’t given out lightly! There is a lot of effort that goes into cider competitions, from the organizational logistics to the actual tasting and scoring.

Whether large international competitions or smaller regional or state-based ones, there are a number of reasons why competitions are important in the industry. They can help newer cider brands or home cidermakers get feedback on products, or confirm that they’re on the right track. If awards are received, cidermakers can use that as a marketing tool to garner press or attention to their ciders. And, for consumers, it can give legitimacy to a cider brand you’ve never heard of, or help you confidently pick something off a crowded shelf!

Have you ever judged a cider competition? Cidermakers: Why is entering ciders into these competitions important to you? Let us know!

• Photos: Emily Kovach for Cider Culture

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All hard cider is, by definition, fermented. But what does it mean when a cider is described or labeled as a “co-ferment”? Perhaps you’ve been seeing this word more often lately — we can definitely confirm (anecdotally) that there are more and more ciders and wines out there in this style!

To get the scoop on the ins and outs of co-ferments, we checked in with Kim Hamblin, the co-founder of Art + Science, an Oregon-based producer of natural cider, perry and wine. Using foraged, organic and biodynamic fruit, Kim and her partner Dan have been experimenting with co-ferments for years!

The simple and straightforward definition of a co-ferment is the result of two or more ingredients that ferment together, simultaneously. For instance, Art + Science makes a product called Symbiosis (which has been around since 2015) that is a co-ferment of apples and grapes.

Art + Science Symbiosis

“To make Symbiosis, we press all the apples and throw the juice in with whole grapes that aren’t pressed, and ferment that all together for about three weeks,” Kim says.

She notes that co-ferments can be made with all kinds of fruit beyond apples and grapes, including plums, berries, cherries and pears. It can even mean different kinds of apples all fermented together! The co-ferment might be the juice of multiple ingredients in a tank together, or whole grapes with apple or pear juice. As with so many decisions in the cellars, sometimes it just comes down to what’s easier to manage.

“It’s a lot easier to take whole grapes and ferment them with apple or pear juice than it is to ferment apple mash with grape juice. That is so sloppy to press!”

foraged co-ferment ingredients from Art + Science

For Art + Science, the decision to start making co-ferments arose out of circumstance. In 2015, Dan was working at a winery that had excess Grüner Veltliner grapes that Kim and Dan purchased.

“We’d just started using apples in our products, but there weren’t a lot of cider apples available yet for purchasing,” she remembers. “It’s hard to forage apples with good tannin and what Dan liked about Grüner, it that it has some good tannins. He thought to take these foraged apples and blend them with the Grüner to give them that edge.”

This process of making a cider (or cider/wine hybrid, as it were) is different than, say, a cider that’s fully fermented and then rested on grape skins, which is a method used to make some rosé ciders. When asked why cidermakers might choose a co-ferment instead of a blend, Kim suggests a few reasons. One is about developing deeper, more intense flavors in fruit that, on its own, might not be that exciting.

“I don’t think we’d do co-ferments with cider-specific apples, but say we have a bunch of apples that we picked from an abandoned dessert apple orchard,” she notes. “They might taste alright, but they’re not really great cider apples — the flavor isn’t as structured and there’s not a ton of interest to it. They need more body and more flavors and we can use co-fermentation to make it more interesting.”

Art + Science FruitNat, a co-ferment of pear, apple, Mondeuse Noir grapes and plums

Another reason for making co-ferments that Kim references is being adaptable and creative with what you’ve got to work with as a cidermaker. For smaller producers, what fruit they’re able to procure each year might vary wildly depending on weather, growing conditions and if it’s a prolific or challenging harvest year.

“Sometimes what we’re doing is just based on what fruit we get,” she says. “Like last year we got all these plums, so we did a plum/Grüner co-ferment and that’s really wild. This year, there’s a lack of apples and no plums, so we’ll have to do something a little different.”

She also notes that for some wineries and cideries, it may be a response to losing grapes due to smoke taint from wildfires.

“Since 2020, it seems like a lot of wineries started jumping into co-ferments, maybe as a way to bury a bit of smoke taint in the apples, or just because a lot of them had less fruit.”

But for Art + Science, she says, it’s really about the joy of experimentation.

“Fermenting things separately, you know what their characteristics are, but with co-ferments you don’t really know,” she says. “Sometimes it’s a happy accident. We throw caution to the wind with a lot of our fermentations, and don’t try to predict how they’ll turn out. We’re probably a little different than most wineries in that respect!”

Curious about co-ferments? Here are a few others to check out:

• Scar of the Sea CoFerment Cider: Newtown Pippin apples, Sauvignon Blanc grapes and lime leaves.
• Alpenfire Cider Calypso: Organic heirloom apples and blackberries, aged in rum barrels.
• Subject to Change This is Wine Sparkling Apple Cider: Pippin, Jonathan and Granny Smith apples, Carignan skins and rosé mist.
• South Hill Cider Sunlight Transformed: Dabinett apples and Cabernet Franc grapes.
• Citizen Cider bRosé: Vermont apples and blueberries.
• Rose Hill Ferments Seckel Pyder: Seckel pears, apples and quince.

Have you tried any co-fermented ciders? What are some of your favs? We want to know!

• Bottle shots: Northwest Cider Club
• All other photos: Art + Science

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