Wheeler Sees These 2 Companies as Leaders in Transforming the Industry

Photo courtesy Watson Wheeler Cider

This is a part of a continuing series of Q&As with members of the cider community from across the US. Brewer Magazine will share business and personal insights from Cidermakers, Owners, Managers, Sales Directors, QCQA and others each week to help you get to know each other better in the industry and learn more to better develop your own brand.

Bleecker Wheeler, founder & partner/cidermaker, Watson Wheeler Cider — Shaftsbury, Vermont

BREWER: How have recent challenges in your position helped make you better? What were those “pain points” and how did you solve or adjust to the issue?
WHEELER: Our biggest challenge is keeping up with all of the work and finding the right balance among all four partners, especially while raising children and building this entire company from the ground up. There are more hats to wear than we have people, so we all do a little bit of everything, and that can complicate things. Communication and keeping our sights set on common goals is paramount to our success.

BREWER: What has been your cidery’s most recent accomplishment and how is it going to improve your business going forward?
WHEELER: Our most recent achievement is doubling our production for a third straight year, and how that improves our business is no secret, with twice as much inventory to sell.

BREWER: How did you start in the industry and why do you still want to be a part of it?
WHEELER: I started making cider as a hobbyist 15 years ago. I always knew I wanted to return to Vermont one day to expand our old orchard and start a cidery, but it took a global pandemic to make my wife and I realize that we didn’t want to wait any longer to do it. I may not make as much money (yet) as I did in my previous career, but I am so much happier with the quality of life. The cider industry is also very supportive. Instead of feeling competitive or cutthroat, it feels like everyone is cheering each other on. We all want the same thing — for cider to grow and become a more popular beverage.

BREWER: What are you sippin’ on right now from your cidery that you really enjoy?
WHEELER: Right now, especially at this time of year with the cold winter weather, I’m sipping on our barrel-aged ciders. We mostly focus on making pét-nats, but the winter is when typically release our barrel-aged ciders, which, thanks to using charred oak barrels, carry richer notes of butterscotch, gingerbread, molasses and even tobacco leaf.

BREWER: Be it in styles, ingredients, business strategies or sales & marketing techniques, what are some recent industry trends that you’ve tried or are excited about trying this year?
WHEELER: We are committed to 100% natural processes so there isn’t really much in the way of ingredients or techniques that we would change. We are however making a Perry for the first time, and I have also become quite fascinated by the potentials of co-ferments, which is something we haven’t got into yet, but certainly would like to. I might even start growing grapes, or finally get around to using elderberries or local wild black berries in a cider. Other makers like La Garagista and Fable are really making some fantastic stuff that I believe has the potential to transform the industry in very positive ways, as well as help to bridge a connection for people to associate between wine and other fruit fermentations. This growing trend opens doors to seemingly infinite more creative opportunities for makers like us to explore, and in turn, makes our work that much more fun!

READ MORE: How This New Adjunct is Boosting a New Sales Avenue for Minneapolis Cider

BREWER: What are some adaptations to business practices in the industry that you’ve observed over these past few years, and how has your cidery adjusted to stay competitive?
WHEELER: I’m not sure we’ve made a lot of adjustments. At least not yet. After 15 years of making cider, I pretty much already had an idea in mind of the way I saw us fitting into the industry. Combine that with reading as many books as I could, especially from other cidermakers that I held in high esteem, and even collecting words of advice from some of them, Watson Wheeler Cider used bits and pieces from many resources when charting our course. Obviously as we expand, there will be more realms to consider and navigate, but for now we are quite content with our approach and identity.

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