Finding your voice, sticking to it and foster it can be one of the toughest non-financial hurdles a cidery can overcome.
A lot of that is educating craft drinkers of the same artistry in cider making.
Ethan Hennings, the co-founder of Wild Terra in Fargo, North Dakota said they do have a strong craft beer scene as well as a local meadery and distillery.
“People around here like drinking local craft products,” he said. “We simply just explain to our customers that Cider is an entirely different beverage category that can be made with just as much art, craft and quality.”
Locality is a trait that many in cider are working toward. New England has a huge history with cider and farming. The focus of New England Cider is try to source as many — if not all of their ingredients from farms and orchards throughout New England. This goes with their apples coming from orchards right in their town, cranberries from Massachusetts, blueberries from Maine, local fresh herbs, and barrels from distilleries in New England.
“We focus on fresh and local as much as possible and customers really appreciate it,” said Seth Hart. “Anybody can make a phone call and order apple juice concentrate or pineapple concentrate but that doesn’t really set you apart when it comes to craft. We also use no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners and no harsh chemicals.
“It’s pretty simple try to be local, fresh, and pure as possible.”
Inclusion and collaboration is the choice of words Cindy Landi said when asked about what she prides Longmont, Colorado’s St. Vrain Cidery‘s culture on.
“Our taproom is a place where anyone can come and try ciders from all over the state,” she said. With our own ciders we strive for new things that may not be on the market yet as well as on collaboration; like with Anvil Distillery, also in Longmont. We have two ciders that are very popular, Dry Botanical & Ironface Infusion, that are made using Anvil’s recipe of gin botanicals. We have also aged ciders in barrels we’ve received from two other local distilleries.
“We love doing collaborations. Small businesses supporting each other is one of the things we love most about being in Longmont; it is such a wonderfully supportive entrepreneurial hub; such a great place to start a business. Having that type of support system during the startup faze is invaluable.”
For newcomer Naughty Penguin Cider, Matthew Galiani said talking and sharing his story has been key in building a consumer base.
“I share my story, the process, and the cider with each of these people,” he said. “I want everyone just to understand what I am trying to do and build. I just hope that whoever I am talking with is as excited as I am for the cider movements.”
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