Snow Capped Cider‘s Elevation Gravenstein has earned plenty of recognition, including Best in Class at the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (GLINTCAP) in 2024 and 2025 and first place in the Heirloom Cider – Sweet category in 2026. It has also earned recognition at the Cidercraft Awards, a Good Food Award and gold at the Great American Beer Festival. But for Snow Capped owner and head cidermaker Kari Williams, the more important business story isn’t a single medal or a national ranking. It’s how one cider fits into a larger strategy built around the fruit, the orchard and a more focused portfolio.
Williams’ family has five generations of fruit-growing experience on Colorado’s Western Slope, and Snow Capped began in 2014 partly as a way to use surplus fruit from the family’s orchards. What started as an exploration of cider apples, wine and terroir eventually became a standalone business. That evolution included a hard look at the company’s product lineup.
“In the early years, we were making around 18 different ciders and selling them in bottles,” Williams said. “We eventually narrowed the portfolio and moved into cans to make the business viable.”
Of course, a larger portfolio doesn’t always mean a stronger business. Snow Capped didn’t necessarily need more products to establish its identity. It needed a clearer one. The company retained its focus on estate-grown fruit and high-elevation terroir while becoming more intentional about using individual ciders to communicate those characteristics.
“We try not to market Snow Capped Cider as simply another beverage brand,” Williams said. “A big part of our story is the fruit itself, our orchards and the high-elevation environment where that fruit is grown.”
Elevation Gravenstein, which was recently placed on the USA Today 10Best for ciders in 2026, gives the cidery a particularly clear way to communicate that story. Rather than relying on a broad brand promise, the cider puts a specific apple variety and growing environment at the center of the conversation.
“I think Elevation Gravenstein gives people a really clear expression of what makes our fruit special,” Williams said. “It showcases a specific apple variety grown at high elevation, so there’s a strong sense of where the cider came from.”
That’s useful from a business perspective because the product isn’t being asked to do only one job. It has to sell, but it also has to explain the brand. Williams said Snow Capped looks beyond sales when evaluating the cider’s performance. Recognition, repeat customers and how the product performs with retail and restaurant partners are also part of the equation. More importantly, the cidery watches whether Elevation Gravenstein creates interest in other products.
“I’d also look at how much interest the cider creates in Snow Capped as a whole,” Williams said. “When someone discovers us through Gravenstein and goes on to explore other ciders in our portfolio, that’s a success for us as well.”
That creates a different way of thinking about a flagship cider. Instead of measuring whether one SKU is carrying the business, a cidery can evaluate whether that product is functioning as an entry point into the larger portfolio. Snow Capped’s broader lineup is structured to support that approach. Its Elevation, Reserve, Specialty and Small Batch series provide room to explore different varieties, styles and fermentation techniques while maintaining a connection to the orchard.
The strategy also helps address a common challenge for cider producers: making a product that’s distinctive enough to attract enthusiasts without making it so specialized that new customers don’t know where to start.
“It can be nuanced and complex while still being approachable,” Williams said of Elevation Gravenstein. “Gravenstein has a character that people can enjoy on its own, but it also gives them a way to start thinking about cider in terms of varieties, fruit and terroir.”
The awards have reinforced that positioning, but Williams doesn’t view recognition as the business strategy itself.
Snow Capped has entered Elevation Gravenstein in national and industry competitions for years, and its recent results have provided third-party validation of what the cidery is trying to accomplish. In 2026, for example, Snow Capped swept the top three spots in the Heirloom Cider – Sweet category at GLINTCAP with Gravenstein, Chisel Jersey and Harrison Reserve.
For Snow Capped, the national recognition has helped create those opportunities. Williams said the cidery has attracted interest from retailers, restaurants and others in the cider and beverage industries, while the attention has also created more room to experiment with apple varieties, heritage fruit, fermentation techniques and styles.
“The recognition helps open the door, but the goal is always to give people a reason to stay interested in what we’re making,” Williams said.
