Craft Cider Making

Craft Cider Making

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

On Friday we reported on how the hard cider industry is experiencing a similar resurgence to what the American wine industry saw in the 1970s. Dr. Greg Peck at Cornell University says that’s not the only similarity between the two beverages.

Peck… “These artists, these cider makers can take all these different types of apples: high acid and high tannin, and they can blend them to get a profile that is what they want for their product. They can also manipulate things like the yeast strains that they're using. And some yeast will throw off more volatiles. Some will be more neutral.”

And those premium flavors are translating into more premium prices.

Peck… “It used to be unheard of for a cider in a 750 ml bottle, you know, a wine size bottle to sell for more than $15. But now it's not that uncommon for me to find bottles in that $30 to $50 range, where people are sourcing very unique apples, making some really fine products and things that are really meant to be served as part of a meal, like a lot of depth to it, a lot of interest and character that is just really exciting and really based on the types of apples that they're using in that product.”

Peck said these craft ciders are increasing the demand for the specialty apple varieties suited for cider making.

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