Happy New (Cider) Year!
Before you ask whether, like Billy Pilgrim, I have become unstuck in time –– it has been a year since Chester County Ciders came out of stealth mode and launched as a locally sourced, hand-crafted, small batch cider company. So… Happy New Cider Year!
Our remaining stock of ciders from last season includes the Twenty Ton Press and the Hop Series Nelson – with the Gold Rush, Barrel Aged Rum Rush, and Northern Spy single varietals only a memory on the palate. Be not alarmed cider fans, aficionados, and cider-curious folks, we have just finished bottling, kegging, and casking (!) our fall 2022 pressing which will soon be available (the kegs and casks will have limited offerings – be on the lookout).
I want to thank all those that have supported our passion to bring small-batch, hand-crafted cider to your table - Josh likes to say we touch every apple that goes into our ciders, from washing, pressing, and fermenting to bottling, capping, and labeling. Manly, Josh, and I don’t often get time to sit and relax and enjoy some of the (pressed) fruits of our labor together and I sometimes find myself in the late evening going to my cellar for a new or aged bottle to enjoy in the stillness of the small hours. As the crystal clear cider fills the glass and the first sip of cider dances on the tongue, it is hard not to reminisce about what we have done and think about the future of Chester County Ciders. This past week I poured a “new” bottle of Northern Spy from this fall’s pressing; Northern Spy is one of my favorite single varietal ciders. The nose on the Northern Spy reminds me of walking through a misty orchard in late fall, where the fallen apples and loamy soil blend to give a lovely earthy – apple aroma – something distinct to Northern Spy. Our new release of Northern Spy doesn’t disappoint and based on past experience, this will further develop over time, making this a great cider to keep on hand, especially as the Fall holidays roll in. It may be hard to find them since this was a limited production of about 30 cases– small batch, indeed!
Part of the beauty of what we do is that if we get the same apples from the same orchard, and use the exact same process, we will end up with a different cider year to year. I spend a lot of time explaining that cider making is more akin to wine making than beer making – where the brewer is constantly producing product to be consumed fresh – a process meant for speed – often brewers that make cider end up with more beer-like ciders. These are sometimes lacking the nuance, depth, and clarity that comes with a slower process wherein the yeast can ferment to completion and the cider can “drop bright” giving clarity with no filtration or cold-crashing. Yeasts in all their wonderful ability to take sugar and produce ethanol, also produce a variety of esters and low molecular weight aromatics. Aged cider lets these characteristics mellow and release so that the apple-specific flavors and aromas are dominant. Cider making in our minds is seasonal and requires patience; we strive to create ciders that reflect the apples the earth provides - with the help of some very fine orchardists, of course!
Another aspect of our cider that I very much love is that we are bottle-conditioning. This means that a final fermentation to generate carbonation occurs in the ultimate packaging. I am always in awe of the transformation from the still cider in the fermenter to the bubbly liquid from the bottle going into the glass. The conditioning matters more than most folks assume and we feel this brings an evolving personality to the cider that can add complexity and balance, especially over time. Our Twenty Ton Press from last season was made with a dessert, acidic forward Stayman Winesap cider blended with wild crab apple cider - adding a back-end tannic quality to the cider. The tannins from the crab apple have mellowed over time and the cider has developed more balance with a bit of merging the front and back ends. I have some stashed for further cellaring to see how it progresses.
My cellar has ciders going back several years and comparing a new and an aged single varietal cider is always enjoyable. As my previous posts have mentioned, I am a massive fan of cask-conditioned beer – and we have put several small casks of our Twenty Ton Press down for conditioning to be tapped this fall. The Twenty Ton is our blended cider with a distinct mix of of local Winesap and Stayman from Highland Orchards and some beautiful cider-specific varietals from Chester County orchardist Brian Dickerson, Kingston Black, Tremlett’s Bitter, cultivated American crab apple, plus two foraged, wild crab apples. I am looking forward to experiencing the bottle, keg, and cask versions of this cider. Look for our announcements for our new ciders from our 2022 fall pressing: Twenty Ton Press blended cider, single varietals: Northern Spy, Gold Rush, and Roxbury Russet. Plus the second in our Hop Series: Kingston Black Cider with Crystal Hops. Grab a bottle of our Hop Series Nelson while they last to compare and contrast the symbiosis of cider and hop – you will not be disappointed!
Cheers!
The Professor
Two pin casks of 20 Ton Press cider sitting in front of a Golden Delicious cider blend aging in an American oak chardonnay barrel