Page 38 - Beverage Master December January 2020

Craft Beverage

cery stores, bars and restaurants are made with a lot of interest in our homegrown ‘estate’ ciders—
dessert apples, a large percentage of the cideries featuring those traditional cider ap-ple varieties
in the U.S. uti-lize cider apples. In McGrath’s esti- with greater complexity—and enjoy seeing people
mation, “Fifty percent of our paying members grow discover the nu-ances and possibilities in cider
their own apples, and 50% of our paying members fruit.”
are using cider apples to make cider.”
Kisler’s partner at Finnriver, Eric Jorgensen, says
Furthermore, regional brands continue to absorb that the higher price point of cider made from cider
more of the cider market share, and these brands apples does not appear to deter customers who
offer a greater variety of ciders to consumers. travel to their tasting room. “I’d say that despite
McGrath says that in 2012, regional brands rep- their higher price point, when we have them avail-
resented about 8% of the cider retail market, a able, they are just as popular as our ciders made
number that has risen to 34% today. Also, regional from dessert fruit. That preference runs the full
brands of cider sales have grown 16% in the last range of consumers—we get a very broad spectrum
year, while national brands declined 9%. Because of people coming to visit us.”
national brands represent more of the total market
share, the net result is an overall de-cline of 2% in According to Jorgensen, this consumer interest in
domestic retail cider sales in 2018. cider apples can be attributed to several factors:
flavor profiles that are nuanced, interesting and
complex; gen-eral values around tradition and the
rediscovery of these apple varieties; and in-terest
in products made with ingredients farmed locally
and on a smaller scale.

From the cidermaker’s perspective, Andrew
Byers, Head Cidermaker & Produc-tion Manager
at Finnriver, says the advantage of producing cider
apples is based in complexity. “Making cider from
dessert fruit—be it antique varietals or more mod-
ern releases—is making cider from fruit that was
conceptualized for a differ-ent purpose, such as
eating a fresh apple, or saucing, or baking a pie.
Cider fruit has been selected for the qualities they
bring to the cider. Body, phenolics, aro-matics—all
that cannot be found in a dessert-fruit-based fer-
ment.”

Byers describes how these apples can transport
drinkers to another level. “[Cider apples] waltz you
across the room with ease to a place of wonder-
ment where you didn’t know ‘apples could do that.’
At first glance, this appreciation for small regional [They bring you to] that lovely platform of hav-ing
craft ciders seems to indicate consumers will be your horizons broadened—a place to realize you
interested in paying a premium for heirloom ciders just discovered a previously unknown potential.
made with cider apples. Crystie Kisler, co-found- Cider fruit, each year, is an opportunity to waltz
er of Finnriver Farm & Cidery, observes how the with the pub-lic and show them the best we can
consumer’s palate has evolved since 2008 when be.”
she founded an 80-acre farm situated in Chimacum
Valley, Washington. Some logistical challenges are inherent in growing
cider apples not necessarily found when producing
“We have appreciated seeing how the sensibilities dessert apples. Tim Larsen, owner and cidermaker
and palate of folks in the ci-der-drinking community at Snowdrift Cider Company in East Wenatchee,
have evolved over the years,” Kisler says. “We get Washington, says, “These apples were never cul-

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