Estate Cider

We’ve been making Hard Cider since 1999, making us the second-oldest ciderworks in the state of Washington. Because we use real cider apples (up to 18 varieties!), we don’t have to use a lot of sugar to bring out the apple flavor, allowing us to offer uniquely dry and delicious Hard Ciders.

Cider Varieties

Our cider comes in three varieties, all made from the same time-perfected blend of estate grown cider apples:

Semi-Dry

The sweetest of our ciders, but still dryer than anything you might find commercially. It has a soft mouthfeel and pairs exceptionally well with spicy foods and strong flavors. We love it with Thai and BBQ!

Dry

Our goes-with-everything cider! Not too sweet, not too dry, pairs with just about any food, lovely mixed in cocktails or just sipped on its own. Replace your white table wine with cider!

Very Dry

No sugar added at all. Just clean, crisp, lightly apple-y and designed to cut through fatty foods. Amazing with oysters (so appropriate!!) and soft cheeses (yum) or seafood like Dungeness Crab or Salmon.

How we make it

We pick cider apples by hand from our orchard on Westcott Bay from late September through early November. <insert photo of someone picking> Once picked, the apples go into bins and sit for a few weeks so that they can fully develop their flavor and sugars.

When the apples are ready, we have our first of many cider-production family parties: the pressing! The apples get washed, chopped and then juiced using our hydraulic press. We collect the juice in tanks and toss in champagne yeast to begin the fermentation process.

The best hard cider develops slowly, and at cooler temperatures, so we give it time to do its thing – maybe 3-4 months – during which we monitor it’s progress and prepare for the next event: the bottling!

We do a separate bottling run for each variety of cider. The cider gets loaded into a carbonation tank where it chills and takes on bubbles for 24-48 hours. Then, we fill and cap the bottles, 2 at a time, using our bottling machine. The machine is a bit temperamental, but we’re getting better at troubleshooting it! A bottling run takes about 5 hours, and we finish it off by labeling each bottle using our old-school, hand powered, label wheel.

How to store it

Unopened, our hard cider can last years at room temperature. When you’re ready to drink it, just chill it down a bit in the fridge.

Once opened, you can usually hold the carbonation for a day or two if you use a good rubber gasket stopper in the top and keep it refrigerated.

And, never fear, if you end up with un-fizzy cider, it makes excellent simple syrup for cocktails or you can use it in place of wine in cooking (yummy in pulled pork)!