American_Cider

Thank I am glad to hear.

Cider in the United States is happening now, because of a couple of things,.

A. other markets for apples have shrunk, no one buys apple sauce or pie mix like they did 50 years ago, and Chinese apples have under cut commodity bulk apples for most generic apple products.

b. There has been alot of changes in regulations on both a state and federal level that have lowered the barrier of entry for producers.

c. there are new consumers looking for exciting new things that speak them through a narrative.

d. there are farmers and orchardist around the country that see cider as the best option for a creating a value added product from orchard fruit.

Growing conditions have nothing to do about, Apple can grow in Florida, Northern Maine, Outside of San Diego, Montana and Kansas.

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I can't speak to Australia but in the UK and Ireland in terms of cider apples in the 19th century. They selected for apples that could grow well in their climate and could be grown with little expense to produce a product. In the united states, since the early 1800's the market has always been on growing apples for the fresh market. Fresh market or processed eating apples, ( dried and canned) are the rule for most apples in the country and everything was moving in that direction. It made no sense for orchardist to make cider until recently because other markets promised higher returns. Now cider is a viable product with returns that can insure a future for the farm

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--dan

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In terms of nostalgia, cider has leaned on folksy images as a way to connect to people. This has benefited cidermakers in the short term but in the long terms is a bad direction

https://www.maluszine.com/essays/whose-heritage#/

This is a great article by Olivia Maki owner of Redfield Cider in Oakland. It digs into the alienation of potential consumers. I think that we need to find better narratives than those that rely upon the glory of the good old days to help connect people to cider -

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--dan

I think the biggest misconception about cider is that it is a singular beverage, and not an entire category. What we're trying to do is lay the foundational context for understanding why cider from X differs from cider from Y. American cider, the drink, not the book, began with the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century. Agricultural practices vary throughout the country based on things like geography and class, and those things, along with climate, culture, and people, all influence the process from orchard to bottle. -Craig

when cider was wide spread in the United States, 18th and first decades of the 19th century. It was mostly made from seedling apples, grown on small farms. Except in places like Newark, NJ and on some of the large plantations in the South East.

But by 1820's most of the investment was going into fresh eating and not cider. There are a few accounts of cider orchards that existed in the early 20th century but only a few and they got the axe not due to laws but due to market forces and suburbanization after ww2.

The accounts of orchards getting the axe is untrue and mostly told by people after the fact or speaking in hyperbole. But frankly there were only a few cider orchards left and those that existed pivoted to other apple products. most of the cider being made by prohibition was made from multi purpose apples newtown pippin (martinelli santa cruz, pauliding Long island, ny ) golden russet ( mott's, in NYS)

bands of teetotalers chopping down trees isn't the case, because generations before hand, orchardist made a choice to grow more profitable eating apples.

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-dan

There are a number of places with crazy amazing potential to make great cider,

Finger Lakes of NY, Northern CA, and Oregon draw from the wine culture.

Colorado's Western Slope is super cool and unique place to grow apples!

Traverse Bay in Michigan is an amazing fruit growing region that can do great stuff.

- dan