SULTAN — First it was wine. Then it was microbrew beer. It seems as though every generation has its own trendy bar beverage to be examined, explored and enjoyed.
Could the next up-and-coming beverage be hard cider?
True hard cider is raw apple juice that has been fermented. Although hard cider is a popular drink in England, it has a limited following in the U.S.
But in the last few years, the number of cideries in Washington state jumped from three to 10 and the first Cider Summit NW was held recently in Seattle.
“It’s getting a cult following,” said Drew Zimmerman, owner of Red Barn Cider in Mount Vernon. “Everybody knows all the beers and all the wines and now here is something that they don’t know about.”
But they’re learning. This is thanks in part to the efforts of growers, organizations such as the Northwest Cider Association and classes like those hosted by Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension office.
On Oct. 9, WSU’s Extension offered a one-day workshop at Ed’s Apples in Sultan on how to make hard cider. Students received information about everything from best varieties in the region to growing the fruit to putting the final product in the bottle.
“We’ve probably run 200 people through the course already, usually about 15 to 20 at a time,” said instructor Gary Moulton.
Moulton, along with Zimmerman and two others, co-wrote a soon-to-be-released manual on hard cider production and orchard management specifically geared for the Pacific Northwest.
At the Oct. 9 class, about 20 people found themselves learning the characteristics of different blends and tasting the results. These varied from a champagne sweetness complete with carbonation to a brew so bitter it shriveled the tongue.
“The whole key to the thing is blending,” Moulton said. “You have to have a good clean ferment. Then it is just like a chef putting together a meal.”
But, as Moulton explained, experimentation can result in some brews that are good and some that are not so good. That’s why classes such as his are key to understanding the characteristics that make a good cider.
Zimmerman remembers his own early experiments with hard-cider making.
“In college I learned I could always put a jug of apple juice on the back porch with a balloon on it and it would ferment and come out tasting pretty good,” he said.
Later, Zimmerman discovered that certain apples made better cider so he bought some of those tree varieties. He joined the Seattle tree fruit society to learn how to care for his trees and met other cider makers.
“Then we took field trips up to Mount Vernon to the WSU Research Station and there were more people making cider up here. So I just kind of fell into it,” he said.
Zimmerman ended up buying a farm near the research station in order to plant grapes and open a winery. It wasn’t long before apple trees crept in at Tulip Valley Vineyard and Red Barn Cider was born.
“Our first commercial harvest was 2004,” Zimmerman said.
Many Snohomish County residents know John Postema as the owner of Flower World nursery. But through the connected Maltby Produce, he also runs Marshland Orchards in Snohomish Valley. Marshland Orchards is one of the newer hard cider producers in the region.
“We’ve been doing this for about the last 18 months,” Postema said. “We’re still pretty young in it but we got into it because of the demand and through the production of sweet cider.”
In addition to selling ciders and apple cider vinegars in Maltby, the Postema family also has a presence in Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Zimmerman and Postema were eager to point out that cider making is nothing new in this country. Hard cider was the readily available and preferred drink of America’s forefathers.
Perhaps it’s just a trend gone full circle.
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