DRY BALDWIN
A single variety cider, it is fermented to dryness making a traditional New England cider. Crisp. 

PIPPIN CIDER
First an explanation. Tremletts Bitter and Yarlington Mill are classic English bittersweets. They were high on the list of apples recommended to us in the early 1080's by R. R. Williams of the Long Ashton Cider Research Station in England. We found scion wood in the (then) reference orchard at Geneva, NY in a bloc of European cider varieties from the early 1900’s. We tried them, liked them, and have made a succession of plantings, the last in 2004.

These apples make a lovely cider, bringing notes of bright fruit and tartness. Now, tartness isn’t something you find in a bittersweet apple, and terroir doesn’t explain such a massive difference. Well -informed sources have told us that our Yarlington Mill and Tremletts do not look like their namesakes, nor resemble any European cider apple. Our guess is that they are really seedlings- that the graft of scion-to-seedling didn’t take, and the rootstock became the tree. In the early 1900's, most grafting was done onto seedlings.

Seedlings are unnamed varieties grown from apple seeds (pippins). Their fruit rarely resembles that of the parent trees nor of each other. The tastes vary wildly, but frequently make good cider. John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) grew seedlings in his nurseries for the early settlers. Settlers used these young apple trees to establish their land claims and to make cider. Trees that produced worthy fruit were propagated and often named “Pippin”. Until two years ago we called this cider “Tremlett’s." Despite their obscure parentage, our Pippins make good cider and deserve cultivation and a name.

ASHMEAD'S KERNEL
Ashmead's Kernel is a russet apple, golden and rough skinned. It was first grown in the 1600's in England by Dr Ashmead from an apple seed or “kernel." Unblended, this dry cider in nicely balanced, with a core of lovely fruit and vibrant acidity. Drink with food. New this year.

KINGSTON BLACK
Dark red, dense fleshed, with anise over-tones, Kingston Black is perhaps the most well known but least tasted English cider variety. It is frequently described, with the term ‘legendary’ usually tacked on, as the most wine-like of ciders. The aroma, the most intense we have encountered, gives credence to that claim. It is very full bodied, with a deep golden hue. This year's was fermented with wild yeast, giving it an earthy character unusual in our ciders, then blended with thirty percent Golden Russet.

REINE DE POMME
Reine de Pomme is an archaic French Apple. We found it in the Geneva Reference Orchard. In 1987, in France, the only reference to it we found was a listing in a nursery catalog from the 1920’s at an apple museum in Normandy. No one seemed to know of it.

But, forgotten or not, we were struck by the taste- tannins and iron- that made it inedible, but intriguing for a cider. As a cider it has a deep, dark-fruit, honeyed taste. We blended it with our Dabinet to round out the tannins, and Redfield to add bright fruit and to balance the bitter-sweets. Though blended, Reine de Pomme leads the taste, and the Dabinet and Redfield fall in nicely as supports. It is the fullest-bodied cider we have made. And the closest in taste to a French Cider.

BALDWIN
Once popular, now rare, Baldwin Apples have long been prized around here for the making of hard cider. The Baldwin became one the the most widely planted apples in the Northeast after it was found in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the early 1800's. A monument to it, complete with a granite apple still stands in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The Baldwins in this cider come from trees planted in the early 1900's. This cider is smooth and more rounded than the Dry Baldwin . It is our most popular cider.

HERITAGE APPLE
This cider blends Baldwin, Roxbury Russet and a mix of European cider apples. These American and European apples have long been favored for cider. The Baldwin was discovered by Leomi Baldwin as he surveyed the Middlesex Canal in eastern Massachusetts in the 1700’s. Roxbury Russet is America's first named apple variety, from the 1600’s. The European varieties, some from the distant past, add tannins to this full bodied cider. 

ROXBURY RUSSET
Sometime in the 1600’s, the Roxbury Russet was discovered and named after the farming town in which it was found, outside of Boston. It has the distinction of being the first named apple in this country. It was widely planted throughout New England, and still can be found. In the past we have blended Russets into our other ciders. They are excellent blending apples but we have found they make a intriguing cider by themselves. This cider is made entirely from Roxbury Russets. Nothing flashy, but a subtle and rich full-flavored cider: dry, mineral with soft tannins.

REDFIELD
We found the Redfield on a leisurely walk through the reference orchard at the New York Agricultural Experimental Station at Geneva. We were sampling apples as we walked, taking a bite, and then tossing them. The Redfield stopped us cold. There was the taste: unusually tannic, bright fruit, and acidic. Then there was the color: deep red skin, brilliant scarlet flesh. We picked enough for a test batch, and have been planting and making Redfield ever since. This year’s Redfield is soft and rounded. The taste seems to reflect the color. A lovely summer drink, lightly chilled.

McINTOSH
McIntosh is the mainstay apple of New England. Juicy and aromatic, it balances sweetness and acidity. This cider is sweet and fruity, with a low alcohol after a very short fermentation.