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Posted by Andy Brennan 





Andrew Brennan
Aaron Burr Cidery
Wurtsboro, NY
Lower Hudson Valley
Zone 5a

•The grower accomplices this with holistic embrace.


Lost Nation Orchard
Zone 4b in New Hampshire


Westwind Orchard
Zone 5b in New York
Fabio Chizzola Wrote:
> but we do need to straighten out the concept of NATURAL
> ourselves but especially to enable the consumer to
> choose clearly the type of cider they prefer.






Jolicoeur Orchard
Zone 4 in Quebec
Author, The New Cider Maker's Handbook


I'm surprised that with all the cider interest these days this thread hasn't seen more activity. I'll have at it.
There certainly is developing a distinction in the cider world between small, artisan sized concerns and the big boys. I heard a good comment from a cider maker in Mass. that one of the licenses you can apply for is a manufacturer's licence. That, if true, tells volumes. I would guess that many, whether in cider or some other craft, get first involved out of some sort of love affair. Its cool, you get to be the member of a club, and it is a special, tangable thing. Then the human brain gets in the way, the part that thinks about potential, and competition, and money. The problem with this is that too often either the quality or someone's ethics gets shuffled aside to make way for more market share.

So, a distinction develops. The distinction between that beautiful bottle of handcrafted cider or home nurtured eggs and a product of manufacturing. The real problem is that these days, marketing is king. And by marketing I mean LYING. That is, a company with an enormous pr arm is going to run right over the little guy. There is almost no policing of this sort of thing. I have seen it everywhere in my career, from organics to services to the nursery business. You can pretty much say whatever you want, label yourself however you want, and rarely will you be called on it.

There is the bad news. The good news is that there IS power in numbers. If the right catchword, labeling, clubs are created and everyone hangs together, the word can be heard. Furthermore, there is strength in calling out those who are less than scrupulous. (I just deleted some names of offenders- my wife made me take it out). There has been plenty of success in our area when folks collectively market, publicize, and make distinctions between themselves and larger entities that misrepresent themselves.

I won't argue about whether Angry Orchard is worse than artisanal fermentation (it is), because apparently people still like wine coolers (it is). But getting the word out on WHY these handcrafted creations are better is something we all should have a part in. It takes a lot of dialog, since it is not just about the quality of what comes out of that bottle. It is about the story, and the craft. I really think people are hungry for this sort of thing and always have been. I haven't a clue how you tell these stories while refuting the fake ones, but collectively making the attempt is going to be more effective. If Bernie Sanders can motivate so many "little" voters against such an enormous machine, then it shouldn't be impossible to educate the public about what is real cider, and what isn't.
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