Posible cider source

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I found this cider mill pretty close to me. I have emailed and have hope I will be able to buy sweet cider(hard cider apples!) from them next year to make into cyser.
The website is pretty interesting,take a look.
http://www.evescidery.com

Tip o' the hat to a fellow Fingerlakes mead maker!

Eve's makes some nice ciders. Another good source for fresh cider around here is the Cornell Orchards and Hollenbeck's. I think the Orchards still has cider available.
 
Tip o' the hat to a fellow Fingerlakes mead maker!

Eve's makes some nice ciders. Another good source for fresh cider around here is the Cornell Orchards and Hollenbeck's. I think the Orchards still has cider available.

Wow, that is great about Cornell Orchards....LOL, I was just in Ithaca today to buy a bunch of hard ciders for tasting purposes!

According to their website they still have cider, I emailed to ask about blends, press dates, price,etc.
 
See, trying to follow this and understand, given the propensity for "American" speakers to use the term cider incorrectly i.e. refer to cloudy apple juice as cider or whether the "cider" alluded to on the linked site is what you generally term "hard" cider or just cloudy (unfiltered/unrefined) apple juice ?

I don't mean to reduce this point to semantics of language, but to understand, because I understand "cider apples" to be a very specific type of fruit.

To quantify a little, apples being either sweet, sharp, bitter sharp or bitter sweet. And it being bitter sharp apples normally being termed as "cider apples" as that's what is generally used and any variation in apple type being used then cider being named by region or area (like the difference between "West county", "Kentish" and "Normany" ciders).

If the place/site linked has extensive varietal orchards, that's brilliant and rather than harp on about the linguistics, say to remember that there's a big difference between the taste of apple juice (whether cloudy or clear) and the fermented product (hard) cider.

Maybe it's worth suggesting that you take that into consideration when choosing ? as you'd likely hate the juice from bitter sharp apples (higher acids and tannins) yet that's exactly what is grown for a lot of (hard) cider, so given that the fermentation is similar at changing the taste, then maybe it's a good baseline ?

The juice varieties available are more likely about marketing and all the "cider mill" terminology just to give it a nice flowery and bucolic image........ (sorry, I can be such a cynic about stuff like this as "they" use such shady and dubious tactics to separate a person from their money.........)
 
See, trying to follow this and understand, given the propensity for "American" speakers to use the term cider incorrectly i.e. refer to cloudy apple juice as cider or whether the "cider" alluded to on the linked site is what you generally term "hard" cider or just cloudy (unfiltered/unrefined) apple juice ?

Apple juice for me is the tepid concoction you can purchase at the grocer's, made from concentrated apple juice with water added. Apple cider is the good stuff you get when you chop and press a blend of apples (law dictates it must be pasteurized now). I believe the better orchards press ciders with a blend of sweet, bitter and astringent cider apples. But since these ciders are meant to be drunk straight, they are sweet.

What we need here is a word for hard cider!

I don't mean to reduce this point to semantics of language, but to understand, because I understand "cider apples" to be a very specific type of fruit.

To quantify a little, apples being either sweet, sharp, bitter sharp or bitter sweet. And it being bitter sharp apples normally being termed as "cider apples" as that's what is generally used and any variation in apple type being used then cider being named by region or area (like the difference between "West county", "Kentish" and "Normany" ciders).

If the place/site linked has extensive varietal orchards, that's brilliant and rather than harp on about the linguistics, say to remember that there's a big difference between the taste of apple juice (whether cloudy or clear) and the fermented product (hard) cider.

Maybe it's worth suggesting that you take that into consideration when choosing ? as you'd likely hate the juice from bitter sharp apples (higher acids and tannins) yet that's exactly what is grown for a lot of (hard) cider, so given that the fermentation is similar at changing the taste, then maybe it's a good baseline ?

The juice varieties available are more likely about marketing and all the "cider mill" terminology just to give it a nice flowery and bucolic image........ (sorry, I can be such a cynic about stuff like this as "they" use such shady and dubious tactics to separate a person from their money.........)

Cornell Orchards is part a teaching and experimental orchard, and they do support themselves with their sweet cider and apple sales. I have never asked them about their apple blends, but if I recall correctly they do have a wide variety for sale to individuals.
 
Gee whiz, I hope I get this correct!
It is wonderful to share with our cousins across the pond all of the joys of making hard cider,in my case actually cyser, from, hopefully, cloudy fresh pressed sweet cider(with the proper blend if possible)(aka apple juice overseas), not the reconstituted "apple juice drink" with an indefinite shelf life available in the market.
I hope I am able to get a sweet cider(aka apple juice overseas), that apparently does not taste very sweet , to make into a wonderful dry cyser . But if the Brix is high enough, it might remain cider. Cheers!

I got some Eves yesterday and hope to crack one open this afternoon!
 
Sounds like we all get a mix of terminology, from our own use but equally the food industry nazis and regulatory authorities......

If you sell cider here, it's a regulated alcoholic drink that comes within the remit of revenue and customs for taxation, and the local council, magistrates courts and police for sales to the public - hence you'll invariably "get carded" if you appear to be under 25, but that's to confirm 18+ to purchase.

then if it's called "apple juice" it doesn't matter whether it's reconstituted or pressed etc, as long as it's 100% juice, hence my alluding to cloudy or clear. If cloudy they'll often just say that as a selling point as it's obviously more genuine, fresh or whatever other nonsense they can come up with (think but not sure, that's EU regulated), then if it's anything else it has to be labelled as Apple juice drink or apple flavour drink etc.

All the newer fruit flavoured ciders must be a max of about 8% (I think) ABV but equally a minimum of 35% apple juice.......

Next year's apples in the garden will be used for cyber too, as it can be drank "as is" or it'd likely be good for top pin up........
 
If the place/site linked has extensive varietal orchards, that's brilliant and rather than harp on about the linguistics, say to remember that there's a big difference between the taste of apple juice (whether cloudy or clear) and the fermented product (hard) cider.



Thanks for highlighting this - I wasn't aware of the difference in usage of the term either side of the Atlantic.
 
I had a nice ciderworks fellow give me a Kingston Black to eat, nice tasting, could hardly tell there were any tannins in there, then they gave me a Tremletes Bitter apple, they almost gagged eating it, I could taste the tannins in this one but nothing that would make me want to spit it out. Then I reminded them we make elderberry mead for fun, way more tannins in elders. We have a crabapple we put into our ciders, a full blown bittersharp, acid levels 4X what they desire in a finished cider, I dont know the amount of tannins but it will dry your face off, and when ripe it hit 1.070 from fresh pressed juice. You cant make a straight mead with it, maybe have to try some MLF on a batch one day. Might even try selling some of these trees to other ciderists who are looking for a crazy bitter sweet.

That Eves cidery you guys listed grows most of the standard bittersharp and bittersweet apples, well worth getting to know those folks. Take them a bottle of hard cider you make using their fresh cider, ask if they have a cidermakers cider vs just using their fresh pressed sweet cider. They always like to taste what people make from their apples.

WVMJ
 
If you sell cider here, it's a regulated alcoholic drink

then if it's called "apple juice" it doesn't matter whether it's reconstituted or pressed etc, as long as it's 100% juice, hence my alluding to cloudy or clear

then if it's anything else it has to be labelled as Apple juice drink or apple flavour drink

The same goes here.

Regulations from EU ?