Went pro this spring

Good news on the home front. Last month I was offered (and accepted) an assistant position at Bellwether Hard Cider, a regional cidery started by some friends of my parents (and former home cidermakers) where I've occasionally helped out over the years. This new position is a mix of sales/marketing along with production work, with a focus on cider research and product development. Been learning a lot about how professional and home cider making are incredibly similar and yet hugely different.

I wanted to spread the love and extend an invitation to all HBTers who find themselves in upstate New York. Shoot me a PM and we can arrange a tour, talk cider and maybe swap home-cider.

Here's a pic of me with my eyes closed with some of my new toys.

Where is the cidery located? I vacation to Keuka and have relatives in Corning. I look forward to stopping by this summer!

My wife and I are doing a finger lakes wine tour end of June....Would love to stop in.

zcrxt said:

Where is the cidery located? I vacation to Keuka and have relatives in Corning. I look forward to stopping by this summer!

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9070 Route 89 in Trumansburg, NY. Not too far from either. Love me some Keuka lake, so beautiful!

roadymi said:

My wife and I are doing a finger lakes wine tour end of June....Would love to stop in.

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Please do! Feel free to shoot me a PM and we can connect.

Just went there yesterday qnd the cherry cider was exactly what I want! The black currant was also good!

Bill is a great guy and answered a lot of my questions

wow- congrats! we may need more photos come pressing time

I want a tour! Im from wny but visit uny almost all summer lol!
-cait

rocknhardcider said:

Just went there yesterday qnd the cherry cider was exactly what I want! The black currant was also good! Bill is a great guy and answered a lot of my questions

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Darn we just missed each other! I was working my PT job yesterday. Bill really is a fantastic person and very open with information.

dinnerstick said:

wow- congrats! we may need more photos come pressing time

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Currently we're a juice only operation and contract out our apple pressing. I'll see if I can get some pics of processing currants this year though. Meantime, here is a video of one of our suppliers pressing sweet cider. http://www.cornell.edu/video/?videoid=955

cacaca86 said:

I want a tour! Im from wny but visit uny almost all summer lol!
-cait

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Come on over neighbor!


-LeBreton AKA Yann

I just bought a couple bottles of Bellwether last week.
Excellent stuff!!
Plus I get a couple more champagne bottles to re-use for my cider.

Good to hear jkoegel! We also typically have cases of empties left over from the tasting room that are free to whoever wants them. Bottling is a breeze with 750ml bottles (it's what I use at home too) and they are rated to a much higher pressure than a typical beer bottle.