First press of the season

So, this past Saturday we put together, and promptly started using our new apple press to start off the pressing season. We only had a short time but we picked up some seconds, gave them a good washing, and went to work.

We got the press so that we would have a little more control over what the cider tasted like prior to making our hard cider. The only problem is that we keep drinking the product....!!

Well, now the fun part will be coming up with a combination of apples that creates a fantastic finished product...the only problem is that we keep liking everything...!

Did you build the grinder? Do you have plans? It looks great. I have a press, but not the grinder. You need to keep all those friends away if you want to have a final product!

I like to think that we kicked it up a notch....

I've worked in a winery, looked pretty much like that. Are you sure you are using apples not grapes? I would love to see a video of that setup in operation, you must be able to process a few tons of apples. What sort of press is that?

The press was built in 1965 but the other components have been sourced and are much younger. It's a labor of love and I promise you we are doing apples, although I'm sure that if we change the gap on the grinder we could do grapes as well...lol

The project started because we wanted to replicate a hard cider that was created using unpasteurized product and eventually freeze distilled into apple jack but as things of this nature tend to go, we got a little carried away with ourselves, and now we have the proper authority to head down that path. As of 2013 we were able to obtain a craft distillery license so we upped the ante. the goal is to come to market with an unparalleled product 100% locally sourced in NJ and in my opinion at the very top tier of the market.

Only time will tell...

where in NJ?