Apple Juice/Cider Sources

[kthomas]

New to the forum here, and I am excited about getting started in cider making!

I do have a question for the crowd though. I understand that for the juice you can make your own from fresh apples, get fresh pressed juice from a orchard or perhaps a farmers market, and in lieu of that, Trader Joe's has a juice that will suffice.

I know some commercial operations get their pressed juice shipped from orchards out of state. In Arizona where I am currently located, some of the commercial operations source their juice from orchards in Washington state.

Are their any orchards that sell their pressed juice direct to market out of state? Say sales online? I think this could potentially be a good way to explore different apple varieties, rather than being stuck with what the local orchards produce. Would love any leads if anyone has any.

Thanks!

 

[bmd2k1]

None of the many cider mills around me in Michigan do any internet sales....only local distribution. I am looking forward to using locally pressed juice this fall [emoji41] since I've only been doing it since last Dec1.

Up till now I've had great results using Sams Club 100% AJ.

Cheers & good luck [emoji111]

 

[z-bob]

I've had good luck with Aldi's pasteurized apple juice -- $1.19 or $1.29 per half gallon. Sam's Club or Kirkland (Costco) juice is good too. Use one of them to get your feet wet (wait, that doesn't sound right.) Try different yeasts, different amounts of sugar, different kinds of sugar, etc. THEN look for better and more interesting apple juices.

 

[Maylar]

New to the forum here, and I am excited about getting started in cider making!

I do have a question for the crowd though. I understand that for the juice you can make your own from fresh apples, get fresh pressed juice from a orchard or perhaps a farmers market, and in lieu of that, Trader Joe's has a juice that will suffice.

I know some commercial operations get their pressed juice shipped from orchards out of state. In Arizona where I am currently located, some of the commercial operations source their juice from orchards in Washington state.

Are their any orchards that sell their pressed juice direct to market out of state? Say sales online? I think this could potentially be a good way to explore different apple varieties, rather than being stuck with what the local orchards produce. Would love any leads if anyone has any.

Thanks!

You can get Musselman's cider shipped online, but it'll be sweet table cider typical of what people like in the fall. It does make good hard cider. None of the small local orchards can compete at that level, and none are going to press unique varietals intended for hard cider. If you get lucky, you may find a local orchard that presses cider specifically for fermenting at certain times of the year, usually late season. Around here we have one orchard that does that in early November, but it's a one day event and you gotta be there before it's gone.

 

[Maylar]

None of the many cider mills around me in Michigan do any internet sales....only local distribution. I am looking forward to using locally pressed juice this fall [emoji41] since I've only been doing it since last Dec1.

Up till now I've had great results using Sams Club 100% AJ.

Cheers & good luck [emoji111]

Seeing that your state flower is the apple blossom, I'd wager that there would be a few orchards to check out.

 

[kthomas]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Looks like I'm pretty much stuck with local orchards and grocery stores. When I get back in town from my work trip, I'm going to start checking out the local stores and see what they have to work with.

As long as I have a decent juice base to work with, I can manage. There's a few yeasts I want to experiment with, which I'm excited about.