Cider house Viablity?

[Munimula]

As the title states I'm curious if a cider only brewing facility would float. I live in the middle of the largest apple producing area in the world as well as a leading Hop producer. (Yakima Valley).

Like many home brewers I dream of maybe making some money at this and I'm a huge fan of hard cider. I can get apples/juice for dirt cheap around here and have several ideas for interesting cider flavor profiles. I've maybe talked a buddy into getting on board with this idea but we are both concerned with how much product we could move in a possibly niche market.

How much product would we have to move to make this viable.

Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated.

 

[MarkKF]

There is one in upstate New York. I think there are apple only wineries in VT, too.

 

[Munimula]

In in WA state. We produce something like 80% of the apples in the country/world? I'd have to look up the numbers.

Anyways. Apples are plentiful here. And I love me some cider.

 

[step]

Take a look at Bushwhacker Cider in Portland (http://bushwhackercider.com). Its the only small cider house I can think off the top of my head. I don't know if the general population of Yakima would support such a thing. Does Tieton Cider works not have a tasting room?

 

[roadymi]

There is a place here in Michigan's wine region called "Tandem Ciders" That is exclusively hard cider. I'm sure it helps that they right in the middle of all of those wineries and they are included on all of the tour and tasting lists.

 

[Munimula]

I'm not sure if Yakima would but I recently moved a bit south. I work In the Tri-cities which is a much larger population area.

I'm actually originally from Tieton. Thats where my family still lives. As far a I know they do not have a tasting room as they are an orchard that does ciders. Even around the valley I haven't seen their product very often. I had actually forgotten about them.

 

[LeBreton]

There are plenty of cideries in the US, I work at one so I feel pretty qualified to talk about this subject which pops up from time to time. The cider industry is growing rapidly in this country, faster even than the craft beer movement by my estimation, but is still a tiny blip on the radar in terms of actual market-share.

If your are serious about starting your own cider business it's time to stop treating it like a hobby and start getting down to the nitty gritty. Just like any other business startup you need to have a business plan worked out. I'm talking a real plan with all the numbers worked out as if you are going to take it to the bank and apply for a loan.

The amount of product you will need to sell is dependent on a lot of factors, such as; overhead, raw materials, equipment, employees, taxes & fees etc etc etc.

For more business oriented cider discussions check out-
The Cider Workshop (mostly Brits but some very knowledgeable folks)
The Cider Digest (US based list-serve)

Good luck!

 

[NiteBeest]

There's a cidery in Sacramento called Two Rivers. They have a bunch of flavors, most of which are pretty tasty. I think long story short, as long as you have your act together, it can succeed.

 

[mrburpyman]

Here's an article that came out yesterday about Tieton:

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/06/12/tieton-cider-works-sipping-on-success


They're doing great. And they're growing real, traditional cider apples which makes a big difference for traditional hard ciders. That said, as LeBreton mentions there's probably room for a lot more in the next few decades...

Check out FinnRiver Cider too - in Washington but not Yakima valley. They make some good stuff too!

 

[LeBreton]

I was looking for this yesterday but could not find it.

http://www.ciderguide.com/

Estimated cideries in the US - 129!

 

[MarkKF]

Www.cidery.com