RIP Ashmead

[madscientist451]

When I first got into cider making, I hunted down all the orchards within a half days drive, looking for heirloom varieties that would make a hard cider better than the usual eating apples everyone grows. Then, close to home, a very large orchard started selling Ashmead’s Kernal Apples. I used It in a single variety cider and then I stopped hunting. This large orchard sells to big grocery chains and even exports to the Caribbean market. But they always had a few bins of Ashmead’s Kernal and a few other hard to find varieties they sold in their local retail operation.
So I called and asked if they would have any this season….”nope, they were all pushed out in the spring to make room for newer varieties“.
Other Varieties I don’t see anymore:
Northern Spy
Smokehouse
Winesap
and other varieties that were classified as “cooking” apples.
Oh well, that’s progress!

 

[jnesselrode]

When I first got into cider making, I hunted down all the orchards within a half days drive, looking for heirloom varieties that would make a hard cider better than the usual eating apples everyone grows. Then, close to home, a very large orchard started selling Ashmead’s Kernal Apples. I used It in a single variety cider and then I stopped hunting. This large orchard sells to big grocery chains and even exports to the Caribbean market. But they always had a few bins of Ashmead’s Kernal and a few other hard to find varieties they sold in their local retail operation.
So I called and asked if they would have any this season….”nope, they were all pushed out in the spring to make room for newer varieties“.
Other Varieties I don’t see anymore:
Northern Spy
Smokehouse
Winesap
and other varieties that were classified as “cooking” apples.
Oh well, that’s progress!

Always sad to hear this kind of thing.

Not sure where you are, but I'm hopeful that the resurgence in ciders here in the US will encourage planting/ replanting of more varieties geared toward creating better, more rounded ciders. The ciders we have now are mostly light and crisp, and generally sweet. We really enjoyed the more flavorful ciders in Ireland this past summer, and generally prefer them on the dry side.

 

[madscientist451]

I’m in Pennsylvania, about 100 miles East of Pittsburg. Maybe 10 years back there was a promising upsurge in what I would call “quality” cider in the US. But from my perspective, it’s faded somewhat now that seltzer and all kinds of canned cocktails, hard tea and other items are available. I used to see cider from the UK and top US producers in stores, but not now. Even Angry Orchard barely has shelf space and I haven’t seen woodchuck in years. And these are the large industrial ciders, good quality, but not making what I’m really looking for.
For farmers, a fickle market for what you grow just isn’t profitable. So the only ones planting decent cider apples are outfits that make their own hard cider and can benefit from the added value. They aren’t going to be selling any apples, so the home cider maker has to plant some trees or accept cider made from every day apples.

 

[jnesselrode]

The farm-to-table movement and the proliferation of local wineries gives me some hope. In my opinion, a lot less breweries and wineries and some more cideries would be very welcome. But it’s an uphill climb.

I did see Crispin is making a comeback. That was my introduction to hard ciders years ago and I hope it makes it to my area (Kansas City area). I do see Woodchuck again but haven’t tried it because I think it may be too sweet for us.

 

[Chalkyt]

Oh good... a chance to rave on a bit. Your post has "let slip the dogs of war", or at least opened a can of worms!

Sadly, it seems to be the same everywhere as apple orchards are replaced by more commercially viable crops. It is a tough commercial world out there.

Here in Oz, the "Apple Isle" State (Tasmania... about the same size and climate as Washington State) lost a lot of its apple export market when the U.K. joined the European Economic Community so a government sponsored "tree pull scheme" was introduced in order to convert orchards to dairy and other commercial crops. This destroyed over 700 orchards and halved the state apple production leaving only about 20 significant producers.

Fortunately, remnants of good cider apples remain, and a small Tasmanian ,craft cider industry of about a dozen players has grown up. Although sea freight to the Australian mainland can be a bit of a show-stopper some of these products are appearing in major liquor outlets. On the mainland in the cooler S.E. regions, apple growers are planting cider apples to supplement their culinary apples.

Unfortunately, most casual craft cidermakers in Oz have to make do with supermarket juices, commercial eating apples or our own orchard apples supplemented with crabs, roadside wilds, and whatever else we can get. It really does take about 5 years to get a decent crop from a new apple tree so planting a Dabinet or Yarlington Mill etc. is a labour of love.

The sad thing is that as soon as a cider becomes successful in the marketplace, it is gobbled up by one of the big players. For example, Mercury Cider is over 100 years old, but was taken over by Carlton and United Breweries which is owned by Asahi. There are now several iterations of this venerable brand including "Crushed Raspberry Cider", I guess to satisfy the alcopop market. I wonder what Mercury's colonial founders would think of it.

However, the real craft cidermakers here seem to be fighting back, chasing around $7 per bottle retail for premium cider and selling for a little less on-line from the orchard, but not all "cider drinkers" are prepared to pay for this quality with lots of sub $5 product in the liquor stores. One craft cidermaker from the highlands cool country west of Sydney has an interesting "party trick". He shows how a litre of AJC can be turned into 5 litres of "apple juice", fermented, filtered, flavoured, sweetened, pumped full of C02, and bottled for less than $2 then retailed as Cider at the liquor store for $5.

Man, if I am realistic and factor in the cost of my consumables, gear and time, it really costs me around $2 per bottle to make cider, and I grow my own apples and scrounge bottles (but I am doing it for fun and am not very efficient!). So, how does a proper cidermaker earn a profit after paying for their apples, bottles, equipment etc when they are competing against $3 alcopops? Spread the word... DRINK REAL CIDER!

Ahh... that feels better, I had better go and open a bottle in order to settle down!