Farm walks 2022

Alpenfire cider

port townsend, wa

FROM APPLE TO GLASS: GROWING, MAKING, AND MARKETING AUTHENTIC CIDERS

Long before Eastern Washington became "Apple Capital of the World", apples were flourishing in the milder, moister climate of the Pacific Northwest. Homesteads have long ago disappeared, but the apple trees planted by these early settlers are still offering up their scabby, shrunken fruit on lichen covered limbs. If you take a chance and look past the cracked skin and curled leaves, chances are you will find a taste of history in the flavor packed punch those old apples deliver.

Making cider was our first love and we planted the orchard to be able to do that the way we wanted. Having an orchard and learning the skills needed to maintain it has become an incredibly satisfying bonus to our lives, as well as to the cider-making process. When we decided to plant trees we needed to clear the land of 3rd growth scrub, logging waste, and 12 foot high wild rose. Looking back now, we might not have attempted an orchard in this place at all!