not to kick off a trade war but if anyone lives in Northern Virginia this is 
place opened just over the mountain from me in Burkittsville, 
MD. http://ciderapples.com/

They use heirloom apples. The ciderworks is located in the house Franklin used 
as his headquarters during the Battle of South Mountain.



________________________________
From: Jon Kukla <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, February 25, 2011 8:30:17 AM
Subject: [VA-HIST] Virginia is for cider

Virginia is for cider
By Mike Gruss
The Virginian-Pilot
February 23, 2011

South Carolina claims vodka-infused sweet tea. Kentucky boasts its whiskey
and juleps.

In Virginia, tourism officials are quick to mention the state's wine country
and the 200 wineries that quantify the designation.

Now the General Assembly, with urging from the state's wine board, has
passed a bill that its sponsors say will help "Virginia's burgeoning hard
cider industry."

To which the appropriate response is: Virginia has a burgeoning hard cider
industry? Yes and no.

Yes, the state has about five businesses producing hard cider, but it's a
small group, up from only two a few years ago. "Burgeoning" is a bit of
hyperbole. . . . Yet to cavalierly dismiss cider as a new alternative to
beer or wine or hard stuff is to be ignorant of the cider's long history in
Virginia.

Sarah Meacham, an assistant professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth
University who wrote a book on cider, said cidering in Virginia, and
specifically in Hampton Roads, dates back to the 1600s.

Unlike in New England, Virginia's cities and towns were too far apart to
create concentrated markets to trade the ingredients for beer. Plus, the
warmer temperatures here didn't favor beer-making.

Instead, colonists took advantage of the bountiful apples and pressed cider.
Then they drank it. Lots of it. Lots and lots and lots of cider.

That was especially true in this area, where cider was cleaner, tastier and
healthier than the water. While Meacham can't prove it, she believes cider
was a key factor in keeping colonists alive.

But by 1783, the average white male was drinking seven shots of rum a day
after George Washington placed it in a soldier's daily ration and removed
cider, Meacham said. As cities and transportation flourished, cider lost
out.

But one part of the cider-making process still influences modern-day
thinking.

In colonial times, hops were considered "technology," and working with
technology was considered the man's job. Cidering was left to women, just as
it had been in England.

"Sometimes people do see cider as a woman's drink," Meacham said.

An accomplished beer expert I interviewed, who also likes hard cider,
likened it to drinking a cosmo.

The new law will allow apples to ferment to a higher concentration of
alcohol, most likely around 10 percent. The cider will be less watered down.
. . . Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Ciders in western Virginia said sales were
up 40 percent at her cidery last year. Meacham believes a cider renaissance
could take place among the same audience that favors home brew or
handcrafted cheese.

Reporting on this column, I was reminded many times that Jefferson drank
hard cider. Washington drank hard cider...

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