There’s nothing quite like the taste of fresh apple cider in the fall. At our orchard, every bottle starts with carefully grown apples and a process we've refined over many seasons. From the orchard to the bottle, every step helps create the crisp, refreshing cider that guests look forward to year after year.
Step 1: Harvesting the Apples
At peak fall season, we handpick the freshest apples from more than 18,000 apple trees. Our orchard features 12 unique apple varieties, each contributing its own balance of sweetness, tartness, and flavor. Some apples are perfect for eating fresh, while others shine when pressed into cider. Together, they create the rich, well-balanced taste that makes our cider unique.
Step 2: Washing & Sorting
Once harvested, the apples are carefully washed to remove dirt, leaves, and debris from the orchard. They are then sorted by hand and machine to remove any bruised or damaged fruit. Starting with quality apples helps ensure every batch of cider tastes its best.
Step 3: Grinding & Pulping
After sorting, the apples are crushed into a fragrant pulp. This process releases the juices locked inside the fruit and fills the cider mill with the unmistakable aroma of fresh apples. Popular varieties like Honeycrisp help add the crisp, juicy flavor that guests have come to love.
Step 4: Pressing
The apple pulp is loaded into a traditional layered basket press and gently pressed to extract the juice. This slow process helps preserve the natural flavors of the apples while producing the fresh cider that has become a fall favorite. Watching the golden cider flow from the press is one of the most satisfying parts of the season.
Step 5: Clarification
Once pressed, the cider is carefully clarified, UV sterilized, and stabilized. This helps maintain freshness, quality, and flavor while allowing the natural apple taste to remain front and center. The result is a clean, refreshing cider that's ready for bottling.
Step 6: Bottling
After the cider passes our quality checks, it is bottled into convenient half-gallon containers. Each half-gallon contains the juice from approximately 18 apples. That's a lot of orchard goodness packed into every bottle.
Step 7: Chill & Enjoy
The finished cider is chilled and prepared for guests to enjoy. Whether you're sipping a cup while visiting the orchard, pairing it with fresh donuts, or taking a bottle home to share with family and friends, it's a simple tradition that helps make fall feel complete.
Our fresh cider can be enjoyed in many ways throughout the orchard—from a refreshing cider slushie on a warm fall day to a glass of fresh-pressed cider alongside a warm donut. Guests can also take the flavor of fall home with our half-gallon and gallon jugs, perfect for sharing with family and friends.
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Taste the Tradition
Making fresh apple cider is one of our favorite parts of harvest season. From caring for our trees throughout the year to pressing apples at their peak ripeness, every bottle reflects the work that goes into growing great fruit and creating great memories.
The next time you visit, pick up a bottle of our fresh-pressed cider and enjoy a taste of the orchard. After all, fall only comes once a year, and nothing says autumn quite like fresh apple cider.
