Farnum Hill Ciders
Another oh-whoa photo by Brenda, taken in glamorous Enfield N.H.
It’s May, it’s May, Summer Cider is a-coming in! Or out! Anyway, it’s available! This seasonal blend aims to please its old friends and win new ones because hey, we Yanks are still a bit slow to know the seasonable truth: cider — good cider – is the perfect hot-weather companion!
So begone, those static mental links between the word ‘cider’ and sweet brown apple juice, sweet brown donuts, checked flannel, leaf-piles or any other leftover fall imagery still sticking like mind-lint to your cider concept! (You may unpack those ideas in September when your local orchard starts squeezing sweet cider. Also kindly transfer your attention to the new Farnum Hill releases at that time. To everything there is … etc.)
The first FH Summer Cider was pretty cutting-edge six years ago when we began urging our fellow Americans back to drinking cider in hot weather like the rest of the world. (Now you’ll see U.S. brands sporting summer ciders all over the place. So flattering.) Our Summer suggests a kind of whiskey-sour effect (without the alcoholic wallop, obviously). That means potent citrusy acid, lots of stone-fruit notes, with lowest-key tannins, minimal funk, minimal mystery.
Then till now, FH Summer is in the market May to September. In 2011 we couldn’t produce it at all because the 2010 harvest came in so short of those crucial high-acid apples that give FHSC its festive zing. So please pardon all the exclamation points — it’s May 2012, and Summer Cider’s out to play!
Our Basic Cider Stance
On Farnum Hill, we stick to the true meaning of the word “cider” — an alcoholic beverage fermented from apples, just as “wine” is an alcoholic beverage fermented from grapes. When Prohibition hit the States, apple-growers’ sharp need for a new teetotal image cut the normal old word “cider” from its normal old meaning, and pasted it to the sweet brown ephemeral juice of autumn, normally called “apple juice.” Farnum Hill Ciders, at 6.5-7.5% alcohol, tend toward the dry, sharp, fruity and bountifully aromatic. We make them to gladden the moment and to freshen the flavors of companionable foods. We are proud of Farnum Hill Ciders, and we ‘ve been authoritatively told that, for now at least, they are the best-made ciders in America. (Cidermaking Video)
We’re rooting for more skilled apple-growers to take up the horticulture of cider. As in the wine world, cider growers may want to make their own, or new cidermakers may to buy their fruit. Already, we can sell our surplus cider apples for many times the processing price that eating apples bring. That makes our orchards valuable. Other growers are listening, some are planting for cider. So, the future of distinctive American orchard-based ciders may outclass the pre-Prohibition past.
