Vermont's Independent Voice
Browse News
Browse Arts + Life
Browse Food + Drink
Browse Cannabis
Browse Music
Browse Movies
Browse Events
Browse Classifieds
Browse Personals
For years, hard cider was the awkward little sister of craft beer — especially in Vermont, a state with more breweries per capita than any other. No longer: A handful of farms and companies are reviving Vermont's centuries-old cider-making tradition, turning out sparkling, hard and ice ciders that run the gamut from slightly sweet to bone dry.
Citizen Cider has the goods — and an underground party every Friday night that feels like something out of the Prohibition era. It's not easy to locate the place in the maze of Fort Ethan Allen. But those in the know push open a heavy wooden door at the back of the building to find an aromatic room that hosts plastic tanks full of fermenting apple juice and shoulder-to-shoulder people holding tulip-shaped glasses of cider.
The shindig goes down in the very same converted grain warehouse where three friends — a wine retailer, a farmer and a chemist — began making cider two years ago, using a salvaged 1950s apple press and fruit from Middlebury's Happy Valley Orchard. Their original aim was to create a drink that fused the best qualities of Champagne and slightly effervescent Vinho Verde. The result was the inaugural 5000-gallon batch of fizzy, golden Unified Press, Citizen's signature cider.
[image-3]Kris Nelson, Bryan Holmes and Justin Heilenbach have all quit their day jobs to tend to the business of shipping Unified Press to meet the growing demand all over Vermont. They've added a cider fermented with blueberries, another with cranberries and still another, dry-hopped. All of the varieties are at the Friday night parties, where cider flows freely behind a long wooden bar, and broadcasters from nearby Vermont Public Radio mingle with St. Michael's College students.
Those 21 and over, that is. This stuff isn't apple juice.
This article was originally published in 7 Nights: The Seven Days Guide to Vermont Restaurants & Bars in April 2013.
Related Stories
More By This Author
About The Author
Corin Hirsch
Bio:
Corin Hirsch was a Seven Days food writer from 2011 through 2016. She is the author of Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England, published by History Press in 2014.
Corin Hirsch was a Seven Days food writer from 2011 through 2016. She is the author of Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England, published by History Press in 2014.
About the Artist
Matthew Thorsen
Bio:
Matthew Thorsen was a photographer for Seven Days 1995-2018. Read all about his life and work here.
Matthew Thorsen was a photographer for Seven Days 1995-2018. Read all about his life and work here.
Speaking of...
-
Teacher COVID Cases Worry Educators As Childcare Center Prepares to Reopen
May 29, 2020 -
'Close Contact' Businesses Can Reopen June 1; Gathering Size Expanded
May 29, 2020 -
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott to Run for Reelection
May 28, 2020 -
Grigorii Skorupskii and Anastasia Geylenko
May 28, 2020 -
Angelina "Angie" Catanese Routly, 1926-2020
May 27, 2020 - More »
Comments
Comments are closed.
Since 2014, Seven Days has allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. While we’ve appreciated the suggestions and insights, the time has come to shut them down — at least temporarily.
While we champion free speech, facts are a matter of life and death during the coronavirus pandemic, and right now Seven Days is prioritizing the production of responsible journalism over moderating online debates between readers.
To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please send us a letter to the editor. Or send us a tip. We’ll check it out and report the results.
Online comments may return when we have better tech tools for managing them. Thanks for reading.
