I recently visited a brewer friend at his brewpub for drinks. While chatting about current events, a somewhat wobbly patron approached our table to tell us (or my friend, rather): “I wish I had your job. Mine is so boring. I wish I could just sit around all day and drink beer.”

After a protracted bout of controlled-yet-maniacal laughter, my friend attempted to respond, but the someone who had approached us had already wobbled out of range to be heard.

I’ve worked enough hours in breweries to remember most of my time was spent cleaning everything more than making anything, and I wondered if the same held true for cidermakers. And so sparked this month’s “InCider Insights” topic, where I ask three cidermakers the same question with the intent to compare the similarities and differences between artists of the same craft.

What’s a typical day at the cidery for you?

Curt Henry, Founder
Tattiebogle CiderWorks (Acme, Penn.)

Typical Day at Tattiebogle CiderWorks = Oxymoron

Overall Day = clean 90%, make cider 10%

The schedule that we attempt to keep, but inevitably goes sideways:

Monday: Clean tasting room after weekend craziness; clean kegs

Tuesday: Make cider; keg or bottle cider; deliver cider

Wednesday: Cidermaking odds and ends; bottle or keg cider

Thursday: Maybe take a half-day off; dreaded paperwork and all other hated tasks

Friday: Carbonate cider; clean tasting room; entertain and hang with cidery guests; act like I am doing something productive from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Saturday: Cidermaking odds and ends; cidery improvement projects; clean tasting room; entertain and hang with cidery guests while acting like I am doing something other than talking to people from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday: Wash and repeat Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

There you have it: The undeniably, ultra-glamourous, rockstar life of the average cidermaker!

Christine Walter, Owner & Head Cidermaker
Bauman’s Cider (Gervais, Ore.)

First, there is no typical day! We are farm-based, so part of our time is in the orchard, pruning or bringing in the apples, pears or plums, or whatever lovely fruit we are pressing and fermenting then. We spend a lot of time processing fruit: pressing apples, of course, but also cutting up peaches, pureeing berries (literally tons of berries) with a giant immersion blender, squeezing citrus, grating ginger, etc.

For brevity, I’ll summarize a day in the cellar with my personal highlights: walking in and smelling an active fermentation – yeasty and fruity. It’s pretty magical. Pulling out samples from barrels that have been working away, either fermenting or aging, and finding that the cider has found its way, or is at least on the right path. Finally, blending trials, where the real art lies. We come together to decide how and what to blend, tasting all the nuance and merits of one or another, discussing and choosing.

It’s a lovely job. Except when it’s not, but that’s another article.

Joe Farrier, Co-Founder
Ficklewood Ciderworks (Long Beach, Calif.)

What’s fun about Ficklewood is that there is no typical day. In part that is due to the times; after all, our opening day was January 25, 2020!  It’s also who we are, always learning and experimenting. There’s a quote on our cans, “We proudly defy conventions with a pioneering spirit that’s rooted in tradition.”

Operationally, we have two fundamental rules. First, there is people safety and hospitality, extending from our internal team to our customers, and to our downtown Long Beach neighbors. Second, there is product safety which involves cleanliness and organization, on which we spend LOTS of time.

No matter our title, we all learn cidermaking and we all serve as stewards of what we make. From titration to cleaning tanks, recommending a cider to someone new, or talking fermentation techniques with a regular; inviting a person into the world of cider. We believe it is at our core that we all make what we serve, and we all serve what we make.

Lee Reeve is the owner-operator of inCiderJapan G.K. (www.inciderjapan.com), an importer/distributor, retailer, and producer of cider and cider-related goods. He is also the publisher of inCiderJapan, Asia’s first and only bilingual magazine dedicated to all things cider.

Lee Reeve can be reached at [email protected].