Looking for Something Different? The Angry Orchard Cider Club

by Melissa Miller | Jul 26, 2022

From the classic Crisp Apple to the vibrant Tropical, Angry Orchard ciders are a standby at retailers across the country. But there’s more to the brand than those national offerings. Angry Orchard also operates the Cider House on a historic 60-acre orchard in Walden, New York.

Launched in 2015, the Cider House focuses on research and development. The cidery crafts seasonal, small batch ciders that explore a wide range of apple varieties and cidermaking techniques, with some ciders developed in collaboration with other cideries and orchards. The Cider House is open to the public and customers can sample over a dozen different ciders exclusive to the Cider House.

Since not everyone can make a regular trip out to the Cider House, cider fans can get a taste of the Cider House delivered to their doors with the Angry Orchard Cider Club. Featuring an ever-changing selection, it’s a delicious way to sample something new and delve a little deeper into what cider can be. For example, the Cider House produces single-varietal ciders that highlight the characteristics of interesting apples. There’s also a barrel-aging program, with ciders aged for one to three years. Other ciders incorporate ingredients like locally sourced maple syrup or a variety of fruits.

Customers can sign up for the Angry Orchard Cider Club online. Cider club members will receive four shipments of cider throughout the year, in February, May, August and November. Each box features three different ciders curated by the cidermaking team, as well as in-depth information about each cider and tasting notes. Also included are approachable recipes developed by the Cider House’s culinary team, intended to be paired or cooked with the ciders.

Each quarterly shipment is priced at approximately $75 plus tax and shipping, and is delivered via UPS. Currently, shipping is available to most U.S. states (check the Cider Club FAQs for the current list). Membership is by an automatically recurring quarterly payment, which can be canceled at any time. Members receive a reminder one week prior to billing for each quarter.

In addition to quarterly shipments of cider, club members receive 10% off all merchandise available online and at the Cider House, such as Angry Orchard branded apparel, glassware, accessories and more. When visiting the Cider House, club members will also receive one complimentary cider flight.

Each shipment of ciders is a surprise — club members won’t know what’s inside until they open the box. However, they can expect each selection of ciders to represent an interesting range of styles, apple varieties and cider making techniques.

For instance, a recent shipment included Super Natural, an unfiltered cider made by blending traditional cider and heirloom apples and allowing the cider to naturally carbonate in the bottles. The shipment also included Understood in Motion 04, a collaboration with Artifact Cider Project that highlighted Newtown Pippin apples fermented by the Cider House in Walden, and Roxbury Russet apples fermented by Artifact in Florence, Massachusetts. The final cider was Wooden Sleeper Barrel Select, a blend of bourbon barrel-aged ciders with notes of baking spices, sherry, cooked cherries and overripe apples. Pairing recipes included a weeknight-friendly pesto spaghetti carbonara, hearty crab cakes and a special occasion–worthy apple crème brûlée.

Angry Orchard is committed to drinker education and awareness-building to help grow the category for all craft cidermakers and the Cider Club is an important aspect of that mission. For cider aficionados, the cider curious and everyone in between, the Angry Orchard Cider Club truly offers something for everyone.