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Writer's pictureEllis

Wild Hard Cider

Updated: Feb 3, 2020

Agriculture in Northern Michigan comes with many challenges: harsh winters and short growing seasons being most significant. And yet this land can yield such bounty.


wild apples and pears
Feral fruit bound for the press

In the winters of 2014 and 2015, Michigan farmers saw some of the most devastating weather in their lifetimes and careers. Our Wild Hard Cider was born from these challenging seasons.


Our first cider was truly wild, with the fruit sourced from two feral trees and fermented with the native yeast that was already present on their skins. The result was a highly natural, unfiltered, pungent, dry cider (heavy with Brettanomyces, for you yeast geeks out there). It was fun, it was funky, it was too much for most people...but we liked that we had produced something from what the land freely gave.


Over the years we have adapted and tamed our wild cider beast, and it now rests comfortably within the Asturian style of Northern Spain. Low carbonation and virtually no residual sugar makes our cider markedly different from the prevailing trends of American hard ciders and it is truly a unique expression of this land.


winery dog under apple tree
Finley keeps a watchful eye

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