The Art of Cider Making

black and while illustration of a cider mill

From colonial times until the 1870s, alcoholic beverages made from apples—such as hard cider, apple wine, and applejack—were the beverages of choice in the Hudson Valley. For nearly 300 years, apples were (and still are) by far the most cultivated local fruit, followed by pears, raspberries, grapes, currants, and stone fruits.

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The Apple: Coming of Age

Apples on an an apple tree

Is there another edible object more freighted with historical significance than the lowly apple? Between Eve, Steve (Jobs), and Sir Isaac (Newton), the apple is linked in the popular imagination to the downfall of man, the most significant socio-cultural revolution of our time and the dawning of an age of science.

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