The history of cider spans the globe from the ancient apple jungles of Kazakhstan, to lush orchards across Europe, to rich and fertile American soil. The diversity of the land contributes to the vast diversity of this special fruit. In this episode, I’m talking to Ryan Burk, Head Cider Maker at Angry Orchard located in Walden, New York. We talk about how cider is made, what makes it unique, and the creative ways you can drink, pair, and cook with ciders.
What we covered in this episode
- Ryan Burk gives the definition of cider in the US compared to Europe (2:18)
- How prohibition and the temperance movement affected orchards (4:21)
- Ryan Burk describes the Angry Orchard product line (9:16)
- The path towards cider innovation (13:07)
- Different barrel aging techniques (17:26)
- Ryan Burk talks about the seasonal process of cider production (22:09)
- How Ryan Burk got into cider making (24:53)
- How Ryan Burk sees the changes and innovations within the industry (28:14)
- Apple growing regions and their flavor profiles (33:01)
- Why ciders are great for cocktails (37:51)
- Ryan Burk discusses how to pair cider with food (41:29)
- A few interesting facts about apple seeds (47:20)
- Ryan Burk's predictions for future trends in cider (51:25)
- Series of rapid-fire questions.
- Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast
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- Bitter Sweet Apples @ Angry Orchard
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- Cider @ Angry Orchard
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- Main Cider House Cellar @ Angry Orchard
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- Angry Orchard – Cider House
Submitted questions from podcast listeners
What cocktails with hard cider?
Anytime you see sparkling wine in a cocktail, you can replace it with cider. Take your favorite cocktail that has a sparkling white wine in it, take out the Prosecco and put in a dry sparkling cider, it's really going to compliment the drink.
There's a traditional cocktail in the US, maybe the first cocktail, called the Stone Fence. You would have cider, your choice of spirit, in most cases, rum or bourbon, a little bit of vermouth and some bitters. I’s very simple, equal parts and q dash of the bitters, and over a rock. I really liked that particular cocktail. It's hard to say which ciders. So, when I think about that kind of a drink, like a heavier, bigger, bolder drink, something that would have rum or bourbon in it, and some bitters, I suggest something that has bittersweet in it to kind of stand up to that. I probably pick, if I was looking at Angry Orchard’s line, that's available to everybody, our Unfiltered Cider. It is a really good cider to throw in the mix for that kind of a drink.