Upstate-Downtown

By Christopher Matthews

In the ongoing craft (hard) cider renaissance in the Hudson Valley (HV), a structural impediment (and irony) exists: there aren’t enough cider apples to go around.

While culinary/dessert apples are widely available — New York is, after all, the second largest apple growing state in the US — many of these varieties, like Gala, Honey Crisp or Golden Delicious, just don’t make for compelling ciders, with their high sugar, low acidity, linear taste profiles and scant tannin. And even for American antique varieties that were good for cider back in the (pre-Prohibition) day, such as Baldwin or Golden Russet, they can fetch top dollar at farmers’ markets as eating or cooking apples. Combine this with a lean year for HV apples, e.g. in 2016 (due to a late frost), and a ever-more crowded cider field, and you get a scramble for the more suitable cider apples.

Enter Elizabeth Ryan, whom I ran into recently at The Corner, in Tivoli, NY. Elizabeth is a HV farming hero who, for over 30 years — way before it was cool — has pursued sustainable and organic agriculture in her various orchards and fields (primarily Breezy Hill Orchard and Stone Ridge Orchard), has been a founding member of numerous green markets across the region and a first mover in the craft cider comeback in the HV, with her Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider operation.

Elizabeth Ryan

I informed her of my own cider activity and interest, and asked her about the region’s shortage of cider apples. She acknowledged the situation, but asked me if I had tried her “God Speed the Plough”. Continue reading →