Fifth Annual Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition ~ The Pro-Am Event for Apple and Pear Fermentations

The following information passed along to me about the Fifth Annual Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition. This is the only North American competition with an emphasis on cider and perry only. Even the beer, mead and distillation entries are required to be derived from apple or pear. Nice!     The Great Lakes [...]

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My Own 2 Day Cider Adventure

I’ll be micro blogging my own small 2 day cider adventure up to Westcott Bay Orchards on beautiful San Juan Island over on Twitter and the Facebook group. Check the links below to follow. Questions and comments welcome. http://twitter.com/oldtimeydave http://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Time-Cider/122868715822?ref=nf

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Cider on Ice? Not on my watch…

Just a quick post and a link to pub etiquette via the Guardian.co.uk. “Cider drinking happens in big cities but with ice. Asking for ice with your cider in a cider-making area will be met with suspicion bordering on violence. Alcopops are the closest things to anti-freeze you can order in a pub and have [...]

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More NW Cider Press and Cider Events at Harvest Time

Well it is that time of year again. The harvest season where you’ll find all of us involved in apples (or trying to be) running like mad. Picking, milling, pressing, sanitizing, storing, testing, adding nutrients, racking, worrying. I don’t have my own trees or an orchard yet but I’ve been beyond busy “hustling” and collecting [...]

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Blossomwood Cidery – Semi-Sweet Farmhouse Cider

This cider came to attention and my doorstep through what I can only call divine intervention. I think… Let’s just call it a wonder of the internet. Whatever the case I’m very glad it it did. I sat down on a nice Summer evening with my girlfriend Heather and her brother Dave and had what [...]

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Cider Tasting at Gravity Beer Market

It’s been too long and I am way over due on the blog posts. Cider School was great, everything I expected and more but I learned and experienced so much that I’m finding it difficult to decide exactly what to write about. That post will come soon. In the meantime if any of you folks [...]

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British Invasion: Samuel Smith Organic Cider?

For me the release of Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider comes completely out of left field. I’ve long enjoyed Sammy Smith beers and ales. Their Oatmeal Stout is one of my favorites, the Imperial Stout is tops, the Winter Warmer a Holiday favorite for sure and the Organic Lager and Ale always hits the spot. Let’s [...]

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Cider Academy.

Done deal. 4 years in the waiting and I’m finally going to attend Peter Mitchell’s Cider Academy. The course I am taking is Cider Making – Principles & Practice course and it is held at the WSU Mount Vernon extension. Not too far away. I’m pretty excited overall and the syllabus is a dream. I [...]

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Apple Crazy in Olympia.

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. The temperature, the weather, the colors, the sounds, the smells. It all works for me. The past two years have left me Apple crazy during Autumn. This condition is exacerbated now that I own an apple press. I’ve been out hustling them apples and harassing [...]

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