You need to read:
Posted on 09/05/2012 3:10:02 AM PDT by djf
Yep - I was stationed there in the early 80's and get the chills when I think back to those hangovers!
It’s called freeze-distilling.
You may or may not have just broken Federal law...
;-)
You can brew without a license, but distilling, you gotta be licensed!
I make hard cider every year. The biggest issue I have is finding fresh, unpasteurized juice. Thankfully, I am able to buy it direct from the orchard in the fall.
Cider is extremely easy to brew and is a crowd pleaser. Try it if you get a chance.
Cheers,
knewshound
Welcome back!
Apple harvest is on, couple more weeks till prime-time for fresh cider!
I don;t think I have the room unless I start giving away free beer!
Involves fermenting and freezing , skimming off that which freezes from the top of the barrel.
another lost art. Making applejack at home is a felony. The BATFE considers it the concentration of alcohol and is distillation. The art is lost thanks to our inability to change our own laws.
Good article. Thanks for posting!
I have met several old farmers who made quite a bit of applejack, but didn't want to talk about it - no doubt due to their experiences during prohibition.
Some traditional farmers let the barrels slowly freeze in a barn cellar or other suitable location, and then either removed the ice crystals, or just waited until enough of the water had frozen to improve the "flavor". Then a hole was drilled through the ice to drain the applejack.
Which, if you can’t raise nearly $1m, you can’t afford to do.
It’s all about the revenue.
You need to read:
I can help you with that “excess beer” problem.....
I can highly recommend Woodchuck draft cider available in the grocery or liquor store case. We drink it all the time.
Beak & Skiff apple orchard in central NY opened a distillery, and makes a very nice apple vodka. Not "apple flavored vodka", but a good straight clean vodka made from apples (with just a hint thereof).
Lol!
You’d have to come to Seattle... beer is free, but the bottles stay with me!
Kinda wishing I could get the real, factory washers for the Grolsch bottles though.
George Costanza is reported to be a hard cider kind of guy.
Wow. I LOVE hard cider. I’ve been drinking Strongbow’s on hot summer afternoons because it’s not sweet like Woodchuck. Very refreshing—delightful.
Hard cider makes an excellent hot buttered rum. Heat the cider and some brown sugar in a microwave...careful not to boil off the alcohol. Add to a mug with some Jamaican rum and a pat of real butter. Two of those and you don't care if it's 20 below and snowing.
“As a home brewer who brews both beer and cider, I found this fascinating.”
Have you (or anyone else on this ping list) posted links to good recipes or recipes of your own for making hard cider at home? I’d be interested in reading them and giving one of them a try.
i disagree, in the staunch beer city of St Paul, every bar has hard cider available and usually on tap. Perhaps its the Irish roots of the cities. I will drink cider on a hot day before i ever reach for a beer, just a bit more refreshing IMHO.
I used to pick up six-packs of ‘Apple Beer’ in upstate New York years ago...it came in cans, and was an import from Utah. I see those cans on eBay now and then. There is still an ‘Apple Beer’ available in the Utah region...the logo is similar to those old cans, so I suspect it is the same product. No alcohol, though...so the only thing it has in common with hard cider is ‘apple’. Tasty, though...
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