Copyright MassLive
Apple lovers will travel throughout Franklin County in search of the perfect cider this weekend as CiderDays kicks off its three-day run on Friday. The event – which unites professional cidermakers, interested tasters, novices and aficionados — features three days of tastings and special programming from workshops to music to food of all kinds and other events from morning until night. At one time, cider was the most popular drink in America. Colonists in early America planted cider apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony shortly after arriving onshore. According to mass.gov, hard apple cider made by artisans across Massachusetts is today undergoing a renaissance. Today, the locally made drink features a wide array of styles for every taste, depending on the variety of cider apple used. “The renaissance of hard cidermaking, which declined in America during the 1900s, began over 30 years ago and had its roots right here in Franklin County,” said apple specialist, author and educator, and farmer Matt Kaminsky, better known as Gnarly Pippins, who today is one of several organizers of Cider Days. Husband and wife duo Terry and Judith Maloney were among the first in the post-Prohibition era of the American renaissance of hard cider to grow apples specifically for cidermaking and not for eating. Today Field Maloney has taken over as primary cidermaker at West County Cider in Colrain, stepping up to help his mother after his father died in a tragic accident when a valve released on a tank of gas, critically injuring him. His father was a doctor in the Baystate Franklin Medical Center emergency room for many years, and he met Maloney’s mother in California where she was making wine in Napa Valley. They moved to Colrain in 1972, and Maloney was born the following year. “My dad wanted to figure out a way to make something sustainable from the land. They couldn’t grow grapes, but they could grow cider apples,” he said. In the early 1980s, no one was paying attention to hard cider and there was no tradition of hard cider making in the Hilltowns. “My dad and mom were impressed by the idea that you could grow cider apples to make hard cider. At first, they could only make about 200 ballons a year by law,” Maloney said, explaining the number was limited unless you were a commercial operation. In 1984, the family founded West County Cider, which made them a commercial operation. “It was my parents, along with Charlie Olchowski and Paul Correnty, who organized the first CiderDays in 1994,” Maloney said. Both cider makers, Correnty had written a book entitled “The Art of Cider Making,” which Olchowski provided the photographs for. CiderDays began 31 years ago with Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Greenwood Farm, Pine Hill Orchards, and West County Cider as the venues for the day. The event culminated with a bring-your-own tasting at the Maloney’s sampling room. It was a way, as the Cider Days website explains, “to encourage the past Hilltown cider-making traditions and to sustain the nearby orchards, giving fermenters a chance to meet, talk, taste, and buy fresh-pressed, varietals and unadulterated ciders.” Three decades later, Cider Days has grown to three days with a much larger audience attending the annual event, which was halted by COVID and returned in 2023. “The mission remains the same. To popularize the idea and culture of the tradition of hard cider making techniques and to teach them to other interested amateurs. Today it continues as a showcase highlighting the good works that farmers are doing to keep the culture and the newest innovations in cidermaking alive,” Kaminsky said. Among the participating venues for apple eating, cider tasting and education about the fruit and cider making are: Apex Orchards in Shelburne; Beaver Pond Distillery in Petersham; Berkshire Cider Project in North Adams; The Brewery at Four Star Farms in Northfield; Cameron’s Winery and Cidery in Northfield; Carr’s Ciderhouse in Hadley; Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield; The Dirty Truth in Northampton; Four Phantoms Brewery in Greenfield; Headwater Cider in Hawley; Meadow Forge Farm in Shelburne Falls; the Mill at Shelburne Falls; New Salem Preserves and Heritage Cider; Pine Hill Orchards in Colrain; Red Apple Farm in Phillipston; Ryan and Casey/Cold River Package and Market in Greenfield; Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, Vermont; Shelburne Falls Cork; Stone Cellar Cidery in Worthington; and West County Cider in Shelburne. Not every venue is open all three days of the event. Check the CiderDays website, ciderdays.org, for more information on each venue, including its hours and programming. Kaminsky noted he is “thrilled” to see the return of the event’s Cider Salon at Scott Farm on Sunday after a five-year absence. “It’s a really big deal. COVID took a toll on its infrastructure,” he said. Located about one hour away from Springfield in Dummerston, Vermont, Scott Farm’s Cider Salon offers “cider lovers, cidermakers, enthusiasts and wine and craft beverage lovers” the opportunity to taste the offerings of 20 regional cideries, discover new producers and meet the makers. One of the few ticketed events happening in conjunction with CiderDays, Cider Salon tickets for tasting are $45 and available online at scottfarmvermont.com. Kaminsky, better known among farmer friends as Gnarly Pippins, is holding his own event on Friday at the Williamsburg Grange Hall, where participants can see and tase a showcase of seedling apples and pears from all over the continent. The program, the 6th annual Wild and Seedling Pomological Exhibition, is a unique opportunity to introduce novel and undocumented varieties of pome fruits to the public. Suggested donation is on a sliding scale of $10. Proceeds will benefit the Williamsburg Grange’s Historic Building Conservation Fund. In addition to the hard cider, unique concoctions, and your run-of-the-mill apple cider being sold and served up for tasting, visitors will find something different going on at the more than 20 CiderDays locations. For example, Cameron’s Winery and Cidery will host an interactive demonstration of an apple press as well as a craft fair; while Clarksdale Fruit Farms will have a cider pressing demonstration and orchard history talk on Saturday, followed on Sunday with a “Good Stock Farm Cooking Demo” with James Beard award-winning chef Sandy D’Amato. New Salem Preserves & Heritage Cider will host orchard tours and workshops for beginning and advanced cidermaking tips.
