A Year in the Life of a Cidery
April: Barrel Aging in the Stone Barn
Dimension, complexity, tradition.
Theses are the reasons cider is married to the wood of barrels and why we’re in the midst of growing the barrel aging program at Angry Orchard, making it a key component to the mission of the Innovation Cider House in the Hudson Valley.
“Unlike us, cider likes to age” jokes Head Cidermaker Ryan Burk, as freshly fermented cider fills the interior of a eight year old Buffalo Trace barrel.
Our barrels, once filled with the finest bourbon, wine, cognac, sauternes, and calvados from around the world, are given a second life when they roll through the doors of the Innovation Cider House.
Barrels are chosen based on the desired outcome and which characteristics of the wine or spirit we want to showcase in the cider.
Once barrels are filled they are brought down to the newly renovated stone barn. Built the 1940’s into the side of a hill, which naturally keeps it cool, the stone barn was used for cold storage but has been transformed into a raw space for our aging cider.
When Burk first saw the stone barn he felt it was “a place that needed to be filled with barrels, it was perfect.”
While barrel aging gives cider unique qualities, great aging is only as great as the cider that goes into it. What’s most important is the way the cider is made before it heads into barrels.
The only way to know when a cider is finished aging is by tasting the barrels often. “You let the cider have it’s own journey and check in on it. The cider tells you when its ready to come out” informs Burk.
The Wooden Sleeper, the first cider aged at The Innovation Cider House, can be tasted on tap when we open our doors this Spring. Until then, we wait!
