Mackensy Lunsford

mlunsford@citizen-times.com

Cider — the hard type — is a booming industry. Because it's so popular, a number of cider makers nationwide are reporting difficulty sourcing "spitter" apples, a colloquial term for the bittersharp apples best pressed for cider.

Many of those spitter apples, such as Muscadet de Berney and Golden Russet, come from heirloom variety trees, planted by cider makers in Colonial America and felled by the axes of teetotalers during Prohibition. They've been sparsely planted since, even as demand increases.

But locally, cideries such as Noble Cider, Flat Rock Cider Works and the forthcoming Mills River expansion for Bold Rock, are learning to work around that paucity, turning the local abundance of dessert apples, like Gala and Mutsu, into profit. Noble Cider last year increased production by 1,000 percent, and this year, it will double that again when it moves to a larger facility.

Some apple farmers are getting into the hard-cider business, creating an outlet for ugly apples that might otherwise be hard to sell.

"Cider, especially hard cider, is growing almost 1,000 percent a year the last few years," said Kenny Barnwell, owner of more than 200 acres of eponymous orchards and past president of the Blue Ridge Apple Grower Association. "Anything we can use as a secondary market for our apples is a benefit to us — as long as I don't have to put them on a truck and ship them 500 miles away like we're having to do now, anything different than that is better."

The cider boom is already a boost for North Carolina, the seventh-largest apple producing state in the country. But it could soon be a big business for Henderson County, which grows 65 percent of the apples in the state.

To be sure, according to Barnwell, the bittersharp apples so in demand in the rest of the country, aren't as celebrated by local apple farmers. "No one I know in Henderson County is going back and planting the old cider apples," he said.

That's because those bittersharp apples are mainly too bitter to eat, making them one-hit wonders, and Barnwell only plants apples appropriate for a variety of uses — meaning today's cider apple could also be tomorrow's baby food. "Everything I put in has got to be able to go at least a couple of different ways," he said. "If you don't, you'll end up with a situation where you can't get rid of them."

But cideries can also use Arkansas Black and Stayman Winesap apples — which grow well in Henderson County — fermenting the apples' juice like wine.

"The flaw that is often pointed out in apples is the lack of tannins," said David Bowman, of Black Mountain Ciderworks, which uses North Carolina apples. "While true, the lack of tannin is easily remedied with the addition of a touch of wine tannin, as most winemakers do as well. Conversely, our apples have splendid levels of sugar and acid, which lend a snappy brightness when properly exploited."

Tree to bottle

Mark Williams, executive director of Agribusiness Henderson County, said having another outlet for apples is always good for business.

"Any time you get more demand, it should help the price and the opportunity to sell fruit, when you otherwise might not have an opportunity," he said.

But he thinks the best boon for apple farmers comes when they learn how to make their own cider, cutting out the middleman and effectively diversifying crops. Flat Rock Cider Works, one local farmer-driven cidery, began selling a brand called Naked Apple in May.

"What I really like about those guys is they're taking it from the apple tree to the bottle," Williams said. "I love seeing vertically integrated, completely local businesses like that. They've been in Henderson County for a long time — it's a true local success."

According to Williams, there's a half dozen or so other growers producing their own hard cider in Henderson County. "They're not jumping on a bandwagon, they've been in the business on some level for many generations," he said.

But are North Carolina's apple farmers missing out on another source of income by not planting heirloom apples with names like Porter's Perfection and Foxwhelp?

Williams said some cider makers may look to plant trees specifically for cider production, but not many.

"We can find a point where we reach a limit on the apples suitable for cider production," Williams said. "We do have plenty of juice apples, but do we have the right apples — that's the question. Opportunities have opened up, but some of the purists like to have certain varieties, and supply is rather limited."

Spitting image

"There are not enough of those 'spitter' apples grown in the United States, that's true," says Joanna Baker, co-owner of Asheville's Noble Cider. "Is it going to be a detriment to our hard cider industry here in Western North Carolina? Not at all."

Pending financial arrangements, Noble Cider intends to expand its facility this September. The Bakers are looking at a 9,000-square-foot-warehouse on the far west end of town for a new location.

"It's going to allow us to increase our production and get into bottles," said Baker. "We plan to expand to at least 40,000 gallons this apple season."

Noble negotiates with an apple broker and local farmers to buy Henderson County apples such as Mutsus and Pink Ladies. But she and her husband, Trevor Baker, are also working with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension to plant 80 heirloom varieties, including English and French hard cider apples, in the Hendersonville research orchard. They'll watch those trees for the next three years to see how they fare in WNC's climate.

The apples, which include varieties popular in Colonial America, will make interesting special and seasonal brews, said Baker. But he also thinks local farmers don't have the luxury of taking risks with fruit that fares best in New England.

"Growers already take risks every year, so why add more on top of that?" he said.

Baker is willing to pay a bit extra for local apples; it's important for him to build relationships with farmers, he said, even if it means skipping the heirloom apples the rest of the country so covets.

"I'm an advocate of working with what you have and not complaining about what you don't have," he said. "Do we want to branch out and try new varieties? Of course. But we haven't had any trouble getting the apples we want to get and turning them into hard cider."

Like a rock

So great is the Western North Carolina apple inventory that some larger cider makers are eying the area for expansion. Bold Rock, a Virginia-based cider maker that presses "hundreds of tons of apples a year," is looking to open a cidery in Mills River. "We're still in the contingency period," Bold Rock owner John Washburn said. "It's looking very good to go through."

Washburn said Bold Rock has been "unexpectedly and significantly popular" in Virginia. "We thought we would sell 8,000 cases the first six months, and we sold 46,000," he said. Now the cidery sells up to 15,000 a month, a number that's steadily increasing.

Washburn is attracted to Mills River since "it's the apple kingdom of North Carolina." He also thinks that this area's reputation as a destination for beer breweries is a help, not a hindrance, to local cider makers.

"Wherever craft breweries do well, cideries do well," said Washburn. Indeed, Sierra Nevada, one of the largest craft breweries in the country, opened its Mills River facility earlier this year. And recently, Bold Rock signed with Budweiser of Asheville to distribute its four cider products

Brian Shanks, Bold Rock's cidermaker, uses Winesap, Macintosh and Granny Smith, all common varieties in Western North Carolina. If all goes as planned, Washburn said he expects the company will triple its production within the first two years of moving to Mills River.

"And after that, we plan to ramp up from there," he said. "Apple growers, here we come."