As craft beverage enthusiasts discover artisan cider, it’s worth noting that the current cider boom is not so much an arrival as a revival. Cider was the preferred table beverage of the American Founding Fathers, particularly in Virginia where spectacular cider apples were abundant. What happened? Prohibition and the Temperance Movement. With alcohol outlawed, cider apples served no purpose and were allowed to die off (or sometimes chopped down).
We introduced our Heirloom Series in December 2015 as a way of showcasing these revered cider apples, many of which are rallying back from the brink of extinction. Our first Heirloom Series cider was the single-varietal Hewe’s Crab, George Washington’s favorite apple and occupier of Thomas Jefferson’s entire north orchard at Monticello. On March 19, we will release the second cider of the series, Harrison.
Whereas Hewe’s Crab was a preferred cider apple in the South, Harrison was celebrated in the North. Noted pomologist William Coxe wrote in 1817 of its “high coloured, rich, and sweet cider of great strength, commanding a high price in New York, frequently ten dollars and upwards per barrel when fined for bottling.”
By the early 1900s, however, Harrison had vanished from apple-related publications and for decades was thought to be extinct. In 1976, fruit collector Paul Gidez went in search of the Harrison apple in New Jersey based on Coxe’s 1817 writings. The owner of a cider mill in Livingston, New Jersey claimed to have a Harrison tree, originally planted by his grandfather, in his backyard. The tree was slated to be cut down the following week to make room for a garden, and indeed it was – but not before Gidez salvaged scion wood from the tree.
Years later, orchardist and heirloom apple expert (and beloved friend of Blue Bee Cider) Tom Burford confirmed Harrison’s rediscovery. Our owner/founder Courtney Mailey grafted Hewe’s Crab and Harrison trees in 2011 during her apprenticeship with Albemarle Ciderworks, and those trees provided us with their first harvest this year. The 2015 vintage of Harrison, due out March 19, 2016, is limited to approximately 300 bottles.
While all of us at Blue Bee Cider are proud of the modern stamp we have placed on Virginia cider – introducing the Commonwealth’s first dry-hopped, berry-infused and smoked ciders – we are also profoundly respectful and in awe of the history associated with this mighty beverage. We are forever committed to honoring Virginia’s cidermaking tradition, and ensuring that these treasured cider apples are never threatened with extinction again.
– Brian Ahnmark
photo: Albemarle Ciderworks/Anne Shelton
