Atropa is a French hard cider made by Blossomwood Cidery in Cedaredge, Colorado. It is quite sweet as a result of a traditional keeving process: essentially a stuck fermentation achieved on purpose to preserve some residual sugars…in this case, a lot of residual sugar. It reminds me a bit of [...]

Overview: Today, I’m happy to share with you a rarity in American hard cider—at least in Colorado—a hard cider from a small-batch, artisanal cidery in Cedaredge, Colorado, which distributes only locally, through farmers markets, and to four different liquor stores on the Colorado front [...]

To my knowledge, The Mazer Cup International is the largest annual, mead-only competition in existence. It features both home and commercial competitions with hundreds of entries each in which meadmakers vie for the coveted Mazer Cup trophies. The event also includes the ‘Mead [...]

This September, I had the good fortune to attend a cider pressing hosted by two brothers in Longmont, CO, who have assembled their own, rather ingenious, cider pressing operation. Complete with all the gear and organization needed to efficiently press hundreds of gallons of juice, this [...]

Compass Cider House, a new cidery and restaurant in Fort Collins, CO, recently held a soft opening which I attended with my wife, Amy. It was an excellent experience on both the cider and food fronts, featuring oaked ciders from both the Compass and Blossomwood cider lines, various dishes [...]

Summer Solstice is that rarest of animals in the commercial mead world: a relatively dry mead from a small producer who tends his own beehives. Medovina is the creation of Mark Beran of Niwot, Colorado, who has been keeping bees since the 90’s and who–as I’ve been reminded of a [...]

Today I made the trek through cold, drizzly weather to meet my friend and former coworker, Chris, at Colorado Cider Company in Denver, CO, on their 2nd anniversary celebration. Tucked into an industrial corner of Denver, Colorado Cider Company can be a difficult location to find, but if you make [...]

Tour: Redstone Meadery This is my first real post on Cidersage. Wow. No pressure. Breathe… Recently, I made the brutally long, 12.4-mile drive from my home in All-America City-winning Longmont, Colorado, to Boulder to visit Redstone Meadery. That’s right: the first post on this cider [...]

This page is dedicated to resources used in cider-making, mead-making, home brewing, and more. As I discover and utilize new resources along these lines, I will be sharing them with you here. Books: See our books page. Cider-Making Suppliers: Note: I use affiliate links in some cases, so if [...]