Edible Food Finds: Stormalong Cider
Photos by Adam DeTour
Crisp acidity. Silky tannins. Tart and fruit-forward. Rich and full-bodied. These might sound like the words of a sommelier, but it’s actually how Stormalong Cider describes four of the hard ciders in its Rare Apple Series.
Stormalong founder Shannon Edgar has a passion for New England’s rare apple cultivars, some of which are hundreds of years old. These were the impetus for the company’s recent launch of its Rare Apple Club. The objective, he says, was to highlight the virtues of extraordinary heirloom apple varieties when transformed into distinctive ciders. Club members receive two shipments each year of new products and limited small-batch ciders as well as exclusive access to special offerings.
Hard cider is fermented apple juice, a low-alcohol beverage made in a process similar to wine. Six ciders are currently part of Stormalong’s Rare Apple Series. They are: Kingston Black, named for a bittersharp apple originating from the U.K.; Boston Heirloom, made with Roxbury Russet (a cultivar dating back to the 1600s) and Baldwin; and four ciders in its New England heirloom variety pack, namely Yarlington Mill, Ashmead’s Kernel, Winesap and Esopus Spitzenburg, each named for the primary apple in the beverage.
Of course, Stormalong has a “core lineup” of regularly offered ciders, each demonstrating a slightly different flavor profile. Its flagship is Legendary Dry, a champagne-style cider made with Northern Spy, Idared and bittersweet apples from New England. Mass Appeal is semi-sweet, made mostly with McIntosh; Red Skies at Night offers a hint of passionfruit and hibiscus; and Light of the Sun has a citrusy, beer-like taste from added guava and hops. (The latter two won Good Food Awards in 2019 and 2020, respectively.) Stormalong makes one unfiltered cider called Blue Hills Orchard using that Connecticut farm’s sweet-tart McIntosh, Honeycrisp, Empire and Cortland apples. In contrast, one of the dryer and boozier varieties is Grand Banks, aged for 10 months in whiskey barrels, which infuse the liquid with a subtle oaky, whiskey, vanilla essence.
Edgar founded the Sherborn company in 2014, working out of a barn next to his home, not far from where the Holbrook Cider Mill once dominated the region’s cider making and (mysteriously) burned down around the time of Prohibition. The company’s unusual name comes from the tall tale of Alfred Bulltop Stormalong, a larger-than-life sea captain known for exploring new frontiers. About three years ago, the cider making magic was relocated to a larger facility in Leominster. Last year, the company produced 150,000 gallons of cider from almost two million pounds of apples grown primarily in New England and New York.
The key to good cider making is using the right ingredients, says Edgar. “We use the best apples we can source. Batches may have slight variations based on the apples used.” During fermentation, the yeast feed on the natural sugars in the apples (no extra sugar is added) and, he says, “You want the yeast to be happy.”
Hard cider has been around a long time, particularly in New England, but most people don’t know much about the beverage, says Edgar. “We’re trying to educate consumers, mostly about some of the apple cultivars that have been forgotten.” The large commodity-based cideries are using purchased apple juice concentrate, he says. Stormalong’s ciders are made with whole apples and, often, rare ones at that. “We’re trying to revive a piece of American history with some of the ciders we’re making.”
This story appeared in the Fall/Holiday 2020 issue.
