Hard Core

Early American folklore references John Chapman, or "Johnny Appleseed," who wandered west from his native Massachusetts in the 1700s, selling and planting apple seeds as he went. An ardent member of the New Church, Chapman planted seeds willy-nilly, allowing the divine hand of nature to take its course, rejecting grafting techniques to reproduce specific varieties.

Yet domestic hard cider's history—especially in our region—goes back even further than the British settlers. When the Spanish came through New Mexico in the 1600s on their search for gold, Franciscan monks weren't far behind. In need of wine for mass communion rituals, they first brought it on ships and later imported grape vines, as our arid terrain is similar to some European wine-growing areas. A lesser-known fact is that the early Spanish settlers also planted apple trees, and the oldest orchard on record in the country is right here in New Mexico's Manzano Mountains, according to American Forestry Magazine.

In 1920, alcohol was outlawed in the US, and cider orchards were forcibly destroyed across the country—sometimes by ax-wielding zealots. However, as New Mexico entered the Union in 1912, only eight years before Prohibition began, many of our local farmers escaped notice and went on fermenting fruit juices from their homegrown bounty, producing fruit wines, ciders and brandies.

"There were speakeasies, or I suppose you might call them bars," historian John Pen La Farge, author of Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog, tells SFR. "I don't know how hidden they were; it's my impression that they were fairly open and nobody really cared much."

Along with the monks, La Farge thanks an old brewery located on upper Palace Avenue at the time for cementing the state's relationship with sauce. "Alcohol was produced in the Pojoaque and Española areas and brought down to Santa Fe, so I've always received the impression that there was plenty of alcohol available," he notes.

As far as cider goes, its process is similar to that of wine. First, yeast is introduced to freshly pressed juice, transforming the natural sugar into alcohol. The dry, fermented apple juice then sits in tanks and is back-sweetened according to the cider maker's style. Hard cider is typically a blend of the three types of apples that are the umbrella for all varietals. "Eater" apples are sweet enough to snack upon, and tart "culinary" ones are used for baking. The third variety, nicknamed "spitters" because people spit them out after taking a bite, are ideal for cider. Their higher tannin levels lend structure and complexity, similar to the varieties of grapes used in winemaking.

Even with its boutique process, cider's road to becoming hipsterdom's sipper du jour would be a long one. On "Repeal Day," Dec. 5, 1933, alcohol again became legal, but cider—local or otherwise—didn't quite bounce back. Beer enjoyed a spike in popularity because it's made from grain, which grows quickly, while apple trees can take a decade to mature. Meanwhile, the influx of German and Eastern European immigrants throughout the 1800s brought with them a taste for beer. It is also thought that soft drinks, such as Coca-Cola (which originally included traces of cocaine) began to creep into the beverage space that cider once held. In the mid-1900s, sugar was increasingly used to mask mass-manufactured, sub-par food and drink. In the late '80s, large beverage companies slowly rolled out their soda-like versions of hard cider to an American palate smitten with sweet wines and fluorescent-colored, sugary cocktails.

However, tastes have evolved. Wine appreciation has become mainstream, and the more recent craft beer craze has renewed interest in our long-lost fermented apple beverage. In the last few years, craft cider producers and drinkers have blossomed nationwide. It's also on trend with the grain-avoidant gluten-free devotees who forego beer. Still, despite the hoopla, hard cider only comprises about 1 percent of the US beer market, while in the United Kingdom, it holds about 15 percent.

Still, craft cideries are sprouting up in every state, and New Mexico is no exception. Albuquerque's Skarsgard Farms and Red Door Brewing Company recently launched their hard ciders, and as of last year, Santa Fe is home to three producers: New Mexico Hard Cider, Santa Fe Cider Works and Santa Sidra. Each uses local apples as much as possible, but Northern New Mexico late frosts can sometimes pose a challenge. Outsourcing from Colorado or Washington is sometimes necessary because larger orchards have expensive machinery to keep the trees and blossoms intact during freezes. Here, many farms operate seasonally, and harvests are often hand-plucked into pickup trucks. Grocery store shoppers typically choose the "prettiest" fruit, so cider makers provide additional revenue for farmers with extra stock. Luckily, last year, New Mexico had a good yield and literally, tons of regional apples were used by all area cideries.

Cider is now bubbling up on menus all over town, with gastropubs being early adopters. Renée Fox, who owns Loyal Hound on St. Michael's Drive alongside husband Dave Readyhough, confirms that more clients are thirsty for it than just a year ago. She makes a point of selecting different ciders than downtown's Fire & Hops, for example, pointing out, "We have many of the same customers, and they like to try different ciders in each place." Local liquor stores like Susan's and Cliff's also carry ciders for those wanting to ride the rising tide of fermented apple deliciousness at home.

Thirsty yet? These local cider producers are here to help:

Santa SidraMike Zercher oversees Santa Sidra’s production.Enrique Limón

Who: Cover boy Mike Zercher came to Santa Fe in 1992 from his native Pennsylvania, where apple orchards abound, and even teens make hard cider "on the sly" in their bedroom closets. After finishing his studies at the College of Santa Fe, he landed a marketing position with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., which eventually took him to Europe. There, he developed the passionate hobby of making European-style cider, which is considerably less sweet than big-brand American versions. Zercher then trained in commercial cider making in England and Washington state before starting his own business.

He and his family returned to Santa Fe, secured a 2,500 square foot-space off Camino Carlos Rey and launched Santa Sidra in 2014. A walking encyclopedia of cider's history and tradition, Zercher is intimately involved with every step of making his product, from selecting white wine yeast to packaging Santa Sidra, two bottles at a time.

Last year, Zercher bought 25 tons of New Mexico apples. "I got 12 to 15 kinds of apples, so for continuity, I blend to get certain levels of acidity and tannin. Like wine, it can vary a little from harvest to harvest," he explains, approaching Santa Sidra's counter-pressure filler, which is implemented to keep the bottle's contents from fizzing over before they get capped.

Because heat can speed up fermentation but diminish flavor, he ferments the apple juice at a low temperature for about three weeks. The fermented liquid then sits in a dark, temperature-controlled room called "the cider cave" for two to three months and is lightly back-sweetened with cane sugar.

His wife, Stacy, also helps with labeling and brand repping. Following the tradition of some wine and spirits makers, she sometimes leaves classical music playing in the cidery because it's thought to create sound waves that positively affect the liquid. The cider then carbonates for about three days in a brite tank. Bringing their community focus full circle, Santa Sidra's pomace (leftover apple flesh after pressing) goes to Reunity Resources for composting, and with a nod to New Mexico culture, the labels are printed in both English and Spanish. Zercher is currently experimenting with barrel aging, as well as a hopped cider, and plans to release those batches soon.

Products: 500 milliliter bottles (approx. 17 ounces) ABV 6.9%

Seca (Dry): This impeccably bright English eastern counties style won a Silver Medal at the 2014 New Mexico State Fair Pro-Am Beer, Mead and Cider Competition. It gets a kiss of back-sweetening to balance the tart fermentation, yet isn't "sweet" to sip, making it pair well with various dishes, particularly poultry or seafood. The aroma has a hint of crisp green apple with a slightly brioche finish on the tongue.

Ligeramente Dulce (A Tad Sweet): Think of it as a pleasant sipper that would be a good stepping stone for people who typically like New World chardonnay wine, for example, and want to give cider a whirl. It won a gold medal and best of show at the State Fair.

Try it: Available at Fire & Hops, Dr. Field Goods Kitchen, Taberna La Boca, Atrisco Café, L'Olivier and TerraCotta Wine Bistro.

Santa Fe Cider Works

Who: "This is where the magic happens," Jordana "Jordy" Dralle says, as she opens the door that leads to Cider Works' warehouse operation. String lights cast a warm glow on the stainless steel tanks and "Philadelphia Freedom" blares from a boom box at the Southside space. Dralle and Michelle Vignery are the two-woman team who press, ferment, bottle, label and sell their products when not working their day jobs. Originally from Kansas, Vignery made Santa Fe her home in 1999. She taught elementary school science until 2008 and is currently with the state's Public Education Department. Chicago-native Dralle began an apprenticeship with Santa Fe Brewing Company 20 years ago. She went on to brew at various companies around the country and later returned to be one of our state's few female brewmasters. She's been making beer at Second Street Brewery for 12 years.

Vignery notes that three cideries in a small town might sound like a lot, given our population, but ultimately it's good for New Mexico apple farmers and the growing trend of craft cider. They bought about 16 tons of apples last year and press 800 pounds of apples at a time, yielding 40 to 50 gallons of juice. Their fermentation tanks hold five to six presses, and they back-sweeten with pressed apple juice. Cider Works employs English cider yeast and a vegan fining agent for clarity.

The entrepreneurs express a personal connection to each batch.

"We call them 'the girls.' They are our daughters," Vignery says.

Every batch is christened with a name at the time the yeast is added. They began with the letter "A" and went on from there. Past batches include Athena; "Big Momma" after Dralle's mom; "Chrissy" from the movie Moonstruck; "Diana" Goddess of the Hunt and Moon because that batch was pressed during a full moon; and "Esperanza," the Spanish word for hope, as their business was at a crux. "Fitzgerald" and "Godiva" are coming out this year. On expansion, Dralle notes, "It will be a learning curve, like with beer." Her partner adds, "We don't have plans for world domination; we want to stay artisanal."

Products: 750 milliliter bottles with resealable closures. ABV 7%

Cider Different: This is currently the only local offering of still (noncarbonated) cider made in Santa Fe. Prior to the use of carbon dioxide, most hard ciders did not contain bubbles, so it has a very traditional slant. It is dry with a hint of apple blossom and a slightly sour finish.

Enchanted Cherry: This is a 1:5 blend of Montmorency cherry juice from Michigan and locally sourced apples, respectively. It has a rose hue as it's back-sweetened with cherry juice, and remains lightly carbonated after fermentation. It's surprisingly dry and pleasantly tart and would be interesting to drink alongside a spicy dish. Looking for singular craftsmanship? These babies are bottled one at a time.

Try it: Secreto Lounge, Loyal Hound, Second Street Brewery, Del Charro Saloon, SweetWater Harvest Kitchen and the Jean Cocteau Cinema all carry it.

New Mexico Hard Cider

Who: New Mexico natives Craig Moya and Heather Tassel ventured into the cider trade after helping Moya's uncle, Ron Madrid, with his 1,000-tree orchard near Villanueva. Madrid's father planted the orchard about 70 years ago, and Ron grew up helping him water the trees with 5-gallon water buckets before the area's irrigation system was in place. Moya says it took about two years to prepare the orchard after he came on board, as only a portion of the apples grown were being harvested each year.

Speaking to hard cider's rising popularity in his home state, he says, "Apples are close to everybody. They grow in people's backyards. Hard cider seems like a new product, so it's interesting to everyone, but there's also a familiarity there."

Moya and Tassel, who are also the parents to two small children, began by pressing their cider under Estrella del Norte Vineyard's umbrella. However, they obtained their own license in December 2014 and have since taken over the brand. Moya, a firefighter, and Tassel, who works at Los Alamos National Laboratory, hadn't quite budgeted for their own carbonation machine yet, so Moya cleverly made his own apparatus from a home soda maker.

Moya is self-taught in the craft of cider making, and his endless curiosity for experimentation has already resulted in six bottled flavors, with an oak-aged, crab apple variety underway. He usually uses Champagne yeast but is also trying out red wine yeast. When speaking about new products, his ideas seem endless, as he excitedly points out, "It's a whole new genre. People don't know what it's supposed to taste like, so you can experiment a lot."

His 99-year-old grandfather, Daniel Moya, grew up on Canyon Road and remembers his father brewing beer and cider during his childhood (likely around Prohibition). The fruit for New Mexico Hard Cider's apricot blend comes from his grandfather's family property on the famous street. The fledgling company also plans to make a still cider, as well as canning their products, which is faster and cheaper than bottling.

As a nod to the cider's Canyon Road past and Moya's own involvement in Traditional Spanish Market as a straw appliqué artist, the operation is ready to roll out local-artist-designed labels in the following months.

Products: Packaged in standard beer bottle, 12 ounces. ABV 7%

Dry: The driest of the three locally made ciders, this version would have immediate appeal with beer drinkers. While there is not much aroma in the bouquet, it has a clean, lingering finish.

Semi Sweet: More apple notes come through as sugar helps to "pump up" fruit flavor (in food, brews and cocktails). It has a rustic finish with a yeasty mouth feel.

Apricot: This fun blend has floral and fruity notes, yet is not sweet. It is a must-try with a cheese-and-fruit platter.

Tart Cherry: The cherry flavor is very subtle. It has a slightly tart, slightly sour quality, which would appeal to people who like sour beer.

Apple Pie: Although this sounds like it would be a dessert libation, it is a surprising balance of dry cider macerated with mulling spices, particularly apt for the winter festivities but delicious year-round.

Perry: This 80 percent pear and 20 percent apple blend's bouquet is like walking through an orchard in spring, with a relatively dry finish.

Find it: All styles are currently sold at Estrella del Norte Vineyard, with distribution amplifying this year.

Santa Fe Reporter