Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Rebel Seed is county’s newest hard cider option
TOUGHKENAMON >> You probably know about the wineries. You certainly know about the brewpubs.
But there’s another segment of the craft beverage revolution that’s been making quiet inroads into the Kennett area for years now, claiming firmer footholds every time. That’s the hard cider revival, most recently seen in the Rebel Seed Cidery (as part of Harvest Ridge Winery) setting up an outlet and tasting room in Toughkenamon.
“Revival” is certainly the right word. In the apple-growing parts of colonial America, hard cider was the everyday drink that people used rather than often-unsanitary water. Over time, central European immigrants arrived and brought a taste for beer with them, and Prohibition finally killed off hard cider production.
A person with a yearning for hard cider had few choices 20 years ago. A few American brands could be found here and there, and also examples from France and England in high-end liquor stores.
But in recent years, local cider lovers have found it increasingly easier to buy hard cider, as outlets for wineries and craft beers naturally began including it to add a bit more variety to their offerings. Beer distributors started including more of it, without much fanfare, but if you enjoyed cider it was more and more obvious you weren’t alone.
The latest local expression of the cider revival, and the craft beverage movement more broadly, is the Harvest Ridge Winery tasting room that opened back in May at 1140 Newark Road in Toughkenamon.
According to Kristi May Wyatt, the sales manager for the tasting room, the winery began when Chuck Nunan, who made wines as a hobby, got the idea to create his own winery in Marydel, Delaware. The winery opened in 2013, and to diversify their offerings the Nunan family started producing cider, assigning that operation the brand name Rebel Seed to recall the drink’s colonial roots.
The Toughkenamon tasting room opened in May, Wyatt said, and it serves both wine and cider along with a mix of events and activities. It offers several varieties of Rebel Seed cider, two of which have their own colonial-themed names: First Anthem, a semisweet
version, and Liberty Tree, a sweeter interpretation. There’s also Hoptimized, for those who enjoy a touch of hops, and just recently the seasonal pumpkin-spiced version showed up. Drinks
based on pear or flavored with peach can show up seasonally as well.
Wyatt thinks cider has certainly gotten a boost from the popularity of other craft beverages. This is an apple-raising region, and people go to orchards for fun and to buy sweet cider to take home, so apple products are familiar.
If you’ve never had hard cider before, it’s only natural to be curious when it’s right there in a tasting room. It’s fresh and healthy, made with locally sourced apples, Wyatt said. It’s even glutenfree, which appeals to the many people who feel concerned about that.
Hard cider can be a new,
interesting way to enjoy a familiar flavor, according to Carla J. Snyder, hard cider program lead and extension educator for the Penn State Extension. Nearly half of people surveyed about it in 2015 said they tried hard cider because they simply liked apples. And Snyder confirms that for those interested in
craft beer and wine, hard cider is an obvious thing to try, when it’s available.
With Rebel Seed adding to the list of local cider options, you might wonder about competition, but Wyatt said they play nicely with the others, hosting “local love night” events to cross-promote other area craft beverages.
Hard cider may never come back to its colonial levels, and may never again be found on every table. But with new places to get it popping up all around, cider lovers present and future can at least be glad things are heading the right way and the long, long drought is finally over.