TURNER, Maine — Cider doughnuts have their place. Corn mazes are kid magnets. But dates at apple orchards become suddenly more appealing when hard cider is flowing freely.
And it is at an orchard in Turner.
In a new wooden shed, downslope from a sprawling pick-your-own orchard, couples sip cider fermented from pressed McIntosh and Golden Delicious apples at Ricker Hill Orchards. On eight rotating taps, these crisp alcoholic ciders are blended with blueberries, maple syrup and tangy cranberries from a nearby bog. The orchard’s year-old hard cider tasting room, complete with flights and flagons (cider’s answer to growlers) is like visiting a brewery.
“It’s more like a vineyard,” owner Andy Ricker said.
Hard cider, after all, is fruit wine. And after a sample, much like experiencing the tasting rooms of Napa, you can wander through the orchards to see the main ingredient up close.
Since 1803 this orchard in Central Maine has been an apple empire. In 1970 the Ricker family started making sweet cider. Today Ricker Hill produces 500,000 gallons a year. But Andy, the ninth-generation owner and avid home cider maker, convinced his father, uncle, grandfather and cousins that the hard stuff was the way to go.
“It took years,” said Ricker, who stood his ground. “We are growing, it’s a new venture still.”
To help people, from millennials to boomers, fall for the Colonial-era beverage, the 30-year-old Ricker added a cider garden this summer and keeps his tasting room open seven days a week until Thanksgiving.
“We did this to complement our agritainment business with our pick-your-own and farm stand,” said Ricker.
As the hard cider market explodes across the country, Ricker Hill, which owns a handful of other orchards in three counties, is quietly occupying a niche in the market.
Ricker Hill’s growing hard cider brand, Mainiac, can be purchased across the state, but going to the tasting room, where experimental flavors such as pumpkin and horseradish flow freely, makes the beverage somehow more appealing. Out of their eight ciders, only four are available for purchase outside the tasting room.
Whether the hard cider business will cut into craft beer sales in Maine is conjecture, but locals at the tasting room Monday were lapping it up.
“I love it,” said beer distributor Matt Desmond of Windham, sipping a flight at the Turner tasting room Monday. “It’s my new favorite place to go.”
A few steps away in the packing room, shiny round orbs are washed and graded, with the culls relegated to the press room. There they are mashed into a pulp. Next the cider is pressed and yeast added. The juice then ferments in stainless steel tanks, where it turns into hard cider.
“We start with real apples. Not concentrate,” said Andy Ricker, who gives tours of the process to guests.
The orchard has 15 acres of traditional hard cider apples spread from Auburn to Farmington. Varieties such as early American gold russet, bittersweet Dabinett apples and sweet sharp Wickson apples make up the sophisticated Mainiac Black cider. The dry and tart cider is only available on site. On the other end of the spectrum, their popular Mac blend is sweet and available in cans for mass appeal. Next year Andy Ricker says they will have more hard cider apples to experiment with.
And more venues to knock some back.
Wallingford’s Orchard in Auburn added a Mainiac cider tasting stand this season.
“We’ve had a very good response. It rounds out the overall experience and is another option for people who don’t have children,” said Peter Ricker, who runs this nearby orchard.
While beer and wine may suggest a tavern, cider speaks farmhouse — a no-frills drink sans snobbery. What’s the best way to enjoy it?
“Any way you like it,” said Andy Ricker.
