Podcasts about virtue cider

Wendy and Rob catch up on recent doings, discuss drinking the alphabet, and the odd occurrence of having things thrown at you unexpectedly.Articles in the show: - Greg Hall and Virtue Cider: https://chicago.eater.com/2024/11/27/24306883/virtue-cider-greg-hall-renovations-fennville-michigan-inbev-independent-sale - Beer Choir: https://www.kimt.com/news/beer-choir-makes-its-north-iowa-debut-on-monday/article_38fbc1da-ead0-11ef-b737-6748bdf6a7ee.html - Hulk Hogan Beer: https://www.newsweek.com/sports/wrestling/wwe-news-hulk-hogan-real-american-beer-being-sued-negligence-2030974 - Peas in Beer: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/pea-sugars-can-speed-up-sour-beer-brewing/ - VinePair's article on consolidation: https://vinepair.com/articles/craft-brewing-consolidation/ In 2025 Better on Draft will be recording on the second and fourth Friday of the month at 8:30 Eastern. You can watch us live to share your questions, opinions, and drinks on Facebook, Twitch, and Youtube.

Greg Hall, the brewmaster and beverage visionary behind Goose Island's meteoric rise, has long been a pioneer in the craft beer world. As the son of founder John Hall, Greg's boundless creativity and willingness to experiment with unconventional styles helped establish Goose Island as a trailblazer in the golden age of craft brewing. After the brewery's acquisition by Anheuser-Busch, Greg found a new passion—hard cider. A formative trip to England opened his eyes to what the U.S. was missing, inspiring him to launch Virtue Cider. In this episode, he shares how he got into brewing, the rollercoaster trajectory of Virtue, his predictions for the future of the beverage industry, and much more.

Social media goes crazy after Busch Light teases bringing back Busch Light Apple, Biggest red flags at a brewery taprooms? Should Coors add Gatorade-style twist caps? Which U.S. airports have most and least expensive beer prices, Beer collectors excited for Costco's $10 imperial stout, Featuring Special Guest, legend Greg Hall of Virtue Cider. Hall talks his days at Goose Island and why he decided to leave for Michigan to open a cidery. All this and soooooo much more presented by Cask Branding. Enjoy the show, cheers. 

Joining Taplines today is Ryan Burk, the former head cider maker of Angry Orchard Hard Cider. These days, he's making cider under his own label in upstate New York, working as a co-founder of the beverage innovation firm Feel Goods Company, and serving the Cider Institute of North America as a founding board member. But midway through last decade, Ryan was working at Michigan's Virtue Cider when Boston Beer Company tapped him to lead production on its in-house hard cider brand, which was then making one out of every two barrels of cider sold in the US. Angry Orchard's legacy in the category is contentious: is it a vital gateway that led to broader hard cider acceptance, or a millstone holding back what cider could be in the American drinking imagination? Both? Neither? Listen on, listener. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Mitten Bourbon Barrel Aged Hard Cider Virtue Cider is a Traditional Cider by style. The Mitten is a winter cider, a blend of last season's best, aged in bourbon barrels, with the new season's fresh pressed apple juice. Straight cider, aged for three seasons, finds notes of vanilla, caramel and charred American oak, balanced with the best of the orchard, over-ripe apples and their sweet, tart, earthy juice. Many barrels are filled, but only a small portion, the very smoothest, will find their way into The Mitten. This sweet cider is 6.8% ABV. In this review, we will take a look at the color, smell, and taste.

Her cider journey has taken her from a HUGE commercial cidery in Michigan to a small production cidery and tasting room in North Carolina where they use pet nat processes and disgorging. And each experience feeds her passion for cider and the apples that make it. Becca Galvin joins me to share her wild cider ride and share how she has made a place for herself both behind the bar and behind the scenes. Enjoy!Special Mentions and Resources:Virtue CiderBotanist & Barrel Cidery & WineryGLINTCAP - Great Lakes International Cider and Perry CompetitionIf in Asheville, NC - Asheville Food ToursPomme Boots is now part of Pink Boots Society - Find some local alcohol industry friends today!Pet Nat - Originating from France, Pétillant Naturel, translates to mean "naturally sparkling“. This refers to the final part of the process, in which fermentation is finished off in either bottles or cans to create fine carbonation bubbles.Fortified Cider - Cider that has been strengthened in alcohol (and aroma and flavor) after fermentation by the addition of spirits is generally called Fortified Cider. A cider fortified with apple spirits is known in France as pommeau.Thank you to Tony Stuck for the awesome intro/outro music and to Mary Ann King for the amazing pod art that you see for every episode. If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast! 5 stars goes a long long way and I so appreciate your support. For more information about me and this podcast visit us online at othercwords.com or follow the podcast @othercwords. Talk to you soon! And thanks for joining me today!

This episode felt so fucking good wow, cider rules. This is all about cider from the damn orchard, featuring someone who should know: Ryan James Burke of Occam, Angry Orchard and Virtue, aka Mr Too Damn Apples.  This was, frankly, a really insane lineup of pommological treats. Seek them out. Drink local apples. I am so happy right now, fuck mead 4 real ////LIST////Revel Cider, Guelph Ontario, 'Pera,' 2021//Black Duck, Ovid New York, 'PIE Cider' 2021//Durham Cider, Watsonville California, 'Rock Steady,' 2020//Angry Orchard,  'Supernatural,' Angry Orchard x Artifact Cider House,  Various Locations, 'Understood in Motion 04,' Virtue Cider, Various Locations, 'Ledbury,' 2012////Support the show

The question at the center of this episode is simple: Does hard cider have a problem or an opportunity? The answer may be a little bit of both, with your own perspective making the glass of Angry Orchard or 2 Towns or Hudson North slightly more than half empty or half full. So, while we may not have clear-cut answers by the end of the episode, you will hear from a few different perspectives about this challenging and hopeful and evolving time for American cider. To explore all this, you'll hear from some great voices. In part one, we chat with Ryan Burk, a long time American cider pro who started out at Michigan's Virtue Cider before spending years as head cider maker for Angry Orchard, the largest cider company in the country. He now leads formulation and sensory strategy for Feel Goods, Good Beer Hunting's parent company that's a full-definition studio that builds beverage brands. (Ryan is also a colleague of mine at Feel Goods, where I work as an analyst.) After we set the stage with Ryan, we travel to Chicago for a conversation with Good Beer Hunting contributors Ruvani de Silva and Beth Demmon. The three of us were in attendance at this year's American Cider Association conference and gathered for our own reflections on the state of cider and what we started to see and hear on our first day at the event.  

Virtue Cider Pear is a Perry Cider by style. Apple and pear farmhouse cider. This sweet cider is 5% ABV. In this review, we will take a look at the color, smell, and taste.

Virtue Cider Fruit Belt Michigan Peach is a Fruit Cider by style. Virtue Cider Farm is located in Fennville, MI - right at the heart of the Michigan fruit belt where the apples are the pride of the cider coast. If you take a roadtrip to Southwest Michigan, you will also find farmers growing other beautiful and delicious fruit like peaches, blueberries, and of course Michigan cherries. This sweet cider is 5.3% ABV. In this review, we will take a look at the color, smell, and taste.

Virtue Cider Fruit Belt Michigan Cherry is a Fruit Cider by style. Virtue Cider Farm is located in Fennville, MI - right at the heart of the Michigan fruit belt where the apples are the pride of the cider coast. If you take a roadtrip to Southwest Michigan, you will also find farmers growing other beautiful and delicious fruit like peaches, blueberries, and of course Michigan cherries. This sweet cider is 5% ABV. In this review, we will take a look at the color, smell, and taste.

Virtue Cider Fruit Belt Michigan Blueberry is a Fruit Cider by style. Virtue Cider Farm is located in Fennville, MI - right at the heart of the Michigan fruit belt where the apples are the pride of the cider coast. If you take a roadtrip to Southwest Michigan, you will also find farmers growing other beautiful and delicious fruit like peaches, blueberries, and of course Michigan cherries. This sweet cider is 5.3% ABV. In this review, we will take a look at the color, smell, and taste.

Get ready to rock with Gabe Cook, Grant Hutchison and Martyn Goodwin-Sharman as they get their apologies in order at the Neutral Cider Hotel!First off, it's a reunion of sorts, with tales of hot sauce, cocoa butter, ghost writers, Gabe's Book and the reading ability of the Scottish! Grant is in the hotel and the gang is back together.Then it's onto the news where Gabe's got the facts and he's talking rubbish. It's GLINTCAP, and we're celebrating friends of the show with Once Upon a Tree and previous guest Gidon of Original Sin. Then the nature of a certain live show comes up, have a guess as to who the salty one of the group is! Back onto helping friends of the show's small side projects, with Biffy Clyro and Death Cab For Cutie both getting the Neutral Cider Helping Hand. Grant's also got Cheggers in the house?Then it's onto our interview, this week, we're welcoming one of the most important voices in US cider making.  Growing up in the apple country of Western New York State and having tinkered with home fermentation, he got his big break working for Virtue Cider in Chicago more than a decade ago before becoming the Head Cider Maker at the USA's largest producer. Famed for collaborations with many of the world's best producers, including NCH regular, Tom Oliver, and for winning countless awards, today's guest is a tireless advocate for cider and has been a board member of the American Cider Association since 2014.  Checking into the hotel, it's Ryan Burk from Angry Orchard!The guys chat everything: Ryan's retirement, spitting on shoes, cow sound effects, mistakes made, fermented weed, the hardcore scene, the greenest place on the planet, and what it takes to make Gold Rush It's a chat the guys have been waiting to record, and just goes to prove how good a chat the live show would have been, not that we're bitter or anything.Finally, it's onto listener questions, this time from Diana and Gemma. What magic there is in an alternative Scotland, and even more magic in a heart felt thank you.And, please leave us a voicemail on our Speakpipe page as soon as you can air them on our last few episodes of the season. The Team:Gabe is a cider expert: The CiderologistGrant has two cider businesses: Re:Stalk and Aeble Cider ShopMartyn loves to write about cider: CiderShitThe Rest of The Team:Executive Producer/Editor: Scott RiggsMusic: Billy KennedyConnect:Instagram: NeutralCiderHotelFacebook: NeutralCiderHotelTwitter: NeutralCiderPodListen and share episodes on our website: https://www.neutralciderhotel.com/ Leave us a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/neutralciderhotel 

SHOW INFO: A special Thursday night episode where we bring in former brewmaster and current owner of Virtue Cider Greg Hall, along with Brand Ambassador of Broubon County Brand from Goose Island Mike Smith to talk about a slew of topics. We talk about the upcoming Bourbon County Brand Stout lienup, the Grit & Grain book and video series, winning the 2020 Good Food Award, and their true feelings of the beer black market. We talk so much more but it's a must listen for anyone in the inudstry, fans of Goose Island, or even if Goose Island has left a bad taste in your mouth for the past decade but want to see what has happened since.Support MI Brewing - http://www.supportmibrewing.comSubscribe to Better on Draft - https://plnk.to/BODSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0rofqU5VHPmEjcGLwJbocmiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-on-draft-a-craft-beer-podcast/id1091124740Subscribe to The Brewz Brothaz -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/31iofThmMV9vHblkod5qK5iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewz-brothaz-better-on-draft/id1443234432Subscribe to The Beer Tour GuySpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3enGxubfQFop2ppdQjuVNRiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beer-tour-guy-podcast-better-on-draft/id1266857083https://www.twitter.com/betterondrafthttps://www.facebook.com/betterondrafthttps://www.untappd.com/bodpodcasthttps://www.youtube.com/c/betterondrafthttps://www.instagram.com/betterondraft

SHOW INFO: A special Thursday night episode where we bring in former brew master and current owner of Virtue Cider Greg Hall, along with Brand Ambassador of Bourbon County Brand from Goose Island Mike Smith to talk about a slew of topics. We talk about the upcoming Bourbon County Brand Stout lineup, the Grit & Grain book and video series, winning the 2020 Good Food Award, and their true feelings of the beer black market. We talk so much more but it's a must listen for anyone in the industry, fans of Goose Island, or even if Goose Island has left a bad taste in your mouth for the past decade but want to see what has happened since. 00:00- Introduction to Ken & Mike Smith 02:02- 2020 BCBS Release During COVID 03:55- Introduction to Dan & Greg Hall 04:55- Utilizing Liquor Barrels To Make Beer 08:20- Introduction to Wendy & Cooking with Mike Smith 10:08- Introduction to Rob & Products From Virtue 12:15- Is The Cider Market Growing & Seltzer Market 16:53- Sourcing Local Ingredients & Sugar in Ciders 20:30- Chronicling The History of BCBS 29:44- Malort? 33:00- Infected Bourbon County 40:40- Is Bourbon County Flash Pasteurized? 45:44- Greg Hall Debates Next Craze 48:32- Is Barleywine Coming Back? 50:40- Social Medias Influence On Beer 54:30- Greg's Stove & Cider Book 57:57- Black Beer Market 01:01:28- Favorite BCBS Ever 01:04:25- Cody Parkey & Paul Edinger 01:06:19- Stroh's or Old Style & Closing Sponsors: North Center Brewing - https://northcenterbrewing.com/ Zetouna Liquor - https://www.facebook.com/Zetouna-Liquor-Fine-Wine-Cigars-146021445420374/ PCI BrandCraft - https://www.facebook.com/PCIBrandCraft Join The Michigan Beer Discord - https://discord.gg/vEEDyzwdjT Download the MI Beer Map - http://www.mibeermap.com Subscribe to Better on Draft - https://plnk.to/BOD Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6AlzP1BH0iykayF856bGRc?si=xXZzdd3CTPqgUq_KYTnBKg iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-on-draft-a-craft-beer-podcast/id1091124740 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/betterondraft Untappd - https://www.untappd.com/bodpodcast YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/betterondraft Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/betterondraft Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/betterondraft

Nick, David and Mike discuss the cash and coin shortage that's happening because of the pandemic.   David was drinking Miller Lite.  Nick had Lagunitas Hop Stoopid.  Mike enjoyed Virtue Cider.

It feels like it has been forever since we had the opportunity to sit down with John Leone from ROAK, and it was four years ago on Episode 22. No longer the new guy on the block as they enter their fifth year, we take the opportunity to catch up. He brings in new President of ROAK and Dark Horse (now named Michigan Brewers Union) and we get a historical look on his journey through craft beer at Dogfish Head, BrewDog USA, and Virtue Cider. John uses the opportunity to clear the air about some misconceptions happening with the merger of the two breweries, we discuss in short what happened with the Right Brain buyout, and Adam chats about what we should see upcoming for the two breweries in the next few years. We also try some amazing ROAK beer!Subscribe to Better on Draft - https://plnk.to/BODSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0rofqU5VHPmEjcGLwJbocmiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-on-draft-a-craft-beer-podcast/id1091124740Subscribe to Better on Draft Archive (Episodes 1-145) -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5EADA1tifaLAoxd6THbRRsiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/better-on-draft-podcast-archive/id1450538812Subscribe to The Brewz Brothaz -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/31iofThmMV9vHblkod5qK5iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewz-brothaz-better-on-draft/id1443234432Subscribe to The Beer Tour GuySpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3enGxubfQFop2ppdQjuVNRiTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beer-tour-guy-podcast-better-on-draft/id1266857083https://www.twitter.com/betterondrafthttps://www.facebook.com/betterondrafthttps://www.untappd.com/bodpodcasthttps://www.youtube.com/c/betterondrafthttps://www.instagram.com/betterondraftDRANK ON SHOWBAD Brewing Grape Cider3 Floyds BA Behemoth (Willett) 2017ROAK Brewing Cent'AnniROAK Brewing French Toast Devil DogROAK Brewing Blow Your Face OutROAK Brewing Mint Milkshake IPAModern Times OrdervilleCorona Extra

How do you follow up Bourbon County Stout? For Greg Hall, son of Goose Island founder John Hall, it started nearly 20 years ago during a trip to England. Ciders became a passion, but they took a backseat to the barrel-aged beer phenomenon. After leaving Goose Island, Greg founded Virtue Cider and began producing some of our bestselling ciders from the heart of Michigan apple country. Join the Barrel to Bottle crew as they taste Virtue Michigan Brut and Virtue Rosè. Stick around for the Q&A segment, when the Barrel to Bottle Team (and Greg Hall!) share their favorite beers ever.

Michael kicks it off with an event brag on attending a talk from the author of The State of Beer, a book about breweries in Wisconsin. Then, on the exact opposite side of the spectrum, he "brags" about having Goose Island Oktoberfest and a Virtue Cider. Jeremy mentions a Double IPA that he had from Peace Tree Brewing. Next, we have a meandering discussion on horror movies and adaptations/remakes/reboots etc. Finally, it is time for the FDR, where we remain the Germany for yet another brew.Beer in this episode: Weihenstephaner FestbierCheers!

Fall is in the air. The apple trees are flush with fruit and while the kids love hot apple cider, those of us old enough to partake 21, have fermented cider to look forward to. But this isn’t really a seasonal drink anymore. Coming up on this episode, a cider revolution. We’re not talking about the sweet stuff, but rather, drier, leaner fermented cider that’s made by top-notch brewmasters. Rick and Steve are joined by Hayley Shine, the “Lady of Liquids” at Eris Brewery and Cider House in Chicago, then Kim Vavrick, Communications Director for Virtue Cider, joins us to talk about their style of cider.

You’ll sometimes hear people describe craft beer as a sort of zeitgeist all its own, coming out of nowhere to upend a century-old domination of the big corporate brewers, rising like punk rock to legendary status by following its own rules, and changing people's expectations for what beer can be in the process.  And a lot of that’s true, though it didn’t happen in a vacuum. Way back in episode 18 with Gary Fish of Deschutes, you hear a much more contextual perspective. Which is to say: craft beer, at least in its current form, is part of something much bigger that’s changing about the way we eat and drink. The slow food movement that has transformed so many of the world’s dining experiences from city to city, bringing things like "farm to table" into our common vernacular. Phrases like "know your farmer," which sounds a lot like "know your brewer." And "locavore," which sounds a lot like "drink local." All these things were setting a stage that craft beer now dances on. It just happens to be a part in the play where beer is stealing the show a bit.  And that brings us to today’s guest, Rick Muschiana. I first met Rick when he was working at Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids. Back in episode 10, we talked to founders Jason and Kristen Spaulding about their unique community and sustainability-focused brewpub. Rick helped them grow that operation, playing roles in marketing, sales, and operations.  He then went on to lead Michigan sales for Virtue Cider in Fenville, Michigan.  And then he took the plunge into his own concept, focused on a sort of Nordic style of cuisine alongside great beer, wine, and more in a restaurant and garden concept called Sovengard in Grand Rapids. It's there you’ll find the culmination of Rick’s former professional experiences, but also something more fundamental—the influence his parents had on his perspective on food, beverage, and hospitality. They remain an influence to this day.  The result is a place in Grand Rapids unlike any other.

Please no more brown 7-Up @VirtueCider @SeaCiderSussex @TandemCiders @BlakesHardCider Co hosts : Good ol Boy Jason, Good ol Boy Mike, Good ol Boy Sparky, Good ol Boy Dave, and Good ol Gal Julieanna SUDS Episode – Our first episode with a sing-a-long Cider song. We managed to discuss a flight of cider with minimal number of fake accents. Sparky insults an entire group of snowflakes discussing gluten. This episode is wonderful, great, & we shot our wad all in the first 10 minutes, We taste and discuss the following cider: Virtue Cider – Percheron SUDS – 4 Sea Cider- Prohibition SUDS – 1 Tandem Ciders- Farmhouse SUDS – 4 Blakes – Wayward Winter SUDS – 2 Les Verges De La Colline – Milton Star Apri-Hop Cidre SUDS – 3 info@sipssudsandsmokes.com @sipssudssmoke Sips, Suds, & Smokes is produced by One Tan Hand Productions using the power of beer, whiskey, and golf. Hosted online at Spreaker and available on iTunes, Google Play, PRX, TuneIn, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and YouTube. Good ol Boy Sparky is seriously considering calling cider “Dad’s special apple juice” to his kids. You can check out all of his questionable parenting skills on his blog. www.parentingwhileintoxicated.com Enjoying that cool new Outro Music, it’s from Woods & Whitehead – Back Roads Download your copy here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/woodswhitehead2

Today’s guest is someone I’ve been waiting to interview for a couple years now. Since I first started the podcast, he was high on my list, but for one reason after another, it always seemed like we should wait. We just didn’t know what we were waiting for, exactly. Ryan Burk is the cidermaker for Angry Orchard, specifically running their new innovation cider house in Walden, NY. He was the former cidermaker at Virtue Cider in Fennville, Michigan. And before that, he was a homebrewer in Chicago. I met him just as he was transitioning from brewer to cidermaker, pouring some of Virtue’s earliest batches.  You may have seen GBH, and me in particular, take a keen interest in cider over the past couple years. We’ve written about E.Z. Orchards in Salem, Oregon, Rack and Cloth in Mosier, Oregon, and Virtue, among others—and visited many more. Ryan is the reason for all that. He held the door open for me. And in many ways, he still does. Thanks to Ryan, I was able to translate the many things I love about the most exquisite beers in the word, like Saison Dupont and Hill Farmstead, into an equally beautiful and delicious world of cider making. From there, I’ve ventured into natural and low-interventionist wine making as well. And it all started with Ryan.  He’s become one of my best friends in the world. In fact, the day this podcast episode was published, I was officiating his wedding to Eva Deitch—another name you might be familiar with, as she’s one of the many photographers GBH has collaborated with over the years. I was honored to be asked. As part of Angry Orchard, Ryan also honored our business by asking us to design the labels for his personal collaborations with cidermakers all over the world that will start releasing in the coming months and years.  So it’s safe to say that my relationship with Ryan is one of the more profound I’ve had in my life. I’m forever thankful for the impact he’s had on me as a person, as a drinker, and the influence we’ve had on each other professionally. That’s what this whole business of GBH is about for me, and nowhere does it come true more than right here.

Getting to cider for Gregory Hall, was one part luck and a whole lot of beer. When his father John Hall founded the Chicago based Goose Island Brewery in 1988, it took only 3 years before Greg was at the helm of brewing.Twenty years later in 2011 the brewery would be sold to Anheuser Busch-B InBev. The 2011 sale set Greg free to move on to his next great adventure - Virtue Cider.  I was curious to ask Greg about what a cidermaker should consider for the long run if they want to parlay their business to the next level as father Hall's did with Goose Island and Greg did with Virtue only 3 years later again - this time selling Virtue's majority stake to A-B InBev. Obviously one must have a good product and as Greg tells it he looked to the European cidermakers for inspiration and direction.   "I went with my laundry list of question that I was use to asking at breweries,most of which were fairly technical and found out very quickly that I was asking the wrong questions.Traditional cider making is a multi generational effort. They sure as heck weren't measuring PH in 1830's"  Find the full show notes to this chat at ciderchat.com  Follow this podcast on Twitter @ciderchat Cheers! Ria 

On a special Cider Sessions episode of Beer Sessions Radio, Jimmy Carbone is joined by Greg Hall. Greg hall co-founded Virtue Cider in Michigan several years ago after being the brewer at Goose Island in Chicago. He ran a successful barrel aging program at Goose Island, and is now barrel aging his Virtue Ciders.

We talk with the authors of The Comic Book Story of Beer, Jonathan Hennessey and Mike Smith. They explain the role beer played in wars and revolutions throughout world history. We also discuss recent sales and acquisitions in the craft beer world including Lagunitas and Virtue Cider. We drink a barrel-aged Scottish Ale from Sketchbook Brewing.

The Cider party continues! Tune in to another cider-themed episode of Beer Sessions Radio as Jimmy Carbone is joined by Chris Lehault, Serious Eats cider writer, Michael McAvena of Virtue Cider, Josh Bernstein, author/journalist & George Motz, founder of the Food Film Festival. This week’s cider chat is about the seriousness of the category. Do big brands help or hurt craft cider? What makes a cider “artisanal”? This is guaranteed to be one of the more interesting cider conversations out there right now! This program was brought to you by GreatBrewers.com “Cider is such a small community, everybody is still excited about everybody else.” [03:00] –Chris Lehault on Beer Sessions Radio

On this week of Fuhmentaboudit!, Chris Cuzme and Mary Izett share some recordings from a recent cider event at Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village, New York City! Greg Hall of Virtue Cider talks about his transition from brewing at Goose Island to making cider. Hear how cidermaking differs from brewing in terms of agricultural production. Find out how Virtue Cider blends different ciders in order to create American takes on different European styles. Later, Steve Wood of Farnum Hill and Poverty Lane Orchards joins the conversation to discuss the importance of playing a premium for cider apples to jump start the industry. What is cider’s role in American history? Find out on this week’s edition of Fuhmentaboudit! Thanks to our sponsor, Heritage Foods USA. “As a brewer, you’re not directly involved with agriculture at all… You’re lucky to know where your hops come from, and you probably don’t know where your malt comes from. Your maltster doesn’t even know where your malt comes from! They just buy the barley from a coop… Cidermaking is very much involved with agriculture.” [5:45] “Real cidermaking comes from blending… You’re focusing on letting the apples go their own way.” [10:15] — Greg Hall on Fuhmentaboudit!

Greg Hall, brewmaster-cum-ciderist, teaches us a ton about cider making - something we knew nothing about. Of course, we touch on his time at Goose Island, the possibility of cider courses through the Siebel Institute in the future, barrel trading with Shaun Hill, and we scratch the surface of cider pairings. Our guest hosts are Marty Nachel and Drew Fox. Music: Juice - Keep It Moving

This week on Beer Sessions Radio (TM), Jimmy Carbone celebrates Cider Week! Tune in as he talks to cider expert Christian Drouin , Greg Hall of Virtue Cider and Steve Wood of Farnum Hill Ciders. Learn more about varieties, production and what it takes to turn apples to delicious cider. Fall is the perfect season for cider, so tune in and learn everything you need to know to appreciate one of the best beverages on the market right now! This episode was sponsored by GreatBrewers.com.