“It just went into the cans on Tuesday,” said Frank Carlson as thirsty apple pickers lined up in the new tasting tent next to the store at Carlson Orchards Sunday, Sept. 17, to taste “Oak Hill Blend,” Carlson’s new hard apple cider. Tastings will be held every weekend from Friday through Sunday for those over 21 (Carlson is diligent about checking identification, even for senior citizens), and the 12-ounce cans are available for sale in the orchard store in packs of four for $9.75.
“The response has been very, very good,” said Carlson. On Saturday, Sept. 16, the first day of tastings and sales, Carlson said the crowd at the orchard was small because it was such a hot day, but the store still sold a fair amount of cider. Later that day Carlson brought the cider to the Harvard Lions Club’s Volksfest, where he sold “most of a half-barrel keg,” about 15.5 gallons.
The next day Carlson spoke to the Press from behind the tasting bar, which is topped by a 14-foot-long pine plank that he bought from Parlee Lumber & Box Co. in Littleton. The wide plank was sanded and finished by Carlson’s friend, Harvard resident Jim McClellan, and it provides a natural setting for tasting samples of the “branch to can” cider.
Tom Aciukewicz (left) tries a sample of Oak Hill Blend hard cider served by Frank Carlson during a tasting event at Carlson Orchards, Sept. 17. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
The ingredient list is small: “Fresh apples.” Carlson said that just like Carlson’s nonalcoholic cider, no apple juice concentrate is used, no water is added, and the beverage is unfiltered. Tasters were enthusiastic. Nicoleta Jordan from Ashland, who said she is an avid hard cider drinker, gave Carlson’s new entry in the field a big thumbs-up. “I like the acidity,” she said. “It’s not too sweet.” Her husband, Andy Jordan, said it was “refreshing” and “not too strong.” The alcohol content is 5 percent, about the same as many mainstream beers such as Coors, Moosehead, and Sam Adams Boston Lager.
Locally brewed, locally sold
Oak Hill Blend is made by Stormalong Cider, an orchard-based cidery founded in Sherborn by cidermaker Shannon Edgar. Stormalong recently opened a facility in Leominster inside the New England Apple Products building where Carlson’s nonalcoholic cider is made, so it was a natural fit for making Carlson’s hard cider. The bulk of the apples used to make Oak Hill Blend come from Carlson Orchards: McIntosh, Cortland, and Empire. Some other apple varieties, including Spitzenburg, an antique apple with a spicy flavor, and Dabinett, an English bittersweet variety, are added to the blend to increase its acidity. Carlson said that, for hard cider, a few apples with higher tannin and acidity are needed to balance the natural sweetness of the basic apple blend. Last year, he said, 1,700 trees of 10 apple varieties used for that purpose were planted in a section of the orchard, and they should be ready for harvest in three years. Until then, other New England orchards will provide the varieties needed to balance the hard cider’s sweetness.
For now, Oak Hill Blend is sold only at the orchard’s store. Carlson said he’ll offer it to package stores in a 5-mile radius, but added he’s not sure they will want to sell it “because there’s a lot of hard cider on the shelves already.” As for the future, an apple-cranberry-cherry hard cider may be in the works in time for the holidays. Tastings at the orchard will continue through the weekend before Thanksgiving, weather permitting.
