From brewer to brewer and region to region, two things were consistent: “One is apples . . . You have to have good apples. You don’t have to have a particular variety of apple.” Hall had expected to hunt for the best variety. What he heard was, “That’s the wrong way to do it . . . You get a blend of different varieties. You need acid from some, tannin from some, and aroma and flavor.”

For a man who’s spent much of a lifetime in beer-brewing, it’s a question of learning a new art. For cider-making, Hall muses, “you don’t need a recipe, like you do in a brewery.” A moment later, he adds, “It’s more like cooking than baking, where brewing is more like baking.” As he describes the process, this makes sense. “If you’re in a line in a kitchen, you’re not going to make the dish exactly the same way every time. You put in a splash of vinegar. How much vinegar? A splash.” It’s an intuitive, interactive process. What does the dish need this time? “The point is not making it taste the same. The point is making it taste great.”

Photo via Virtue Cider

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