Sabrina hears it all the time.
“I don’t really like cider.”
“It’s too sweet.”
“I tried one once.”
She doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t correct. She asks a question instead.
That instinct to listen first, to invite rather than persuade, is exactly why Sabrina is the newest member of the Nine Pin team. As a Certified Pommelier and now one of our Sales Reps, she’s here to do more than sell cider. She’s here to help people understand it.
Because for Sabrina, cider isn’t something to defend. It’s something to open up.
“I always say,” she explains, “you wouldn’t say you don’t like wine just because you don’t like Merlot.”
That sentence alone captures why Sabrina is here and why her arrival matters.
Cider Isn’t the Problem. The Conversation Is.
Before joining Nine Pin, Sabrina had already spent nine years deep in the cider world, tasting, studying, traveling, and ultimately earning her Certified Pommelier credentials from the American Cider Association. But what stayed with her most wasn’t just what cider was. It was how often it was misunderstood.
“A lot of people never get past their first impression of cider,” she says. “Not because they don’t care, but because no one ever showed them there was more to taste.”
That gap between what cider can be and how it’s talked about is where Sabrina has always felt pulled. It’s also a big part of why Nine Pin felt like the right place for her to land.
From “Cider Nerd” to Cider Guide
Ask Sabrina what a Pommelier does and she’ll smile before answering.
“I usually just say it’s a Sommelier, but for cider. But really… I’m just a big cider nerd.”
That curiosity is what led her here and what makes her such a natural fit for Nine Pin.
“The more I learned about it,” she says, “the more I just wanted to talk about it.”
Not in a technical way, but in a way that made people feel welcome. To give cider context. To give people language. To give apples the credit they deserve.
What It Means to “Find Your Way” Into Cider
For Sabrina, helping people find their way into cider isn’t about convincing anyone to love it. It’s about permission.
Permission to like some ciders and not others.
Permission to be curious without feeling uninformed.
Permission to start with fruit-forward styles and move toward drier, more complex ones, or not.
“Once people realize they don’t have to like all cider to like cider,” she says, “everything opens up.”
That’s the moment she’s always listening for. The shift from dismissal to curiosity. It’s the kind of moment Nine Pin believes in creating too.
Why Nine Pin Felt Like Home
When Sabrina talks about Nine Pin, she doesn’t talk about growth charts or trends. She talks about values.
“I really appreciate that we use all local ingredients,” she says. “We’re not throwing… you know… cotton candy into cider.”
What matters to her is that the cider can stand on its own, that it starts with apples, place, and intention. Nine Pin’s commitment to New York fruit and thoughtful process means Sabrina doesn’t have to oversell anything.
“My job,” she says, “is just helping people understand what they’re drinking.”
That role, translator, guide, advocate, is exactly why she’s here.
The Bigger Hope
Sabrina believes cider belongs at the table. Not just as a casual drink, but as something worthy of conversation, pairing, and respect.
She lights up talking about wine drinkers who swear they don’t like cider until they taste one that’s bone dry, structured, and apple-driven.
“A lot of wine drinkers think they don’t like cider because they assume it’s sweet,” she says.
Once that assumption falls away, cider starts to make sense on its own terms.
An Open Invitation
Sabrina didn’t join Nine Pin to change minds. She joined to slow things down.
To ask better questions.
To listen first.
To let apples do the talking.
She knows that most people don’t need more information. They need better context.
So she shows up with care, with patience, and with a deep respect for the fruit and the people tasting it.
Just honest cider, thoughtfully presented.