Read the full story by Steve Barnes, head writer of Table Hopping in Times Union.

(Beacon, NY, May 7, 2021) – Cider Week New York 2021, produced by the New York Cider Association, kicks off for the spring on May 15th and runs through Memorial Day weekend, May 31st. For the first time ever, Cider Week events will be hosted across the entire state. There are a variety of events including both in-person and virtual tastings, dinner pairings, panel conversations, cider seminars, orchard tours, cider yoga sessions, and more. For more information, a listing of the 37 cidery participants, the event calendar, and where to buy cider, visit www.ciderweeknewyork.com. Virtual Cider Week programming can be viewed at New York Cider Association TV Channel on YouTube.

Directly tied to New York’s agricultural cash crop of apples, cider in New York has seen an unprecedented growth explosion of over 450% over the past ten years and now has a $1.6 billion economic impact to the NY state economy. With over 140 producers making over 5 million gallons of cider every year, New York continues to rank first in the country for the number of cider producers.

Presenting Sponsor, Marianne Brennan of Beak & Skiff/1911 Established says, "The Beak & Skiff/1911 Established families have been building and supporting the apple industry in New York State for over 100 years, so it is a natural evolution to now be a part of Cider Week as a Presenting Sponsor. As a farm and cider producer, we are proud to contribute to the growing hard cider industry and the people that make it so fun and rewarding. Along with the New York Cider Association, we look forward to educating experienced and novice cider drinkers through creative virtual and in person events.”

Following is just a sampling and highlights of Cider Week New York 2021 events:

AN INTIMATE EVENING AT 1911 ESTABLISHED – A TASTING AND DINING EXPERIENCE

Wednesday, May19th from 6pm to 8pm - As a presenting sponsor of New York Cider Week, 1911 Established is hosting a special night with Head Cidermaker, Yann Fay, and new Executive Chef, Carl Helgersen, to guide attendees through a 1911Cider & Spirits tasting and food pairing. Attendees will also get a firsthand account of the rich heritage behind Beak & Skiff with a talk from 5th-generation company president himself, Eddie Brennan. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-intimate-evening-with-1911-tickets-153536952157.

Beak & Skiff & 1911Tasting Room, 2708 Route 20, LaFayette NY, 13084 (Finger Lakes Region)

CIDER AND PAELLA BY THE POND AT TWIN STAR ORCHARDS

Sunday, May 16from 1pm to 2pm - Join for delicious Seafood Paella, made with shrimp, calamari, chicken and chorizo, perfect when paired with Brooklyn Cider House’s Raw or Little Wild cider. The usual wood-fired pizzas and burgers will be also be available along with craft cider and local beer and wine. Tickets are limited and can be purchased in advance at https://www.twinstarorchards.com/menu.

Brooklyn Cider House, 155 N Ohioville Rd #3402,New Paltz NY, 12561 (Hudson Valley)

CIDER APERITIF WITH SOUTH HILL CIDER AND ISIGNY STE-MÈRE

Monday, May 17from 4pm to 6pm - Join for a cider Aperitif hour with Isigny Ste-Mère dairy cooperative from Normandy, France. Learn about the century old dairy cooperative from the French cider capital. Offerings include a special paired cider flight showcasing French style ciders with traditional cheeses from Isigny Ste-Mère. Normandy is known for the high quality of its milk and there will be pairings with their cheese, butter and cream with South Hill ciders. Free to attend. Formore information, visit https://www.southhillcider.com.

South Hill Cider,550 Sanbank Rd, Ithaca NY, 14850 (Finger Lakes)

URBAN TREE GRAFTING NIGHT AT NINE PIN CIDER

Monday, May 17from 5pm to 6pm - Live tree grafting event in front of Nine Pin’s tasting room. Learn about tree grafting from Michael Leidy, a local Cider Enthusiast and Treekeeper. During the presentation, Mr. Leidy will graft cuttings from various cider apple varieties on to the ornamental crab apple trees in front of the cidery with the goal of creating a “frankentree”. Learn about specific cider apple varieties and how they are propagated. Free to attend. For more information, visit https://www.ninepincider.com/tasting-room.

Nine Pin Cider, 929 Broadway, Albany NY, 12207 (Capital Region)

OUTDOOR PATIO LAUNCH AND LIMITED-EDITION TREASURY CIDER CYSER TASTING

Saturday, May 22from 11am to 5pm - Join at Treasury Cider, Fishkill Farms for the season re-opening of the outdoor patio bar with a special sneak preview of upcoming Treasury Cider’s new Cyser. Food will be available and live music on the patio, as well. Reservations

are strongly recommended and can be made at https://www.fishkillfarms.com/.

Treasury Cider, 9 Fishkill Farm Rd, HopewellJunction NY, 12533 (Hudson Valley)

STRETCH THEN SIP AT PENNINGS FARM CIDERY

Saturday, May 22 from 11am to 11:45am - Celebrate Cider Week New York at Pennings Farm Cidery. In partnership with Jenese of Lotus Yoga and Wellness, enjoy a relaxing outdoor yoga class on the hill and some delicious cider! Purchase of a ticket includes the yoga class and one cider following the class. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit penningscidery.com.

PenningsCidery, 4 Warwick Turnpike, Warwick NY, 10990 (Hudson Valley)

NAKED FLOCK CIDER COCKTAIL CLASS ON FACEBOOK LIVE

Saturday, May 22at 6pm - Join Michele and Dylan for a special Cider Week edition of Naked Flock’s Facebook Live show where they will discuss some of the cider cocktails on their seasonal menu!

Cider cocktails are also available for purchase at Naked Flock’s tasting room Wednesday –Sunday 11am-5pm. For more information, visit exploretock.com/applewoodwinery. FREE.

Applewood Winery and Naked Flock Cider, 82 Four Corners Rd. Warwick NY, 10990 (Hudson Valley)

HISTORY OF APPLES AND CIDER IN SULLIVAN COUNTYWITH JOHN CONWAY

Sunday, May 23at 4pm - Join local historian and columnist John Conway for an overview of the roles that apples, cider and cider making have played in the lives, culture and agriculture of Sullivan County over time. FREE to attend. For more information, visit https://www.seminaryhill.co.

Seminary Hill Orchard &Cidery Tasting Room, 43 Wagner Lane, Callicoon NY, 12723 (Catskills)

AMERICAN CIDER, TASTE & TALK

Wednesday, May26 from 7pm to 8pm - Join Heritage Radio Network online, in celebrating the debut of “American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage” by Daniel Pucci and Craig Cavallo. The first of its kind, the book chronicles the history of cider making in the United States, offering essential knowledge on what to drink and where the cider market is heading. The authors will dive into history and flavor in conversation with Jimmy Carbone, host of the award- winning HRN podcast, Beer Sessions Radio. In the second half of this event, Pucci and Cavallo will be joined by Angry Orchard’s head cider maker Ryan Burke for myth-busting about this beverage and an interactive cider tasting. Every ticket includes a copy of “American Cider” from Books are Magic. For more information and to buy tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/american-cider-book-party-and-tasting-tickets-151734904183?aff=jimmy.

To order a cider bundle and taste along with the authors, visithttps://vinoshipper.com/shop/angry_orchard_cider_company_llc?list=

5 BORO PICNYC FEATURING CIDER ALLEY

Saturday, May 29from 11am to 4pm - Food Karma Projects, the producers of Pig Island NYC and Brisket King® NYC, are bringing you the ultimate Memorial Day barbecue and picnic, with cider! Join for a full day of ribs, vegetarian dishes and a cider alley featuring Original Sin Cider and many others. One ticket price provides all-inclusive food and drink tastings and VIP tickets are available for early admission. For more information and to buy tickets, visithttps://cookoutnyc.com.

Snug Harbor Heritage Farm, 1000Richmond Terrace, Staten Island NY, 10301 (New York City)

BLT X WÖLFFER TASTING EVENT

Ongoing through Cider Week through May 27 - BLT Restaurant Group toasts to the start of Rosé season with the introduction of a new brand partnership with Wölffer Estate, a sustainable vineyard in the heart of the Hamptons. As temperatures rise and flowers bloom in New York City, the international hospitality group is bringing Wölffer’s iconic Rosé Stand to BLT Prime to offer New Yorkers a taste of the Hamptons. The Wölffer Rosé Stand will be open to the public with three of the New York brand’s most beloved rosé products, including Wolffer’s Dry Rosé Cider. To make a reservation, visit https://www.opentable.com/r/blt-prime-new-york-2

BLT Prime, 1032 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10021(New York City)

For even more events and new events posted daily, visit www.ciderweeknewyork.com. Virtual Cider Week programming can be viewed at New York Cider Association TV Channel on YouTube.

Story by Jim Franco at Spotlight News

On Saturday, April 24 the Nine Pin Mobile Bar made a debut at a small wedding in East Greenbush.

It has been an interesting journey with the mobile bar.

As with everything, it started out as just an idea. At first it seemed so simple: let’s provide a way for people to access a unique New York cider bar at their private, outdoor events during an *almost* post-COVID summer. We sensed there was plenty of celebrating in the works to make up for a long year of social distancing and zoom gatherings.

Of course, we could have taken an easier road by buying already-to-go trailer, making some minor adjustments, and giving it a subtle Nine Pin branding touch.

But no, no, at Nine Pin we must take the road less traveled, start from scratch and create our own, unique trappings. In this spirit, we invested in a used horse trailer, and trust us, it was USED!

The first task was cleaning. If you know anything about horse care, you are aware that it is quite the messy job. To wash the aftermath is not pleasant. But we powered through, encountered a couple surprises along the way, and were finally ready for the next task, welding.

Luckily in this department, we have a good friend who owns his own welding business, Mack Daddy Fabrications. Chris Patterson is an incredibly talented welder. The only problem is that his usual welding work involves massive steel tanks in nuclear power plants; an amazing skill set to have, but a little too much skill for our little horse trailer.

Chris did amazing work on the bar, and our cider mobile is now as strong as a military grade tank, ready to go into battle. Who knows, depending on the party we attend, we may need this type of brawn!!!

After Chris completed his work, it was time to paint and refurbish the inside. Alejandro and his father, Casiano, worked around the clock to prepare for our first event. There was a bit of nail biting suspense at the end, but we were able to accomplish our goal.

All in all, it took us almost three months of hard work to get the Nine Pin Mobile Bar event-ready and we rolled into our first event fit to bring all the fun, excitement, and exceptional New York cider a wedding deserves. But wait, there’s more!  Even though the mobile bar was complete and primed to serve a slew of Nine Pin Ciders to feverish party goers, we faced a final challenge…

How do we get a full-sized horse trailer into a small suburban back yard?

The answer is three grown adults, including an incredibly good-natured groom himself, carefully backing the bar into the yard, physically lifting it at points to pivot it into place, all while trying to maneuver it around the already set up wedding tent. We managed to achieve a perfect position, though it may or may not have required deconstructing a fence in the process to fit the bar through. (Luckily the fence was easy to put back together).

So, after all the ups and downs, the question of “What have we gotten ourselves into,” and the uncertainty of whether we would actually pull this project off, we had, indeed, done it. We got the Nine Pin Mobile Bar to the wedding and immediately we knew that all of our hard work was worth it.

Tehresa and Pierre, the bride and groom, could not have been better hosts. They, like so many couples who had planned weddings in 2020, decided to get married via a private ceremony last summer. Their celebration on the 24th was an intimate gathering among their closest friends and family to commemorate the occasion that everyone missed due to the pandemic. And boy, did they make up for lost time!

The entire time we were there, there was not a frown on anyone’s face. People were just so happy to be in one another’s presence. The cider poured beautifully, and gave everyone that extra liquid courage to tear up the dance floor. I will admit, it was hard to not just jump in and join in on the fun myself, having not danced with a group since my mother’s 60th birthday party two weeks before the shutdown in 2020.

The night ended without any hiccups. We said our farewell to Tehresa and Pierre with a beaming sense of triumph, knowing our first event had gone perfectly.

And in the end, it was an Instagram message from Tehresa that truly reminded us why we had put so much work into the once beaten up horse trailer. It read simply: “Y’all seriously made our day”.

-         Joshua Whelan, Director of Marketing

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Nine Pin throws dozens of events every year (2020 excepted). They range from food pairings, tastings, craft nights, and more. Among all the fun and exciting experiences, nothing to me is more rewarding than our annual Warehouse District Clean Up, which we lead annually on the Sunday of Earth Week.

The cleanup began in 2015 with a crowd of approximately fifteen eager volunteers, ready to get their hands dirty with the promise of crisp, refreshing Nine Pin cider at the end.  

We gathered around our then relatively tiny tasting room on a bright and gorgeous spring Sunday, welcoming the warmer weather after the lingering cold of winter in Upstate New York.

We broke into teams; Nine Pin employees led their respective groups to each of the nine cleanup zones we had designated. I was assigned to a team of young women, all friends, and we made our way to clean up Manor Street. Although a small street for Albany, it sure put us to work!

At first, being assigned to group of strangers was not exactly how I envisioned my first cleanup adventure. If I was going to be picking up trash on Sunday, I wanted to be with my fellow co-workers or, even more preferably, my girlfriend (now wife).

However, it did not take long to discover the magic of the day. Before I knew it, my team and I were cracking jokes, getting to know one another, and laughing about all the literal junk we were handling. We spent only two hours together, but by the end, I felt I was part of their “girl” gang.  

When we returned to the tasting room to retrieve our complimentary cider reward, the bonding continued. Now we were joined by all the groups who had returned from the other cleanup areas. We sat outside the tasting room, sipping our ciders and trading war stories of what we had, thankfully, removed from the streets of the Warehouse District. We basked outside in the warm sun, while admiring the literal mountain of trash we had collected. Albany DGS was soon there to haul the trash away to a proper disposal site.

Fast forward six years later and our group has grown to approximately 40-50 fabulous volunteers each year.  I am delighted to have the opportunity to rekindle bonds with returning friends and to establish connections with the new faces that join us each year.  

This year I was lucky enough to meet a friendly gentleman named Wes. At first a stranger, I asked Wes to hop in the Nine Pin pickup truck with me to help retrieve the “big ticket items”. We recovered an entire couch, several rotting pallets, an old concrete fountain, and many more bulky objects, not suitable for the hefty bags that Albany DGS had donated. By the end of our mission, Wes and I were joking around and realizing our shared musical taste for classic Hip-Hop.  

We then joined other volunteers in the tasting room, and there was no denying the comradery between groups of complete strangers, all conversing about our shared experience. Just as with our first year, we all reflected on our hard work this year and how we couldn’t wait until next year’s cleanup!

• Joshua Whelan, Director of Marketing

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