blog

PLCB Invests in PA Cider Guild Through Grant Funding

As 2022 draws to a close, we are taking a moment to reflect on the year. In our most “normal” year yet since 2020, we’ve seen so many of our member cideries getting back in the swing of things, with parties, events and other fun ways of engaging with their communities. We welcomed new members […]

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The Urban Cideries of Pennsylvania

When you envision a PA cidery, perhaps you imagine a rustic, refurbished barn on the grounds of a beautiful orchard, with rolling hills in the background. To be sure, there are plenty of lovely cideries in the Commonwealth that look much like this, and they offer a unique experience of tasting cider just steps away […]

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cideries in PA
The Pennsylvania Cider Trail

Here in Pennsylvania, we are blessed with an abundance of cideries all across the Commonwealth. There are orchard cideries that grow their own fruit, wineries and breweries that have added cider to their line of products, and city cideries that bring the flavor of the country to downtowns and urban neighborhoods.  Visiting a cidery (or […]

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Home Cider Making 101 with Olga Dressler of Dressler Estate Cider

If you’ve ever been curious about making hard cider at home, you’re not alone! Many fermentation-curious folks have dabbled in the art of home cider making — there are more resources now than ever, including homebrew shops with knowledgeable staff and online forums, to help you embark on this journey! Many home cider makers enjoy […]

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blackberry cider cocktail
Recipe Video: Blackberry Stone Fence Cider Cocktail

When berries are in season — we just can’t get enough! Set aside some of your farmers market haul (or freeze them for fall and winter) to make this garden-fresh cider cocktail, the Blackberry Stone Fence. The rich, brambly sweetness of the blackberries is elevated and amplified with your favorite Pennsylvania cider’s bubbly crispness and […]

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Recipe Video: PA Cider Cheese Dip with Soft Pretzels

There are a lot of incredible food and cider pairings, but cheese + cider is one of all our all-time favorites. This party-ready recipe puts them together in a delightful way: a gooey, melty cheese dip (made with cider!), perfect for scooping up with soft pretzels. Serve this cider cheese dip alongside your favorite fizzy, […]

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Pennsylvania Cider
A Video Introduction to Pennsylvania Cider Styles

All too often, cider gets lumped into one, overarching category. The truth is that there is a huge range of Pennsylvania ciders to discover! Consider that wine is made with one shared ingredient — grapes — but can express itself in many ways. In a similar way, PA craft cider offers a rainbow of flavors […]

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PA Cider
A Quick Guide to PA Cider & Food Pairings

Cider is one of the most food-friendly beverages out there! Its crisp, bright nature helps to cut through intense, savory flavors, and its apple character works beautifully with so many ingredients, especially cheese, pork and spices.  Pennsylvania cider boasts many styles: dry and sweet, fruity and tart, acid-driven and mellow. Some ciders have other ingredients, […]

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How Cider is Made

On the face of it, making cider seems pretty simple: apples + yeast = cider, right? In reality, it’s a surprisingly complex process, with many decisions along the way that affect the final product. Plus, since cider is fermented, there are all the trials and tribulations of working with live yeasts and bacteria (if you’ve […]

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PA Cider Style Guide: Wood-Aged Cider

As we hoped you’ve learned from the PA Cider Guild blog’s series about cider styles, there is an amazing range of ciders to explore, made right here in our state! Starting with the foundation of apples, one of PA’s most abundant agricultural crops, and the microbial magic of fermentation, there is practically no limit to […]

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PA Cider Style Guide: Hopped and Spiced Cider

As we hope you’re beginning to learn from our series on PA Cider styles, the beverage category of “cider” actually encapsulates a beautiful array of flavors and textures. From the amazing list of cideries that make up the PA Cider Guild, you can find ciders in every color of the rainbow, showcasing the nearly infinite […]

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PA Cider Style Guide: Fruit Cider

You can’t talk about cider without talking about fruit — after all, apples are what it’s all about. In some ciders, apples are the star of the show with their complex and intriguing characteristics unlocked by the magic of yeast and fermentation. But in other ciders, apples are the backdrop, the supporting players there to […]

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PA Cider Style Guide: Modern Cider, Sweet & Dry

One of the most exciting things about hard cider is the amazing range of styles within the category. That so many aromas, flavors, textures and colors can come from a relatively small number of ingredients is such a special and unique part of the cider. However, with so many styles out there, it becomes really […]

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PA Cider Style Guide: Traditional Cider

Just like there are so many types of apples beyond the ones in the supermarket, there are so many styles of cider beyond what you might expect! Here at the PA Cider Guild, it is one of our goals to help educate everyone about the amazing array of cider styles that are out there. In […]

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PA Cider Style Guide: Sour Cider

Consider how many stylistic differences you find across the world of craft beer: Hazy IPAs and dark, malty stouts (and everything in between) both live under the large umbrella of beer. The same goes for wine — how wild is it that sparkling rosé and inky Syrah are both made from grapes? Just like wine […]

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6 Ways to Support the Cider Guild!

We missed you this summer and hope you’ve been enjoying some incredible PA ciders to fill the void in your heart from missing PA Cider Fest. Because we were unable to host the festival due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we were also unable to make a significant donation to the PA Cider Guild, which we […]

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Announcing the 2020 Pennsylvania Farm Show Cider Competition Winners

Saturday, January 4, 2020, marked the 3rd Annual Cider Competition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. The judging took place in December, with a panel of five cider professionals from across the country coming together to taste more than 100 entries across nine different categories. It was a strong showing for the PA cider community, […]

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Come Visit the PA Cider Guild at the 2020 Pennsylvania Farm Show

It’s time, once again, for the statewide phenomenon that is the Pennsylvania Farm Show! This year, it’s all happening at the PA Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA, from Friday, January 4 to 11, and member cideries from the PA Cider Guild will be on site, sharing local craft cider with attendees. Exciting news: For the first time ever, […]

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It’s All About the Apples: Philly-Style

The archetypal image of a cidery may be a small, rustic tasting room tucked into a charmingly dilapidated barn, just a few dozen feet away from the orchards where the apples were harvested. And there are definitely plenty of bucolic spots like this in Pennsylvania, which are worth a trip for the break from life’s […]

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Cider Maker How-To: Sampling and Selling Products

You know the old adage “seeing is believing?” Well, in the retail world, especially where food and beverage are concerned, it’s more like “tasting is believing.”There’s a reason why you see so many culinary companies in markets, pop-ups and festivals sampling their wares: When it comes to specialty goods, consumers need to experience something before […]

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Pennsylvania Ciders on the World Stage: 2018 CIDERCRAFT Awards

Every year, Pennsylvania cideries have been making huge strides — not just in terms of educating our local consumers and growing within our own communities, but also on larger platforms as well. Some cideries have expanded to nearby markets outside of Pennsylvania, such as New Jersey and New York, and some have attended national and […]

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PA Farm Show Cider Competition Winners You Must Try

Every year at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, there are competitions to crown the best in all kinds of food categories, including home-baked goods, wine, cheese and so much more! The 2018 PA Farm Show marked the first time that cider was included in these culinary showdowns. It was so successful that we did it again in […]

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The PA Cider Guild Will Back and Better Than Ever at the 2019 PA Farm Show

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents, tourists, farmers, producers and more flock to the PA Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg for the PA Farm Show. Now in its 103rd year, the PA Farm show is set for January 5–12, 2019, and will continue its tradition as the nation’s largest indoor agricultural event, featuring 6,000 animals, 10,000 […]

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National News Update from the USACM

The United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) is a bit like the PA Cider Guild, except instead of focusing solely on the cider industry in Pennsylvania, it’s focused on the entire country! Its dedicated staff and board of directors has, according to the USACM website, made it their mission “to grow a diverse and successful U.S. cider […]

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Spotlight on Our Associate Member: Pommel Cyder

There are plenty of compelling reasons to join the PA Cider Guild, but chief among them is the chance to be part of a growing, vibrant community. A Guild membership means that you’re in the same league with other movers and shakers across the Pennsylvania cider scene (and beyond!), including member cideries, Associate members and Enthusiast members. Associate members are […]

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Why Join the PA Cider Guild?

It can be a lonely life for the modern-day artisan and/or small businessperson. For the cider maker, there are long days of working, head down, with apples and yeast as your only company. Hours spent in front of the computer, buried in spreadsheets and emails. Nights spent silently worrying about all of the millions of […]

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Spotlight on Our Associate Member: Starfish Junction Productions

At the PA Cider Guild, we appreciate each and every one of our members. Their ranks include plenty of cideriesfrom across our great state, but they also include Supporters at other levels. These are our Enthusiast-level members, who are individuals who love Pennsylvania cider and want to help uphold and promote the industry, and also our Associate […]

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Keeping up with Pennsylvania Cider Legislation

As with any industry that’s involved with alcohol, there are a lot of laws and regulations surrounding craft cider, decided and overseen both at a state and federal government level. Things in legislative realms tend to happen either very quickly or very, very slowly, and for producers and consumers alike, the laws around cider can […]

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It’s Still All About the Apple: Abundant Agriculture in Adams County

There are a lot of ways to be creative and innovation when making cider. After all, half the battle of creating any artisan product is problem-solving. But no matter how outside-the-box your methods, one thing is set in stone: You can’t make good cider from bad apples. It just isn’t possible. Quality ingredients are paramount […]

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It’s All About the Apple: Growing Strong in Eastern Pennsylvania

Making any craft product starts with quality ingredients. For chefs, that’s farm-fresh produce; for bakers and brewers, it’s top-of-the-line milled grains. For cider makers, it’s all about the apple. All ciders, even those with other fruits or yeasts added, are almost entirely made from apple juice, so skimping on the integrity of that juice is […]

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Cider: Fuel of the Revolution

People often think of apple pie as the ultimate all-American food, but we’d like to propose a beverage to go along with that pie: hard cider. Currently, 1 out of every 10 farms in the mid-Atlantic through New England regions is an orchard cidery, and the average American consumes 35 gallons per year of hard […]

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PA Cider Guild 101: Who Are We?

The PA Cider Guild (PACG), established in 2014, is a trade organization founded specifically to bring together cidermakers, cideries, cider enthusiasts and associated businesses to create a united voice in the state of Pennsylvania. There are dozens of cideries and cider producers, with an annual economic impact in our great state of more than $25 million. In a […]

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