The Story of DeRidder 2019

For many of the wild apple trees growing in the hills and valleys around our farm, 2019 was a good fruit year. So, it was a favorite pastime of the children and I to scout the countryside for promising cider apples. We drove around dirt roads with the excitement of treasure hunters. DeRidder grove was by far our biggest treasure find...each tree wildly diverse from the next. The apples ranged from glowing golden orbs to sprays of crimson droplets. But all of them were of unusually high quality. The owner was wildly interesting and clearly beloved by the many neighbors who stopped to check in on as we hauled the apples out of the woods in sacks on our backs.

DeRidder is a pet nat style cider. The natural yeasts on the skins of the apple started a nice slow primary fermentation in neutral barrels. Before the fermentation finished we bottled the cider so it could continue in bottle and capture a bit of sparkle.

The character on the label of this cider was drawn by Zuri Sherman. She is rebel princess, tired of the dark, cruel and cynical ways of her kingdom, who decides to go back to the mountains and live the life of the huntress. The dragon on her back is not a pet, but a friend. The rain falling all about does not extinguish the flame of hope and perseverance alive inside her. She is a lover of nature, of wild things, of the pure at heart. The youthful hope and perseverance represented in the drawing, are also represented in the cider, about as pure a cider as cider gets.

Autumn Stoscheck Cider Maker/ Orchardist