The Story of Essence '20/'21

We make our ice cider through cryo-concentration which is a process of concentrating sugars through freezing prior to fermentation. The apple juice, pressed from apples grown on our certified organic orchard, sits outside in the winter freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing. As the juice cycles through the winter days and nights, a sugar gradient forms and the water migrates to the outside of the tank, freezing solid as ice. The center of the tank holds progressively sweeter liquid. At a certain point , we draw off that sugary portion --  about 1/6th the original volume -- to ferment into ice cider. All of this conspires to make a very difficult environment for yeast to work. The sugars are dangerously high from a yeast’s perspective. So too are the concentrated acids, and the fermentation is always a little bit dicey. In 2020, we pulled the cryo off just a little bit too sweet. We tried and tried to encourage the yeast but by the time winter rolled around again, very little fermentation had occurred so we decided to blend the next harvest’s cryo and make a non-vintage blend. Close to 20 months later, the fermentation finally reached our desired alcohol. The result was worth the wait, we think.

~Autumn Stoscheck Cider Maker