Amanda Hesser, writing in the New York Times, calls hard cider, "a drink that can be more graceful than wine". In a recent article (11/21/2001), she wrote, "In the past decade, cider making has revived, with a small cluster of fruit growers around the country turning to cider with a winemaker's approach - some are like fragrant, delicate Champagnes, others bracing, yeasty brews."
Here at Flag Hill Farm in the Green Mountains of rural Vermont, we take this same slow, traditional, wine-making approach to our own hard cider. We make two varieties of prize-winning hard cyder, Sparkling and Still, in small batches, right here on our family farm. To distinguish our handmade, farmhouse product from apple cider and mass-market carbonated apple 'wines', we call our product, 'Cyder with a "Y"'.
We grow and harvest many of the apple varieties used in our hard cyder, and buy local unsprayed and wild apples from neighboring farms. Flag Hill Farm Hard Cyder is bottled in limited release, packaged in hand-numbered bottles and is available only in Vermont! We are truly excited about introducing our dry, crisp Vermont Hard Cyders as a sophisticated new beverage alternative for good cooks, food lovers, and wine connoisseurs throughout New England.
