Page 48 - The Hunt Winter 2021

Sweet
SOUR
&
If you’re looking to get schooled in hard cider, it’s best to go
right to the source.
By Roger Morris Photos by Jim Graham
Even the casual wine drinker knows that different kinds of grapes produce wines that are distinctive from one another. In a similar way, we can compare apples to grapes—different varieties make different-tasting juices. And if we’re fortunate, those juices will turn into cider. That said, most of us don’t have a clue whether the cider we’re drinking comes from Granny Smiths or Winesaps—or whether those two varieties are even cider-worthy.
Evan Gruber can help us learn. His classroom is a tasting bar, and his schoolhouse is Old Stone Cider in Lewisville just over the Pennsylvania border north of Fair Hill, Md. For the past five years, the Gruber family has been making and selling a variety of ciders from multiple taps in their modern tasting room on the upper level of a converted bank barn.
Down a stairway, the bottom half of the barn is filled with tanks and barrels for fermenting and aging. Old Stone also has a satellite classroom, offering ciders at Hood’s BBQ in Kennett Square. For those who want to engage in further study at home, jugs of cider are available for sale. “My favorite apple is our Ashmead’s Kernel,” Gruber says. “It ferments out somewhat tart with almost a caramel flavor in the background. It pairs well with pork and can stand up to high-fat foods.”
46 THE HUNT MAGAZINE winter 2021-22