By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
For Brightonwoods Orchard owner Bill Stone, there are three key ingredients to a successful batch of apple cider.
One, you have to use a lot of different apples – between 6-10 varieties. Two, make sure every part of the cider-making process involves clean equipment and clean apples.
And three, don’t heat your product.
Stone and his Brightonwoods Orchard – located off Highway 142 near Bong Recreational Area – cider earned second place from the Wisconsin Apple Growers Association when awards were announced Aug. 30.
First place went to Heritage Orchard of Chilton, while third went to Maiden Rock Apples in Stockholm.
While Stone and his wife, Judy, have received awards for their cider in the past, they were a little surprised by the announcement at the end of August, having not realized they had won again.
And it was an off year for the orchard, as well. Drought conditions cut down severely on the number of apples produced, and Bill Stone said while the orchard normally has thousands of gallons frozen for winter and spring sales, it had only a few hundred last fall.
But Stone still had a wide variety of apples to choose from – the first key to his success.
“The secret of any good cider is a blend of apples,” said Stone. “It was a late cider.”
This year, however, is the exact opposite in terms of apple production.
“After taking the year off last year, the trees really pooped out the apples this year,” said Stone. “We have probably the heaviest crop we’ve ever had.
“We’ve never made cider before Labor Day before this year … and we’ve done three batches.”
Already there are more than 20 different varieties of apples for sale at the orchard and at the Burlington Farmers Market on Thursdays. When Cortland and McIntosh apples start coming off the trees in the next week or so, the orchard will get serious about pressing cider.
Right now, the orchard is doing about one run of cider a week, which is three people working 10 hours for 600 gallons of cider. But as the season progresses, the orchard will press cider – through stainless steel and plastic machines – two or three times a week.
The goal is to produce not only enough product to last into the late fall, but to have plenty of frozen cider available until next summer – when the first apples begin coming off the trees.
And while Stone is confident in his different apples and his clean pressing process, it’s that last element – not heating the cider – which makes it special.
There are three ways to provide apple cider. The first is raw, sold directly, with no bacteria removal. But in order to sell and ship, orchards must use either ultraviolet light or a pasteurization (heating) process to kill the bacteria in the cider.
Stone chooses ultraviolet light.
“By not heating it, you preserve a lot more taste,” said Stone.
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