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In highlighting another great cidery from the Midwest, we turned our eyes to Pux Cider. Pux is owned by the Schaefer family of Conklin, Michigan, owners and operators of a 6-generation orchard. They are known for their wide varieties of heirloom and cider apple that include dessert, French, English cider varieties. In making their products, they not only tap into their local apples but stay local with other Michigan products such as cherries, pears, and hops.
As Pux Cider‘s business has grown, they decided to open a taproom in the Grand Rapids area due to its growing drink culture and its proximity to their farm (only 25 mins NW from downtown Grand Rapids). This gave them an opportunity to not only get in front of a larger audience, but put their own flair on what a taproom should look like. We sat down with Chris Schaefer, co-owner of Pux Cider, and talk about his families history, their orchard, Pux Cider, their taproom, and the wonderful apples that make up their hard cider offerings.
Our Interview with Pux Cider
An overview of your cidery and ciders that you offer/history of the brand and your family?
Our family has been in the apple business for many years. Our heritage farm in Conklin, Michigan has actually been in the family since 1855. This is where, about 9 years ago, we started planting heirloom and cider apple varieties. Also, around this same time, we began experimenting with hard cider. Along with our Uncle, Mark, and my brother Andy, we established Schaefer Cider Company in 2014, and in 2016 we got our permits to begin production. We soon realized the name Schaefer would not work outside of the state so we decided to go by the trade name of Pux. Pux is a modernized version of the mythological character, Puck, from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We went from self distribution in kegs and bottles, then to signing with distributors and switching to cans. And here we are with the opening of our taphouse.
We offer quite a few ciders, most of them are on the dryer end of the scale, and many are award winning.
Here’s a list of some of some of what we make:
- Orchard Brut (12oz)- dry cider with a touch of English and French varietals Harvest (500ml)- dry, naturally fermented, no filtering, no preservatives. Blend includes Crimson Gold crabs, Northern Spy, Muscadet
- Kingston Black SV (500ml)- dry single varietal
- Ballyhoo (12oz)- med/dry raspberry key lime
- Rosé (12oz)- med/dry strawberry rhubarb hibiscus
- Pinch (12oz)- med/dry cherry pineapple
- Minty (12oz)- dry earl grey tea with mojito mint
- Luck (12oz)- med/dry bourbon barrel aged with tart cherries
- Hornswoggle (12oz)- dry jarillo and mosaic hops
- Whippersnapper (12oz)- med/dry pear cinnamon ginger
Why open in the area you did?
Our original intent was to open on the farm. It’s where we have our production space. And what better spot for a taproom than on the farm where apples are grown! Since it’s only 25 mins NW from downtown Grand Rapids, it is easy to get to. However, we knew that it would only be a seasonal space, so we started looking for properties within the city of Grand Rapids. We found the perfect spot! It is right off of two major thoroughfares and it’s attached to a well known local cheese shop. Also,we do still plan to have a seasonal spot at the orchard
What can we expect out of the taproom in terms of events/cider innovations/etc.?
As far as events go, we also operate as an art gallery so plenty of local artists to view. We have an outdoor stage and will have music events on weekends. We offer many cheese/cider pairings. You can order cheese individually or as a flight. The best part about the tap house is we can finally show off the literal fruits of the orchard with apples in season. We will feature traditional French, English, and American cider apples. We want to make all the cool cider-nerd ciders that would never make it to mainstream distribution as well as other crazy ideas.
How has COVID impacted your cider tap room?
It impacted us greatly, but probably in a different way than you’d think. We were supposed to open April 2020. COVID set us back a year with construction slow downs, among other things. We feel like we are lucky to never have had a pre-COVID business model. We feel like a lot of local spots closed down permanently because they couldn’t operate on limited capacity. The extra time we’ve gained with COVID has enabled us to adapt to changes, from our bar, patio design, and our medical grade ventilation system.
What design aesthetic are you going for in the tap room?
Art-gallery-meets-apple-farm-meets-urban tap house.
We’ve got art from local artists displayed gallery style for sale. We used boxwood for the walls and bar front, and barrel staves on the ceiling of the bar/serving area. We’ve got antique wagon sides adorning our patio and merchandising area. We even have a statue of Johnny Appleseed up on our bar top, as is appropriate.
Tell us more about the apples you use and your cider making process?
Well, we currently are growing over 100 cultivars in our orchard, making up about 6,500 trees. Some of our favorites in cider would be, Nehou, Cap of Liberty, Hewes Crab, Ashton Bitter, Tremletts Bitter, Crimson Gold, Northern Spy, Wickson, Golden Russet, Dabinette, Browns Apple, Ashmeads Kernel, Roxbury Russet, Baldwin, Harrison, French Muscadets, Michelin, Bramtot, Major, Chisel Jersey, Ellis Bitter, Stembridge Jersey, Pomme Gris, Kingston Black, Calville Blanc, just to name a few. When we planted our orchard 9 years ago nobody else had these trees in the ground locally, so it’s been trial and error.
We started with 150 different cultivars and have gotten rid of about 50. There are some that produce heavy every year and others that are more biennial. We don’t really spray or do much maintenance out in the cider orchard. For most of the cultivars, not much is needed. They are ugly but very tasty apples, some to eat, but most definitely fantastic in ciders!