Getting to Know Sierra Cider
Getting to Know Valley View Farm
September 1, 2021
Getting to Know Far From the Tree Cidery
September 9, 2021
Sierra Cider has apples for sale to cideries! Please shoot them an email at hello@sierracider.com if interested.
Dana Tiel always wanted to live on a farm. David Bailey always wanted to live in the mountains. And when they met in Manhattan almost ten years ago, both working as copywriters in the advertising scene, they could never have imagined they’d be running a 16 acre farm with nearly 800 cider-specific apple trees.
The Sierra Cider orchard is a working farm and cider production facility, but also a refreshing alternative for Yosemite tourists to take a break from those really long, really hard hikes. In the middle of the orchard grows a huge oak tree providing shade for a cozy tasting area with picnic tables, games, and a wooden swing that, as they will tell you, was really hard to get up there. So swinging is encouraged! And drinking is also encouraged with four delicious cider blends ranging from extra dry to semi-sweet. The couple educates guests on the importance of cider-specific apples to achieve a drink with all the tannins and complexity of a fine wine. While guests may arrive knowing only of Macintosh and Granny Smiths, they leave with a knowledge of 19 varieties of cider apples like Kingston Black, Golden Russet, and Harrison Crab.
Having both coincidentally grown up near antique cider mills (Bailey was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, while Dana grew up in Eugene Oregon), they both found a forever-passion for the fall season, apple cider donuts, and everything spooky. With their brand new shipping-container tap room opening this October, Sierra Cider will be transforming into “The Tortured Orchard.” Throughout the month, they’ll host a variety of spooky events like cult horror movie nights, a dance party called “The Raveyard,” and the grand finale, a Halloween haunted maze through the orchard in the pitch black of night.
The young couple, whose background experience consisted mostly of writing jokes for TV commercials, will admit that it’s been a lot harder than they thought it would be. But standing on the roof deck of their soon-to-be tasting room, sipping on their Ol’ Fashioned blend, while looking over their sea of thriving apple trees changing colors, is a kind of pride that they’ve never experienced in the advertising world.
Admittedly huge newbs to the farming world, they’ve worked their butts off and managed to grow a ton of beautiful apples this year. Well, more like 30 or 40 tons! As one of a few, maybe the only, cider-specific orchard in Central California, these apples are rare and bursting with delicious future hard cider. Sierra Cider is opening up their harvest for other cideries to experience the joy, and tannins, of cider-specific apples and help educate the world on premium, tasty, cider.
Available Apples:
Yarlington Mills
Harry Master Jersey
Ashmead’s Kernel
Harrison Crab
Wickson Crab
To contact them about obtaining some of their apples, please contact them via email at hello@sierracider.com.
