If an apple a day is good for you, how about four?

Last Saturday afternoon, fellow Bullpen-er Luke and I, Amy O (along with our significant others), visited Santa Sidra Cidery in Santa Fe. We were very warmly greeted by owner and cidermeister Michael Zercher and his wife. None of us had ever seen a working cidery before and the tour was quite informative. Mike knows a great deal about the history of cider and trained in cider making both in the northwestern United States and in Europe. As it turns out, the process is very much like winemaking until the final steps and the cidery actually operates under a wine license. As with wine, the process starts with whole fruit that is pressed for its juice, and each year’s harvest will produce different flavor characteristics.

Mike tries to use New Mexico apples as much as possible. This year’s crop came mostly from an organic grower in the Mimbres Valley in southern New Mexico, with some additional apples from Corra

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