Virtue takes advantage of climate to produce dry, complex ciders

Virtue Cider has its work cut out.

On a nice 48-acre chunk of property in Fennville, the cider maker is trying to lead a change in perception about the fermented apple beverage.

The company’s two big barns fit on the property as if they’d been there for decades. The young sapling trees on the property are the only hint the land was only recently rescued from a potential commercial development.

It’s the cider-making operation of former Goose Island Brewery brewmaster Greg Hall. Following the Anheuser-Busch buyout of Hall’s father, John, it was a perfect opportunity for the son to branch out and pursue a project he had thought about in the years leading up to the deal.

Hall located in Michigan because of the apple growing climate and its proximity to cider-loving Chicago, a market he knows well from his years with Goose Island. Michigan is the nation’s third-largest apple producer, though it could pass New York to become the second this year. Both are well behind Washington.

Hall believe

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