Brian Shanks and John Washburn founded Bold Rock Cider to create crisp, delicious cider from Blue Ridge Mountain apples.
John, who grew up in the South, was looking for a use for his farmland in Nelson County, Virginia and had the idea to produce craft cider from apples grown in neighbors’ orchards. Brian grew up farming in the New Zealand countryside and had made small batches of cider from his apple orchard before becoming an international cider consultant. John reached out to Brian, and the two became friends and business partners.
John, Brian, and their team of cider makers crush locally picked apples at two cideries: their original Cider Barn in Nellysford, Virginia, and their newer facility in Mills River, North Carolina. They crush the fruit at its peak, producing juice with the most flavor. Making cider is more than adding yeast to apples, Brian says. “I’ve been very proud of the skills of the people who work with us…. It’s like working in a big family.”
Brian explains their ciders thus: “What we’ve done at Bold Rock is to produce ciders that have got no harshness–they’re not too sweet, they’re not too dry.” Their ciders have won more than 75 awards.
Read more at http://www.boldrock.com/.