Bold Rock Cidery Visit

The other weekend, my girlfriend and I had the opportunity to visit the Bold Rock Cidery in Nellysford, VA.  It is about two and a half hours from Virginia Tech nestled in the AVA wine country of Virginia.  As soon as we stepped foot out of the car you could see the richness in the soil quality.  It had just rained and the sponginess of the soil made a nice foundation as we walked to the tap house and bottling plant.  

 We had the opportunity to try two of the different ciders that they brewed on cite.  The first was the Vintage Dry which was a blend of three different apples both red and green.  It had a higher alcohol (about 7% ABV) which rivaled the flavor of may wines.  I actually tasted some Sauvignon Blancs that were similar in body and taste.  It was very complex for a cider, and a 10 dollars a bottle, it was worth staying with the sample.  The second cider we tried was the Virginia Draft.  This is the flagship of the cidery which they said accounts for 60% of the sales out of that specific location.  It was an incredibly refreshing cidery that was made from only red apples.  It was served much colder than I would expect it, but that made for such a great experience.  It tasted just like fresh crisp apple cider with barely a hint of alcoholic heat.  I would get this again if I had the change but I'd be surprised if it would be as fresh.



We had the opportunity to tour the facilities which we learned received apple shipments from the orchard nearby.  The operation had two tanks of cider that would be emptied in a day.  The photo on the right shows the two tanks, and in the back you can see the fermentation vessels that stores the cider.  The small conveyor belt on the right side of the photo shows the bottles moving through the labeling, sanitation, filling, carbonating and capping processes.  The two tanks that carried a days worth of production would swith off between two of the eight different ciders that Bold Rock has on tap.  The individual bottles are moved to an assembly line worker who places 6 bottles in a 6-pack and moves four 6-packs into a case.  The cases are sealed up and stored awaiting shipment to the distributors.  We learned that the cidery has business as far north as Philadelphia, and is continuing to expand their market.  This was a very interesting experience in comparison to breweries or wineries because everything was so consolidated and simplified.  Although I am mostly a beer drinker, I really enjoyed both the ciders and the tour of Bold Rock