Originally published in the November 2016 edition of the Viewpoint Community Newspaper. Two Rivers Cider is still open and filling orders during the pandemic.
Two Rivers Cider opened a taproom in June about two blocks south of Sutterville Road at 4311 Attawa Ave. (a small street off 16th Avenue).
The taproom provides a comfortable setting for sampling their hard cider products. Signs showing either an apple core or a round apple provide directions to the taproom from 24th Street south of Sutterville Road.
The owner of Two Rivers Cider, Vince Sterne, recently celebrated the company’s 20th anniversary of brewing cider. Ten varieties of cider are on tap with a mixture of different apple varieties and other fruit juices such as pomegranate, huckleberry, peach and berry.
Samples of their ciders were available at the SCNA Wine Tasting for neighbors to try out.
“All of our products are based on fresh pressed apple juices with no concentrates or sugar added,” Sterne explained.
Most of the apple juice comes from Barsotti Ranch in Apple Hill, with one cider variety sourced from Sonoma County and another from New Hampshire.
Hard apple cider typically has a low percentage of alcohol (4–6 percent) and tastes distinctly different than the cider traditionally served at Thanksgiving. For some, it is an acquired taste that can be dry and not overly sweet with an apple aroma present in the glass. The additional juices can provide either pronounced or subtle changes in the flavorings. One variety was made with hops, which imparted more of a beer-like flavor.
Preparation of cider follows a similar process to winemaking. No initial boiling is needed as in beer making.
Yeast is added to the juice before it goes into the stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Some varieties are aged in French oak barrels previously used for aging wine for an additional flavor complexity. A filtration step removes the yeast near the end of production.
Besides the new taproom, Two Rivers Cider can be found in bottles at Curtis Park Market, at Pangaea Bier Café, or on tap at Dad’s Kitchen.
For more information and a map, visit www.tworiverscider.com.