Sales series continues! This time I dive into showcasing the cider community as a whole. It is one divided by core beliefs in what makes a proper cider. And stemming from this cultural schism, bad behavior by some of those in our community keeps us divided. While most of us are boots on the ground, making relationships, and building the category in a positive way, others are doing the opposite. Let’s go!
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
Hello!!
Welcome to the seventh episode of Courage and Other C Words! I’m your host, Jenn Root Martell. Thanks so much for joining me today. So you remember that time way back in 2020 when I said that there was enough material to have a separate episode on shitty cider sales people? Well, the time for that conversation is now. And I don’t want to only talk about the sales aspect of this cider market, but also want to lay out the cultural divide that exists in the cider world. Especially in this country this divide has led to drama, confusion, and embarrassment on some of our parts. So for these reasons the c word that must be the focus of this episode is cutthroat. A cutthroat market and a cutthroat category. Yes, we’re doing this.
To start at the very beginning, cider is a very old drink in this country. I might do a history of cider episode at some point as it’s an interesting and heartbreaking story for those who love the alcoholic version of this tasty beverage. But it has definitely been around since the Western Europeans started securing a foothold on the continent.
Fast forward to modern day, there are some tweaky things about the category that makes it confusing for both consumers and producers.
Now, in the last twenty years, cider has really blossomed again thanks to the diligent efforts of orchardists and small craft cidermakers in conjunction with large scale distribution of ciders from companies like Angry Orchard and Woodchuck. Some thanks could also go to the imported ciders like Magners or Strongbow but since they’ve sort of always been around, I give them less recognition as drivers of the recent popularity of cider.
However, that’s sort of where all the good feels end… When getting into this cider industry at the very beginning, I had absolutely no idea about the cultural schism that had grown alongside the growth of the category. When we went to our first CiderCon in February 2014 as a cidery in planning and started to meet our soon-to-be colleagues, we still had no clue that a line was drawn in the sand and we would be picking a side as we developed our company.
Mainly it comes down to where you get your apples. And unlike in the beer world where people are excited about new hops and have online forums where you can buy and sell hops and share ideas, the apple world, at least it seems to me, is a whole lot more territorial. Here in California there are straight up not enough small orchards to fulfill the demand of cider and juice producers. And trust me I know because at the beginning of South City Ciderworks, I called most of them. The apples are already spoken for, or they’re making their own ciders, alcoholic or not.
Either way, there was no way that I could get enough apples grown in California for my cider unless I went out and bought my own orchard. Which I have to say, we did consider a couple of times. There were even a few that we looked at that could have made lovely event venues as well. But that wasn’t the direction we wanted the business to go. And though we didn’t know much about how to make good cider back in those early days, we DEFINITELY had no place running an orchard. Talk about out of our league. So, because of that and recommendations from others in the industry who we met at CiderCon, we went in the direction of working with a juice provider out of Washington state. If I couldn’t find enough apples in California, I went to where the apples are. The Pacific Northwest. And we have not looked back. We are able to get amazing juice, year round. It is pressed the week we need it, comes down overnight and goes straight into our tanks for fermentation. There’s no sitting around, growing old and gross. We are proud of the 100% fresh pressed apple juice that goes into our ciders and I have never regretted the decision to go in that direction. Annoyingly though, I feel like I am constantly having to defend the apples and the juice that we use. Even now, I feel like I’m having to defend this decision to the microphone that’s staring at me. It’s almost a self-conscious thing, like an imposter’s syndrome.
On top of that, where you get your apples also dictates what apples go into your ciders. Which probably sounds obvious. But, for those who are able to have their own orchards or are working with ones, like Blindwood who I talked with last week, they can really pick and choose their apple blend or do single varietal ciders. In cider it is more common to use blends of apples because it adds complexity to the finished product. You will see single varietals around, especially those who want to call attention to a heritage apple or one with a particularly interesting story. But more often than not those apples have a tendency to be one-note. I’m not saying they’re bad by any means, it’s just a different cider experience.
On the other hand, our juice is a blend of 13 or more different varieties of apples. Mainly what we call “table” or “dessert” apples. They are the ones that you are used to having in your kitchen that have a lot of sweetness upfront. For this reason, the industry defines those ciders as modern ciders. Washington State produces more than 65% of apples consumed in the US and 87% of the crop from our juice producer is composed of five varieties – Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. Other apples are added to this blend as they are available throughout the year and they press every week to keep the juice going for their alcoholic and non-alcoholic cider producers. And to be honest, a majority of West Coast commercial cider producers get their juice this way. Even those who have access to orchards have been known to supplement their self-pressed juice stock with this type of juice to help add SKUs to their offerings. It is the most cost effective and efficient. And the juice is fucking good. We drink it as-is when we’re filling the tanks and have even taken some gallons home on occasion to enjoy.
And yes, our national association has tried to bridge that gap and cater to both sides. One side being orchard-based, with a focus on more heritage and small varieties and everyone else who brings pressed juice in. So those who press their own apples and those who don’t. But even with the association helping to educate the consumer on “heritage” versus “modern” cider and make a lexicon around the main ingredient, I still feel like there’s a pecking order that has evolved from this very basic distinction. Cider competitions for the most part also use this distinction in their judging categories.
Understandably, people are very proud of their apples but pride for better or worse sometimes trickles down into tensions in the market.
I will only talk about California as that is the only market I know. But as an example it is a sad and disappointing one. In other parts of the country there are regional cider associations or even just state-specific cider associations that help promote the producers, suppliers, and educate the public. They support professional development of their cidermakers and also help coordinate large scale cider weeks or cider days to showcase all the amazing ciders being produced locally. Not here.
Here in California there have now been at least 3 attempts to create a cider association and get organized. One that could give a larger advocacy voice for the cider community in Sacramento, one that could coordinate events and cross-promotion opportunities, one that could be a space for sharing ideas and swapping or buying/selling equipment. The first attempt was off to a great start a few years ago. That was before members of the board made a unanimous decision to make membership contingent on the fact that you had to source your apples from California for your ciders. Didn’t matter if all the fermentation, blending, filtering, packaging, and sales were done in California. NOPE! It was all about the apples. And for those who managed orchards and were able to have that flexibility and resource, good on them. But for the 75% probably of the producers in this state, that’s a go no. Awesome. That’s how you cultivate a community, make sure it is fractured and contentious. Not sure how far that association has gone in the last few years. Haven’t heard much. Don’t really care.
The second attempt had a core value of unity and inclusion and even got a nice set of articles together, with a budget. But the problem is that we’re all owners or 100% time committed to our cidery or cidery/jobs. Either way, there was just not enough time to continue the momentum and the few that were driving it burned out on it I think. But more power to them. It was an honest effort and we got an adorable logo out of it, for whenever one actually makes it to fruition.
The third attempt came I believe on the coattails of our first Bay Area Cider Week that took place during CiderCon last February. We had a solid number of cideries express interest, from both Northern and Southern California which was awesome. We had some goals and objectives. We had a good group who were committed to taking it farther than it had been. We even had a chat with a non-profit lawyer to try to get our 501c3 designation for tax-exempt status. Things were chugging along. Then COVID hit. Need I say more?
This is an interesting progression of community building in my mind because it shows what could have been if there hadn’t been a desire of some to exclude. We really had something going with that initial push thanks to some good legwork done by a couple cideries in North Bay. But drawing that line in the sand hampered any far-reaching impact all that work could have made. It is a lost opportunity in my mind. And such a shame.
And I would be OK if that is where we left it. If there was just this overhanging tension in the community between producers. We would all gather for cider events and drink each other’s cider. You know, be nice. The market wouldn’t suffer as much if that were the case I don’t think.
But it doesn’t end there, this same pretentiousness has trickled down to the streets where we are slinging our ciders wherever we can. Instead of trying to build out more cider taps or get more spots on the shelves, we poach each other’s places. We go after the one tap that’s available for cider and don’t think about who we’re pushing out. This has no longer become a play against Angry Orchard, we fight amongst ourselves for the small share of this market and at times it’s straight up embarrassing.
If you haven’t noticed, I’m not one to make large declarative statements or generalizations without ample evidence to back it up. I also don’t love pointing fingers just in case I end up sitting next to one of them at the next in-person CiderCon session. But in the interest of sharing my experience, I’d like to share some characters who continue to make our difficult job even harder. I also have to make a side note that all of these things occurred before the coronavirus pandemic. Us all being in perpetual survival mode and bars and restaurants and events on lockdown have helped a little to reduce this in-your-face competition. But it has only delayed it. I have faith we will see all of these guys again once it’s open and safe to do so.
So for one, you have the “I’ll gift you a keg if you put our cider on tap” guy
This is the most annoying because it is also HIGHLY illegal to give away product to bars. But it happens. Usually it’s a distributor move since they have the resources to write it off and have seen the cider keg be the one that is gifted just so that the cider they distribute is on the only cider tap. But I have seen this with smaller producers as well. I was working with a bar for years trying to get them to open one of the lines to cider. Then one day I walk in and there’s one on tap. And it has only been that one producer’s cider on tap since then. How does that work? Well, free kegs help. So infuriating.
There is the “We use cider apples so our cider is better even though I’ve never tried yours” guy
This one is embarrassing just because these altercations usually happen in front of buyers at bars and don’t make any of us look very good. These people are self-proclaimed cider snobs and yes, believe strongly in how good their cider is, which I can’t hate on. We do the same. But because they know we don’t have an orchard where we source our apples they jump to the conclusion that our cider is awful and have said as much at bars in front of our sales people. I mean.. What the actual fuck? We don’t use apple concentrate, we don’t add water to our ciders, we don’t add sugar in the blending processes. We don’t cut corners. Oh, you’ve never had our ciders? Interesting that you have such strong opinions about them in such a negative way just because they’re kicking your ass in the market. The one positive with this is that showing your true colors in front of buyers stays with them for a very long time. And buyers can see through the bullshit. So good luck selling to those bars once you’ve made a fool of yourself. Just why did you have to drag us into it as well? On top of that, we’ve heard plenty of backstabbing talk over the years, usually passed on to us from buyers. Sure we’re all genial to our faces when we’re at events, and yes, friendly competition is what this country was built on, but we’re not the Axis of Evil people. We’re also not a big company - there’s 5 of us. All of the accounts that we have have been nurtured over the years, their brand loyalty cultivated. Putting us down won’t help you.
Then there is the “Oh you’re waiting for a taphandle? Well I have one, put my keg on instead” guy
PLEASE! The buyer already committed to our cider, trying everything possible to bump us off the line-up is so rude. Wait your turn, realize theres a rotation, and don’t be a prick. The aggressiveness of some of these guys just makes us all look like we’re out of our minds. Sometimes I have to blame this behavior more on the distributor sales people who are working with commissions and incentive plans. But have seen my fair share of these tactics from smaller producers. Boost us all up, it’s the only way to build this market and the category.
And then we also have the “get visibility in the market no matter who you step on” guy.
This is very similar to the last one I just mentioned but that was an on-premise example. And here is an off-premise example. Some stores, pre-COVID of course, allowed you to set up small tastings to showcase your products. Normally there are calendars and sign-ups, and a system which normal people use to share the space and give everyone their minute in front of customers. And then there are those who don’t feel like the calendar is necessary or totally fill up the calendar to make it impossible for others to participate. I even had a back to back experience where 2 weekends in a row I arrived at two different off-premise locations only to find the same cidery pouring next to me. Not only is this awkward because you are directly competing for attention from the consumer, it usually doesn’t end well as far as sales as people don’t want to buy two ciders but might have walked away with one if only one of us were there. I mean, COME ON! Give me a break. Work within the rotation, give everyone a chance, and at the end of the day, we will have more time to educate customers and most likely will all sell more cider! Isn’t that the fucking point of all this??
At the beginning of last year’s CiderCon, Paul Vander Hyde of Vander Mill Cider, President of the American Cider Association came forward for his opening speech to the group. And he shared a video of two gazelles fighting somewhere on an African plain. They’re really getting into it and have failed to realize that a lion is approaching until she jumps in and takes one of them down. This image and this speech has really stuck with me this year because it is so relevant to the environment that we have made for ourselves in the Bay by being competitive and whatever the opposite word is for gracious. We went on to explain that this is much like the cider world and that we need to snap out of it and realize who the real threats are to our market. I also appreciated this as it seems like our issues are more nationwide than I imagined, making me not feel like we were a neurotic anomaly.
And I won’t go into too much detail about this, but yes, there are a bunch of threats that have shown their ugly heads over the last couple of years and ones that we are already seeing affecting cider sales across the country. I would say the main and most obvious is hard seltzers which has become its own frankenstein’s monster category complete with weird flavorings, unapologetically misogynistic marketing campaigns, and an unlimited number of processes for making basic alcohol that’s clear and low calorie. Which really makes no sense. Yes, seltzers are the enemy, not your cider colleague down the road. I would say also adding to the assault on cider is the scaling back of some state regulations so that breweries can now also make ciders, potentially flooding the market with sub-par products because they are an afterthought. I also was just apprised of the prospect of a new prohibition movement taking off in this country because we obviously can’t learn anything from history. But with that, a trend to support the sober-curious, Sober October, or now - Dry January. And let me set it straight that I in now way condone binge drinking or have just a few too many just a little too often. But when you look at the larger picture, our little category is being assaulted from every side and ruthlessly competing between ourselves will help none of us.
So there you go. My 2 cents on the Bay Area cider industry. And not to walk back any of that but to add an important aside - I do count many of these people dear friends and have depended on them over the years for various things. I think some of us are a tight-knit bunch and are thrilled to promote each other and see us all succeed. We just had one of us fall to COVID this past month and that was devastating and heartbreaking. We are too small of a community to take such permanent hits. Those who I have generally named in this episode are a small subsection of that community but unfortunately they are a loud one and one that we have had enough interaction with to color our rosey perspective of the industry. So hopefully this helped inform a little about the cultural make-up of our category. The American Cider Association has some wonderful resources online about distinctions between heritage and modern apples if you want to reach further about that.
And that’s all I’ve got for this time around! Do you have any questions about cider or the apples we use? Any confusing things you’ve seen in the market? Are you dealing with other aggressive sales people in any industry and have some funny stories? I’d love to hear about it! Shoot me a note at info@othercwords.com.
For the next episode I will be adding a beer perspective to this sales series as I will be interviewing Virginia Vaughn. She’s a local sales rep for an East Bay brewery - Original Pattern. She is such a beast and is rocking it in the market everyday. I can’t wait to pick her brain about her experiences and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
In the meantime, please subscribe, rate, and review to Courage and Other C Words! Hitting that purple button for Apple Podcasts and giving 5 stars to this little podcast goes a long long way and I so appreciate your support. For more information about me and this podcast visit us online at othercwords.com. Talk to you soon! Thanks for listening!