Our Story
What started as a long-time hobby and tradition of making hard cider every fall quickly transformed into a dream to start our own business. A few carboys evolved into making hundreds of gallons in our basement. After performing countless experiments with the fermentation process and perfecting several delicious blends of cider we decided that we needed to share our stellar ciders with the world. We founded Star Cider in the summer of 2014.
We sold our ciders through restaurants, breweries, and bars for the first five years of our business as we worked on building everything from the ground up and perfecting our cider recipes! After selling our house and two different production spaces, we realized it was our dream to have a place where we could share our ciders with the community, tourists, and visitors.
We started building our tasting room in the winter of 2019, and opened our doors in May 2019. We are so excited to finally have a space to share our ciders and craft with the community and visitors to the Finger Lakes!
To read more about our story, check out this article and the News and Events page!
Hard Cider History – 101
The art of cidermaking has existed for hundreds of years. Its origins have been traced back to ancient civilizations that discovered fermentation through observation and experimentation. Cider (or hard cider as it is known in the U.S.) was introduced in the U.S. when the first settlers emigrated from the British Isles in the 17th century. Cider was the most available and popular drink of choice for several years until prohibition was instated in 1920.
As a result of prohibition, most apple growers stripped their orchards of cider variety apples and replaced them with the dessert variety apples that are grown in the US today. Due in part to prohibition and an increase in the availability of beer, wine and spirits, cider all but disappeared as a commercially available beverage in the US, until recently.
We ❤ Cider
We believe that cidermaking is a lost form of art that we are attempting to restore to a place that was once famous for fostering the most diverse collection of cider variety apple trees in the United States. Based in the Finger Lakes region of New York, we have a great appreciation for agriculture and understand the importance of taking care of the land that we use to grow our produce. We also take great pride in sourcing our apples, ingredients, and equipment from small, local businesses in NY.
Cidermaking is not a destination, but a journey. On this journey, cider will continue to evolve as we discover new insights on the science of cider and unravel myths and legends about the processes used to make hard cider in the past. Cidermaking will continue to transform as we experiment with the fermentation process and through the use of fresh ingredients that complement the flavor of cider.
If you love the taste of cider and enjoy the culture that encompasses the cidermaking processes as much as we do, we welcome you to join us on our cider journey as we set out to explore the deep space of cidermaking that has yet to be discovered.
Our mission is to forge a new path in the industry by producing premium ciders with fresh ingredients and to continuously discover and push the boundaries of classical cidermaking processes. We promise to continue making stellar hard cider as a tribute the deep roots this drink has formed within our history and culture.
The Star Cider Credo
Our ask of you: Love life, live in the moment, take nothing for granted, and seize every opportunity to make countless amazing memories with the people you love. And if it suits your fancy, enjoy a few stellar Star Ciders along the way.
Cheers to the beginning of an epic journey with stellar people who love to drink stellar cider!