Zen and the art of apple growing, with Andy Brennan, founder of Aaron Burr Cider, one of the world's most expensive ciders

The Irish Tech News Podcast

We catch up with Andy Brennan, whose book Uncultivated, Wild Apples, Real Cider, and the Complicated Art of Making a Living, we recently reviewed.

More about Aaron Burr Cider

“The Cidery”, which produces Aaron Burr Cider in Wurtsboro, New York, is a small homestead farm dating back to the early 1800s. Our tenure (and you can read more more about us here) on this land began in 2006 with the planting of a cider-orchard. Cider-apples are different from eating-apples in the same way wine-grapes are different from table-grapes. You wouldn’t want to make wine from big, tasty fresh-eating grapes, and the same applies with cider. We use our apples and other locally grown and foraged apples for one mission: to re-create “true cider”, the rightful table wine of our land.

This focus is founded on the belief that early Americans drank history’s best cider. Reestablishing this involves a lost holism -from farming to art, from the market to policies –cider is an identity. There is much from our recent past which must be undone but luckily the descendants of early cider apples do still exist in the wild. We believe their ability to survive the 20th century provides American cider, cider-orchards, and cider businesses the much-needed paragon for the future.

About Andy Brennan

Andy Brennan owns Aaron Burr Cider in New York’s Catskills region. His career started as a freelance artist, working in the fields of photography, design, and architecture. Since its founding in 2011, Aaron Burr Cider has become well known among cider enthusiasts for its natural approach to cider making, using wild apples and yeasts. As a prominent figure in the growing US cider movement, Andy has been featured in print media and on television, radio, and podcasts. He regularly speaks about natural apple growing and cider production at museums, trade events, festivals, restaurants, and anywhere local food enthusiasts are found.

You can buy the book Uncultivated here