People often associate fall with the apple harvest, particularly in the colder regions of the country, which typically celebrate the change of seasons with apple-themed festivals, baking competitions, and tasty apple treats.
But there’s more to apples than apple pie, caramel apples, and apple butter. In fact, before Prohibition, apples were widely used across the U.S. to make hard cider, which was “the most available and popular drink of choice,” according to an online historical report compiled by Star Cider in Canandaigua, N.Y. It wasn’t until after Prohibition that American apple growers replaced their cider variety apples with the dessert variety apples that are grown in the U.S. today, Star Cider asserts.
Hard cider has been making a comeback in recent years, however. In New York and across the country, cideries are growing in popularity and are becoming increasingly sought-after destinations by RVers and other travelers who are looking for unique beverages that harken back to America’s historical roots.
(Photo courtesy of Star Cider)
The New York Times documented the rebirth of cider making in New York in a 2018 report, which noted that the Catskill Mountains alone had as many as 14,000 different varieties of apples two centuries ago, when cider making and cider drinking were widespread across the country.
Some regions are even marketing “cider trails,” which give people an incentive to try out the local craft ciders that are made in different regions of the country, with the Finger Lakes Cider Trail in New York being one case in point. The Finger Lakes website not only highlights cideries, but special events that take place at local cideries throughout the year.
CiderGuide.com, for its part, has compiled a list of cideries in New York and across the United States to give consumers an idea of where they can find cideries anywhere in the country. The good news for RV enthusiasts is that campgrounds, RV parks, and resorts tend to be close to many of the nation’s cideries, although you’ll have to do some research to figure out which campgrounds are closest to the cideries of interest to you.
To show you how a cider-tasting RV trip can come together, Go RVing has identified several cideries across New York, from west to east, along with nearby campgrounds that can be used as convenient base camps along the way:
(Photo courtesy of Clarkburg Cider)
Blue Toad Hard Cider in Rochester
Nearby campgrounds include:
Clarksburg Cider Company in Lancaster
Nearby campgrounds include:
Three Falls Cidery in Castile
Nearby campgrounds include:
(Photo courtesy of Patriot's Heritage Cider)
Uncommon Kin Cidery in New Berlin
Nearby campgrounds include:
New Leaf Cider Co. in Port Crane
Nearby campgrounds include:
Awestruck Ciders in Sidney
Nearby campgrounds include:
(Photo courtesy of Patriot's Heritage Cider)
Oak & Apple Cidery in Penfield
Nearby campgrounds include:
Star Cider in Canandaigua
Nearby campgrounds include:
(Photo courtesy of Patriot's Heritage Cider)
Saratoga Apple in Schuyerville
Nearby campgrounds include:
Patriot's Heritage Cider in Schaghticoke
Nearby campgrounds include:
(Photo courtesy of Bristol Woodlands Campground)
