Weekend Best Bet: Angry Orchard Opens to Visitors

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the opening of Angry Orchard Cider Company’s new Innovation Cider House, home to a small-batch cidery, tasting room, and hard cider research-and-development center.

The cider house is located on Angry Orchard’s 60-acre apple orchard in Orange County.

The orchard will be open to the public this month, the company said:

Here is our schedule for Fall 2015:

• Opening Day: Friday, November 6th, 2015 | 1pm – 5pm ET
• Saturday, November 7th, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
• Sunday, November 8th, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
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• Friday, November 13th, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
• Saturday, November 14th, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
• Sunday, November 15th, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
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• Friday, November 20th, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
• Saturday, November 21st, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET
• Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 | 11am – 5pm ET

We are located at:

2241 Albany Post Road

Walden, NY 12586

Phone number: 1-888-845-3311

There is no admission fee to visit the Angry Orchard and no reservations are required. Stop on by!

There are a bunch of other great cideries, wineries, breweries, distilleries, and meaderies in the region, so make a day of it! Click here for more information on what is nearby.

“With hundreds of orchards growing amazing apples, it is not surprising that cideries are booming all across this state,” Cuomo said in a prepared statement. “We welcome Angry Orchard to the Hudson Valley and wish them well as they join the extremely successful community of brewers, wine makers, distillers and cider producers that are creating world class products right here in New York.”

Angry Orchard has agreed invest $9.1 million in the Innovation Cider House and will employ at least seven full-time employees through 2018, state officials said. The facility has also been awarded a $175,000 Empire State Development capital grant to cover the costs of the cidery’s machinery and equipment. The orchard’s previous owner, the Crist Family, will continue to cultivate the orchard and retain all jobs associated with caring for and harvesting the land. The family had owned the property since 1963.

The facility will be home to cider research and development for the cider maker, including small batch experimentation with different ingredients, apple varieties, recipes and processes. At the orchard, visitors can learn about cider as well as try samples of exclusive, handcrafted Angry Orchard ciders. Ciders developed at the orchard may eventually become part of the Angry Orchard family of ciders available nationwide.

“After months of building, picking apples and making research plans, we’re thrilled to be opening the doors to the Innovation Cider House at our orchard in Walden,” Angry Orchard Cider Maker Ryan Burk said. “The community has been so enthusiastic and cooperative in helping us establish roots in the region and we look forward to celebrating our opening with everyone over a cider.”

First launched in 2012, Angry Orchard is the number-one selling hard cider in the US, where cider consumption has nearly quintupled since 2010.

According to state officials, there are an estimated total of 51 operating cideries in New York State: 16 farm cideries, 19 cider producers, and 16 farm wineries that also make cider. New York State is the second highest producer of apples in the country, with an estimated 1.26 billion pounds harvested last year, and home to 40,000 acres of apple orchards, where growers produced an average of 31,500 pounds of apples per acre. Last year’s crop totaled $289 million, a 22 percent increase from 2013.