Angry Orchard and the Fight for Hard Cider's Soul

Joining Taplines today is Ryan Burk, the former head cider maker of Angry Orchard Hard Cider. These days, he’s making cider under his own label in upstate New York, working as a co-founder of the beverage innovation firm Feel Goods Company, and serving the Cider Institute of North America as a founding board member. But midway through last decade, Ryan was working at Michigan’s Virtue Cider when Boston Beer Company tapped him to lead production on its in-house hard cider brand, which was then making one out of every two barrels of cider sold in the US. Angry Orchard's legacy in the category is contentious: is it a vital gateway that led to broader hard cider acceptance, or a millstone holding back what cider could be in the American drinking imagination? Both? Neither? Listen on, listener. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.