Cider Spolight!

The Albemarle Pippin

Embarrassingly enough, one of Virginia’s most famous (i.e. most commercially successful at one time) apples came to us from New York. (“Why is that embarrassing?” say many of our transplant residents, “All the cool things in Charlottesville come from New York.” Touché.)

Over 150 years after European colonizers invaded the New York area (circa 1700s) they “discovered” the Newton Pippin apple growing around Newton, NY. Specifically, this Newton was either a now-defunct Long Island village or an area in Queens. We can’t get a clear read on that. Later in 1777, Col. Thomas Walker brought some cuttings back from the Battle of Brandywine Creek (near Philadelphia), and from there it found its way into the orchards and esteem of such prominent private work camp farmers as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who — in his time in England — held it to be superior to any English apple varieties he encountered.

Ben Franklin reportedly introduced the Pippin to England, and when Queen Victoria tried it in the following century, she was so enamored of it that Parliament allowed for it to be brought into England duty free. Those were the boom times for the Albemarle Pippin, finding welcome demand abroad before WWI brought back English duties on non-Commonwealth fruit. The Pippin stores well, but the problem is it’s hard to grow. So the loss of favored market conditions led people to set it aside for other, easier to cultivate varieties. Thus the great Pippin began its fade into last century’s fad.

Still, the Pippin has always been a great apple — green skinned, juicy, with firm flesh, its bittersweet fruit makes it ideal for desserts (especially pies) and ciders, making it a star in Virginia’s recent cider renaissance.

We have two single varietal Albemarle Pippin ciders in our shop right now. This simultaneity gives you the opportunity to check out VA’s most apt apple through the vision of two different cidermakers.

Albemarle CiderWorks Royal Pippin

$11.99 for the 375ml bottle
Single Varietal Hard Apple Cider

We think of the Royal Pippin as Albemarle CiderWorks’ flagship cider, as it was the first of theirs to turn our heads. Dry and slightly sparkling — like a duck foraging in a lake, it dips into the Pippin’s core fruit only to bob up into acid tartness on the end. It’s a perfect example of Albemarle CiderWorks’ wine-inspired style of cider making.

Sage Bird Albemarle Pippin

$14.99 for the 750ml bottle
Single Varietal Hard Apple Cider

Harrisonburg’s Sage Bird Ciderworks’ Albemarle Pippin was their first heirloom cider in their “Age Old Apple Series.” Also slightly sparkling, this Pippin is lower in acid than the Royal Pippin allowing it to dip into fruit for a bit more and for a little bit longer as it lasts through the finish.

Remember!

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