PEILCC Annual Report 2022

FEATURED PRODUCT DOUBLE HILL CIDERY

Can you tell us a little bit about “The Call of the Wild Apples”?

How did Double Hill Cidery get started?

We started making apple juice from the wild apples on our farm and discovered how much better it was than the store-bought juice made from dessert apples. We consulted with cider makers in France to assess the suitability of the PEI wild apples for cider making and the project was born.

We want to raise awareness about the importance of wild apple trees to our Island landscape and to wildlife as a food source. We also want to communicate the value of the incredible genetic diversity that apples possess. Our story shows that all things in nature deserve recognition, even if the economic output is not always apparent. Wild apples used to be regarded as worthless. Now we value them for cider making. Some of the wild apples are superior cider apples and we have selected the very best of them to graft in our orchard to constantly improve our Nomad cider.

Where is Double Hill Cidery located?

We are located in Caledonia, PEI.

What kind of ciders do you produce?

We now make cider from wild apples (Nomad), orchard apples. (IslandSide) and cider apples. Some ciders, such as our Oistre, are the results of blending different types.

What is the story behind your Dorian Cider?

Dorian is a one-time-only cider. After hurricane Dorian devastated our wild apple harvest (wild apples drop more easily than apples grown in orchards), we made a call for apples of any kind to be sourced all over PEI. The response was awesome: friends and neighbors pitched in and ended up with a unique product and called it Dorian – as a reminder that nature has the ultimate say in what we do.

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PEILCC 2021-2022 Annual Report