Celebrate our release, Wednesday June 5!

In a nut-shell:
1. Everyone is invited to celebrate cider with us at our grand release party on Wednesday June 5 from 4:30 PM- 7:30 PM at the Wedge Brewery. The Noble team will be there to see your smiling cider faces and sell you some of our new schwag. The money will go toward our fall cider production.

2. Noble will be available on tap at the Wedge Brewing Company starting on Saturday May 25. It’ll be there at least through the summer at the “Iron Rail” window on the dock. May 25 is also the start of Asheville Beer Week! Don’t you think Beer Week just got a little bit, better??

Have a happy weekend!

Noble Cider Announces Release Party Wednesday June 5 at Wedge Brewing

Asheville’s other local craft beverage

Friday May 17, 2013 ASHEVILLE, NC – Asheville’s first hard cider company, Noble Cider, hosts a public release of its inaugural small batch at the Wedge Brewing Company, on Wednesday June 5, from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM. The Noble crew will be onsite to meet and greet, answer questions, and enjoy Noble Cider with Asheville.

Party goers can help Noble Cider raise funds for their fall batch by purchasing t-shirts, pint glasses, and stickers at the event.

“Noble Cider has brought together Western North Carolina’s rich history of agriculture with its exciting craft beverage industry,” said co-founder and cider maker Trevor Baker. “We think Asheville is going to love our product. It’s not too sweet and it’s a great warm weather beverage.”

The Wedge, Noble Cider’s first “Core Partner”, announced via social media earlier this month that they’ll be putting Noble on tap through the summer. Both companies are happy to announce that Asheville can enjoy Noble Cider at the Wedge’s dockside serving window starting on Saturday May 25, the first official day of Asheville Beer Week.

“The Wedge Brewing Company and Noble Cider partnership makes great sense for both businesses,” said Wedge Brewing owner, Tim Schaller. “We’re happy to add another local craft beverage to our lineup.

ABOUT NOBLE CIDER
Noble Cider is a semi-dry hard cider made from local apples and hand-crafted in Asheville, North Carolina. Founded in the apple country region of our state, Noble is WNC’s first hard cider. Noble Cider’s inaugural batch starts with local, hand-pressed apple juice that’s fermented like wine. The result is a 7.5% ABV cider that’s crisp, lightly effervescent, and just sweet enough for a balanced, long finish. Noble Cider is in business because of an Advantage Opportunity Fund loan from AdvantageWest Economic Development Group. “True to the Core” – Noble Cider www.noblecider.com

WHERE YOU CAN GET NOBLE
Noble Cider will be available only on tap at select WNC bars and restaurants. Noble will enter the market Memorial Day weekend in parallel with Asheville Beer Week, starting with Wedge Brewing Company and BoBo Gallery. The full list of bars and restaurants that will carry Noble Cider will be available online at http://noblecider.com/on-tap/bars-restaurants/

ABOUT AMERICAN HARD CIDER
Noble Cider enters a market that may only share 1% of the alcoholic beverage market, but the hard cider market saw more than an 75% growth in retail sales in 2012, according to the most recent industry analysis by Neilson. The Northwest, Northeast, and Michigan areas – which are all known for their apple regions – have seen a boom in hard cider over the last years. Global beverage conglomerates like Anheuser-Busch InBev and C&C Group have all recently purchased established American hard cider companies. Vermont Hard Cider Company, which has been crafting the Woodchuck brand since the early ‘90s, announced its sale to C&C Group for $305 Million in October 2012.

Thanks to Mackensy Lundsford, Erin Brethauer, and The Scene for a great article on WNC cideries!

Link

Trevor and Lief scoured the interweb for the best deals on equipment, the best ideas on how to make equipment themselves, and the best ideas from cider makers Noble admires. Combine all of that idea gathering with the amazing ideas from their own heads, and Noble Cider HQ is now equipped!

Noble Cider HQ – equipped!

Our next phase is fermentation. Lief and Trevor are fully focused on creating a delicious hard cider for our WNC community.  Calculations, measuring, testing – it’s pure chemistry.

Sample it, calculate it, measure it, oh my!

Lief and Trevor discuss sugars, acids, and all things noble.

The winter also gave us time to envision the company we want to be. Thus, our tagline was born: True to the Core. To Noble Cider, that means: always local, always natural, and always have fun!  Until next time, JB

The largest new arrival by far is our new 15 barrel brite tank (aka bright tank). This impressive tank will be used for the last stage of our cider making. After our cider has been fermented and aged it will be pumped into the brite tank where it will be chilled and carbonated. Our kegs and bottles will be filled from the brite tank.

Electric Pallet Jack

To solve our filtration needs we bought a plate and frame filter.

Plate and Frame Filter

As we were sorting out all of our new gear the USP man arrived with large box. Trevor unwrapped it looking like a kid at Christmas. “It’s so cute” he exclaimed upon see are new blue pump. It along with all our new hoses and fittings will allow us to move the cider about.

We have our Federal permit! We are also weeks away from getting our NC permit. Once that goes through, we can commence with the cider makin’.

I’m heading out to CiderCon 2013 in Chicago today. It’s an annual event that covers best practices in cider making, marketing and sales, regulatory advice, and so much more. We have a few specific questions about filtration and kegging, and I’m looking forward to getting the answers.

Our equipment has been trickling in to our facility over the past few weeks. We still have some key pieces to purchase, primarily our bright tank. But all in all, we are right on track!

We are all pumped and ready to make some cider!!!