Those of you who follow us know that we are over obsessed with the great state of Minnesota. We love the Vikings, hat anything that starts with the letter W, and are more than happy to call this snowy playground our home. But our love of Minnesota isn’t just limited to sports and snow. We make it a priority to make sure that our ingredients are sourced with within our great state. And if they don’t have it, our lovely neighbors to the west (that’s North Dakota, not you, *isconsin) sure do. Our award winning cider is made with apples from Afton Apple Orchard, just 25 minutes up the road. Lets get to know them a little bit!
Afton Apple Orchard was born in 1965, and features a wide variety of delicious apple varieties. At LakeState we use their Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, McIntosh, and the newly released First Kiss blend. Their Honeycrisp apples are the most popular, so they account for 70% of our total apples!
Every week our incredible truck driving Chad makes the trek over to Hastings to grab the apples. They are never frozen or tampered with in any way, shape, or form. Straight off the tree! Once they make it back we sort the apples into their respective blends. At LakeState we know that looks aren’t everything! Some apples may look better/worse than others, but we use them all because they all contribute the same towards making a kick-ass final product!
Once the apples are back the the Brewhouse we take time to squeeze them. This process takes roughly 2-3 days to ensure maximum quality. Follwing this we add a gluten free yeast known as “brewers yeast” to begin the fermentation process (similar to beer). This is the “watching the paint dry” part of the process. Fermentation takes about a week to complete, and the product must sit for a following week to ensure that the yeast settles. Following this, we put the fermentated cider in Oak vessels to create a crisp, smooth finish. The apple creates the explosion of taste as the cider hits your mouth, but the crisp, oak finish is just as important. After roughly three weeks in the vessels, our cider is ready to hit the tap!
Just like all good things in life, our cider takes time to be perfected. Our friends at Afton Apples make that perfection a reality. Afton’s convenient location allows for supreme freshness in all of our ciders; something that you just don’t see in nationwide ciders. But even more importantly, we appreciate their dedication to customer service and supporting other local businesses. Just like us, Afton is committed to treating customers as family, more than just another sale. That’s something that we strive for at LakeState, and are proud to support other businesses that think the same as us.
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