TURNERS FALLS — When 28-year-old Erin Donnellan put her CiderDays tasting glass to her lips, she carefully noticed each cider’s fragrance and unique taste, taking the time to appreciate and analyze its flavor.
Once she and 28-year-old Scott Royal, both of Orange, had made their rounds of the immense white tent filled with cider makers Saturday afternoon, their favorites were clear: Urban Farm Fermentory out of Portland, Maine, and Millstone Cellars out of Monkton, Md.
If you thought the realm of hard cider was just for apples, think again. In particular, Royal was impressed by Millstone Cellars’ cranberry cider.
“It’s like Thanksgiving dinner, minus the turkey,” he said.
Urban Farm Fermentory and Millstone Cellars were just two of the roughly 90 cider brands both locals and travelers could taste during two cider salons at Unity Park Saturday, marking another year of CiderDays put on by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.
CiderDays has become a tradition for Donnellan and Royal, who have been coming together for five years to sample a variety of hard ciders and interact with others who appreciate cider as much as they do.
“It’s just so raw,” Donnellan said of CiderDays. “It’s very western Mass.”
Though Donnellan and Royal have gone to other beer and wine festivals, Donnellan said CiderDays is more low-key, offering an environment where “people are actually talking to each other.” Talking to the cider makers themselves, she said, is the best part.
“You can just see the passion here and I think that electrifies the whole room,” she said.
Though the two consider themselves cider-tasting “newbies,” at CiderDays they interact with a wide age range of cider enthusiasts from around the world. The ciders, likewise, come from far and wide.
“You can taste different parts of the world here,” Donnellan said.
“If you like cider, it gives you the opportunity to taste a lot,” agreed Caitlin Spence, 28, of State College, Pa. Spence attended the early salon with her boyfriend, Eric Grimaldi, 24, of Amherst and her parents, Lynn McCarty and Clay Spence of Princeton Junction, N.J.
Spence said her father discovered CiderDays in 2013, and it’s been a family event ever since. But more than tasting ciders (with Carr’s Ciderhouse in Hadley and West County Cider in Colrain being two of her favorite producers), Spence said CiderDays is a great opportunity to explore western Massachusetts by visiting different cider producers for the weekend’s various demonstrations and workshops.
She’s certainly not the only one. Lisa Davol, marketing and membership manager at the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce who’s the primary coordinator of CiderDays, said Saturday she was “getting reports all day of ‘standing room only’” for the events.
In fact, the salons, which allow for 350 guests each, were sold out, along with a Friday night “How to Taste Hard Cider” instructional session at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, Davol said.
“It’s the place people come to learn about cider,” Davol explained, calling CiderDays “the cider mecca.”
Complementing the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s mission to support agritourism and attract people to the region, Davol said CiderDays leads to packed restaurants as well as busy bed and breakfasts and hotels.
“It seems like it’s just getting bigger and bigger every year,” noted Dave Lewis, a brewer with West County Cider.
But just how much will CiderDays expand? Davol wonders the same, saying organizers don’t want the event to grow too much and lose its small-town feel.
Perhaps though, more workshops will be incorporated. Currently, workshops give a well-rounded cider experience, offering ways for people to see how apples are grown, how cider is made and, of course, sample how cider tastes.
“Even with the number of workshops we’ve had over the years, there’s still so much to learn,” Davol said. “It’s almost like the appetite is insatiable for people.”
Reach Shelby Ashline at: sashline@recorder.com
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