New York Cider Barn Swallow

A round of applause, please, for the countless barn swallows that reside at our Ithaca, New York, farm each year. Their enthusiastic aerial darts and dives provide nonstop entertainment—and blessed hours of mosquito-free orchard time. (Each barn swallow can consume 850 insects a day!) We named this blend BARN SWALLOW not only as a thank-you, but also because it describes how this very dry hard cider is made—and tastes. In keeping with traditional cider-making techniques, we fermented the cider naturally, allowing the native yeasts living on the fruit and in the orchard to impart their own complex, often unpredictable, flavors. One of those yeasts—Brettanomyces (Brett, for short)—imparts many of the pleasant wild and funky notes you taste in New York Cider Company’s Barn Swallow.