Registration open for business class about hard cider

MOSES LAKE - Registration is open for a daylong workshop for people interested in learning about the Washington hard cider industry. The workshop is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 18 in the ATEC building at Big Bend Community College.

Registration for "Cider Apples, the Future is Now," is $95; organizers have a goal of at least 40 people, Karen Mauden, of the Northwest Agriculture Business Center, said. Other sponsors are the BBCC Center for Business and Industry Services, Washington State University and the Northwest Cider Association.

"We want current and future growers of hard cider fruit," Mauden said. It turns out that hard cider is not a matter of pressing some Golden Delicious and adding some yeast. "A hard cider apple is its own entity," Mauden said.

"It's its own category." Most hard cider apples are not very edible as fresh fruit, she said. Apples fall into categories like "bitter sweet" and "bitter sharp," she said. Even varietal names are a sign of new territory. Good cider apples include Graniwinkle, Brown Snout and Foxwhelp. Pears also can be turned into hard cider, she said.

Hard cider is an alcoholic drink, and the state of Washington taxes it as a wine, Mauden said. But retailers usually stock it next to the beer, she said. Hard cider's alcohol content is similar to beer, about 5 to 8 percent, she said. And beer drinkers seem more open to trying new things, she said. "The beer drinker is the experimental drinker," she said.

Workshop topics include cider apple varieties, state licensing requirements, production cost, use of mechanical harvesters and impact of growing cider apples.

The mechanical harvest uses modified raspberry harvesters, which is a sign that when an orchardist plants cider trees "you're not growing the trees you grow for the fresh fruit market," she said. Most of the current cider apple orchards are a supplement to the fresh market operation, she said. The workshop will focus in part on first steps in the business, she said. "How do (growers) set aside five or 10 acres and try this?"

Mauden said there are growers around Wenatchee, Yakima and Spokane experimenting with cider apples, but that there is a lot of room for growth in the market. She said she expects skepticism from growers and is ready for hard questions. "We want to hear those hard questions," she said.

Because the hard cider market is growing, it needs producers, she said. "We want them (growers) to try it and look at it."

People can register online at www.agbizcenter.org. People who want more information can contact Mauden at the business center, 425-466-8722.