Coming home to cider.
Experiencing the taste of place through the art of wild fermentation.
Cider Master, Jeremy Jenson, placing the lid on our press.
The story of Old Wilson Ferments begins long before I started making cider. In 2012 I threw in the towel and cashed out. After two decades in construction and working as an auto technician, I was done. Done with the traveling and hotels. Done with the grind. Done with the status quo. I wanted something different, something more. I craved community and being able to lay down roots. I craved connection to time and place and a slower more full life. I knew that life had more to offer and I wanted to discover it. So, I bought some property in the country and began to learn how to garden and grow my own food. I learned about permaculture and plants and how to slow down and take it all in. I was drawn to a life of meditation, pruning, and learning the secret life of plants. My life was quiet and calm.
After six years in the retreat chapter of my life, I decided I needed to get back into it. What it was I had no idea but I had faith I would find it. Later that year I found myself living and learning on a little farm out in Gales Creek where I furthered my understanding of growing food and became involved in the local food system in the area. Before long my roots ran deep in the community and knew this is where I wanted to be. When a beautiful piece of property came up for sale just down the road I jumped at the opportunity to have my own little piece of Gales Creek paradise. The first few years we farmed fruit and veggies. We grew heritage hogs and chickens. And, we began growing hops and experimenting with fermentation.
Make a nice cider.
After a couple of seasons of experimenting with growing hops, brewing beer, and fermenting all the things - apple juice into cider, cabbage into kraut, tea into kombucha - I discovered that my true love was cider. I fell in love with the pops of the active yeast in the barrels, the musty smell of apples and leaves during a rainy, late fall pressing, and the magic that happens when you let nature lead.
Beer went by the wayside and I began focusing in on learning and playing with fermented fruit juice. I began collecting and planting unique and interesting apple trees and soon lost interest in growing hops as a commercial venture. I dove full into cider and let the hop yard return to the wild forest it once was long ago.
And, here we are, 8 years down the road from when I threw in the towel and decided to seek out some peace and quiet and, eventually, discovered fermentation. Now, we’re finally ready to share what we’ve been brewing up. Our ciders aren’t like what you find at the grocery store. They’re dry and earthy, lightly sparkling from bottle conditioning rather than forced carbonation, with flavor profiles that capture the time and place that batch was pressed and fermented that occurs only from spontaneous, wild fermentation. We love our ciders, we think you will too.
