FORT COLLINS – Apples grow easily in many areas of Colorado, and this time of year farmers are busy harvesting. But the fruit is also plentiful in the yards of Coloradans, who up until now had no use for the hundreds of apples their fruit trees produced.
That lead Matt Fater and Aaron Fodge to create Branch Out Cider three years ago. Unlike other cideries that rely on orchards, they turned to their neighbors. Fater says they now collect apples from 200 properties.
“They know their apples are getting put to good local product,” says Fater. “A lot of people just don’t want to see the apples go to waste and rot on their lawns.”
Earlier this year, Branch Out Cider won best fruit wine in the 2014 Governor’s Cup Wine Competition. Over the weekend, their cidery and other members of the Rocky Mountain Cider Association showcased their products at the third annual Hard Cider Festival in Paonia.
Fater says in the last three years, he has watched friendship become a byproduct of their cider.
“One of our goals was to try and create some neighborhood connections and build a community around these local apple trees,” he says. “You know they all have a common link, which is their apple tree.”
In exchange for their apples, Branch Out Cider invites property owners to special events at their facility and offers discounted pricing for their award-winning cider. The hard-cider industry is growing in Colorado and the rest of the country. According to the Beer Institute, nationwide, the production of hard cider in the U.S. has tripled from 2011 to 2013.
