Last Friday we drove to
Kimmel Orchard in Nebraska City with the South Omaha Brewers to pick apples for hard cider. There really are few things more "traditional American autumn-y" than picking apples, squishing them, and turning them into alcohol. We had the amazing fortune to be allowed to pick from the Preservation Orchard, an orchard separate from the standard "you pick" orchard chock full of heirloom apples. I can honestly say I've never heard of any of these varieties before. And of course, I can't find the map we were given that lists them all. But trust me, cool names. And delicious, as well. While the rest of our group of homebrewers and families picked apples (30+ bushels worth), I sat with The Buddy in the grass in the shade of a gorgeous tree. We nursed some, watched the kids running around, tasted apples that Doug brought us. I bit off a large piece of an apple that The Buddy happily sucked on for quite some time. All these apples got squished into over 130 gallons of cider later that evening. We brought home seven gallons of it: five for fermenting into hard cider, one for fermenting into apple cider vinegar, and one for drinking. Nom nom nom.
