When cidermaker Bruce Nissen sold his cider ventures Crispin and Fox Barrel to MillerCoors in 2012, he was far from finished with the drink. Nissen spun the earnings back to his roots, building the country’s largest custom-crush facility of its kind in Stevenson, Washington and launched the new cidery Jester & Judge. On the banks of the Columbia River, in the mighty disparity that is the Columbia River Gorge, Nissen says he watches kite-boarders glide across the waters as his million-case bottling line does its job for now 15 different local clients, from cider to sodas and beer.
“We are looking at a market that is driven by products like Angry Orchard and that’s not what we are interested in,” Nissen says of his cider facility and house brand. “We aren’t so interested in where the market is now but where it is in a couple years. We aren’t using any concentrates, only going to use fresh juice.”
In an arduous attempt to keep true flavor, Nissen and his team have hounded the local market for fruit (both fresh and pureed) to complete the ciders, like the Columbia Belle, which uses frozen Northwest peaches and fresh mint in the unfiltered cider. In a glass, the unctuous peach aromas fill to the rim, with twinges of mint lining the stone fruit. Earthy and juicy apple plump up the palate—with succulence and acid—with the peach flavors providing a texture of creaminess and fleshy fruit, finishing semi-sweet and shapely.
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