Downeast Cider House

Downeast Cider House is an American craft hard cider company based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 2011, by recent graduates of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. The reason for the company's founding was to allow the founders to avoid finding "real" jobs after college and making a hard cider taste like freshly pressed apple juice.^[1]

History

Originally, the three founders (Ross Brockman, Tyler Mosher, and Ben Manter), wanted to call the company, Three Idiots, but found that name was taken.^[2] As they were starting in Maine, they then decided to name their cider house with the term Downeast, which is a nautical term as well as a noun, as in "Downeasters".^[3]

After Ben left, Ross's brother, Matt Brockman, joined the company.^[4] A rhyming history of the company, from their beginnings in a dorm room at Bates College to their move into their present Charlestown-located cider house, is illustrated in cartoons on the company's website.^[5]

Downeast Cider House has been located in three different production facilities. The first was located in the Central Maine Power mill in Waterville, Maine. The second was a warehouse in Leominster, MA. The current is in Charlestown, Boston, MA. The next facility, currently under construction, is located in Jeffries Point, Boston.

Ciders

Year round

Name	ABV	Description
Original Blend	5.1%	Flagship offering. Freshly pressed, unfiltered hard cider meant to taste like freshly pressed apple juice.
Cranberry Blend	5.0%	Freshly pressed unfiltered hard cider with a red hue and tart Cranberry finish.

Seasonal

Season	Name	ABV	Description
Spring	Maple Blend	5.4%	Freshly pressed unfiltered hard cider with a touch of maple syrup, vanilla, and roasted pecans.
Summer	Summer Blend	4.5%	Freshly pressed unfiltered hard cider with ginger and lemon.
Fall	Pumpkin Blend	5%	Freshly pressed unfiltered hard cider with pumpkin purée and chai spices.
Winter	Winter Blend	6.5%	Freshly pressed unfiltered hard cider aged with cinnamon, nutmeg, and oak chips.

Specialty

Downeast Cider House constantly and unpredictably offers small batch one-offs of cider ranging from barrel aged to pomegranate flavored from a mango blend to a hard lemonade. Hard Lemonade returned from its status as a one-off seasonal blend in 2015 to be offered as a limited run during in the summer of 2016.^[6]

^{[7][8][9][10]}

References

1. Hofherr, Justine. "How college buddies skipped the GMAT and launched Boston's Downeast Cider House". Boston.com.
2. Hofherr, Justine. "How college buddies skipped the GMAT and launched Boston's Downeast Cider House". Boston.com.
3. "Down east". OED Online. Oxford University Press. December 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
4. Hirsch, J.M. "Maine-born brew a U.S. cider that's actually worth drinking". Portland Press Herald. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
5. "Downeast Cider House History". Downeast Cider House. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
6. Christopher, Hughes. "Liquid Diet: Downeast Cider Hard Lemonade". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
7. "Maine-born brew a U.S. cider that's actually worth drinking - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram". Pressherald.com. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
8. "Cider in Boston: Downeast Cider Moving From Charlestown Facility | BostInno". Bostinno.streetwise.co. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
9. "Goods Archive - Downeast Cider House". Downeastcider.com. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
10. "Our Story In Cartoons - Downeast Cider House". Downeastcider.com. Retrieved 2016-03-31.