Virginia cider : a guide from colonial days to craft's golden age

"With fifty cideries in the commonwealth at the time of publication, the cider industry in Virginia is not nearly as developed as those producing wine and beer-yet the beverage has been made in the Old Dominion at least as long-that is, since the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Apple orchards were a staple of plantation life, and cider was made and consumed by almost everyone-men, women, and children of all socioeconomic orders, both Black and white. By the mid-nineteenth century cider was slowly being eclipsed in popularity, and it reached its nadir around the time of Prohibition. Recent decades, however, have seen its rebirth, and today cider-making is a small but thriving craft-beverage industry, and it continues to gain fans as more cideries spring up anywhere a few apple trees are gathered together. This concise volume charts the history of cider-making in Virginia and provides an in-depth guide to cideries throughout the state, with digressions covering everything from home cider-making to the storied Taliaferro apple and Laird's distillery."