Paul Vander Heide trundled up to The Winchester restaurant in Grand Rapids in his minivan recently to deliver a keg of cherry-apple hard cider wedged behind his two daughters' car seats, his custom brew made from only Michigan fruit.
The restaurant had sold out of the beverage in a couple of days when Vander Heide thought the keg would last a week, thanks to customer reception well beyond his expectations. But then it's fall, he concedes, when the thoughts of many in West Michigan turn to cider at roadside stands and farms or to its edgier cousin, hard cider, at local bars and restaurants.
It's been only three years since Vander Heide took the plunge in the cider mill and winery business with the purchase of five acres of property in Spring Lake, a used fruit press and the belief that consumers were ready for custom cider like they embraced local beers and wines.
Thanks to hard work and pluck, the Vander Mill Cider Mill and Winery is rising like the froth on a fresh batch of hard cider.
Growth in Cideries
Just as small-scale wineries and microbreweries have multiplied across the country during the past 30 years, an increasing number of small "cideries" have been making their appearance in fruit growing regions of the country. And like their counterparts in the craft beer and wine industries, the new generation of cider makers are experimenting with new varieties and methods.
Vander Heide, 31, grew up in Grand Rapids and spent summers at his family's cottage in Spring Lake. After graduating from Hope College with a degree in business and economics, he spent a few years working in the family business. With guidance from his in-laws who own a cider mill in Northville, he assembled the mill property and equipment and began working with a local orchard to source Michigan apples in 2006.
Partly a play on his last name, the name of the mill also makes sense: the Dutch "Vander" translates to "from the," and plenty of cider and donuts began coming from the farm-like mill on Cleveland Street.
Two years and about 50 test batches of hard cider later, Vander Mill finalized its small winery license and began selling their hard apple cider out of the mill's store in the summer of 2008.
"We had always intended to look at making hard cider and fruit wine, but we wanted to get the apple cider side of the business going first," Vander Heide says. "One thing we hadn't intended to do was sell our product to bars and restaurants."
But with the successful trial of its draft cider at The Rosebud restaurant in Grand Haven that year, the mill began distributing the product to Hop Cat and other local bars in Grand Rapids.
Finding the Right Recipe
Consumers were ahead of the professional tasters with Vander Mill's ciders. In December last year, Vander Mill's hard apple and hard cherry ciders both placed silver out of about 50 commercial entries at the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition in Grand Rapids.
Vander Mill used its hard cider recipe as a base for exploration and innovation, blending in Michigan cherries, blueberries, and peaches to create seasonal flavors, Vander Heide says.
Working together with friend and long-time hobby brewer Joel Brower, Vander Heide designed a Michigan Wit blend on special request for a Hop Cat cider dinner. "We intend to create new styles of cider that nobody else is doing," he says. "The idea is not only to bring hard cider more to the forefront again in bars and restaurants, but also to push the envelope a little bit and do things that nobody else is doing."
Experimenting with new taste combinations makes ciders popular with customers, says Steve Smith, Chief Beer Geek at Hop Cat. "I like to see people taking a standard concept and changing it, giving it a new twist," he says. "By supporting a local product and shying away from big, national brands, we're able to serve unique, diverse products to our customers."
Smith notes that customer response to the on-tap, seasonal cider has been very positive and calls Vander Heide "a good guy with a great product."
At The Winchester, Paul Lee has offered the cider on tap since the restaurant opened seven months ago. "We wanted to have a unique cider on tap; we try to be a little bit different." Lee also liked the idea that Vander Heide was local. "Because we're trying to be a local neighborhood establishment, we do as much as we can to support other local businesses."
Wearing Many Hats
Vander Heide says "there is no typical day" when it comes to running your own business. He and his wife, Amanda, balance caring for their two daughters, ages 2 ½ and 9 months, with busy work schedules. Though he's sometimes spread thin between back office accounting, making donuts, selling apples at the Holland and Grand Haven farmer's markets, and delivering cider, Vander Heide seems satisfied.
"In meeting and networking with area small business owners, I appreciate how dedicated people seem to be to support other small, local businesses," he says. "That's been a big part of the fun for me: meeting other entrepreneurs, finding ways to collaborate, and helping each other out."
As the fall season gets into full swing, the mill will be at its busiest, employing up to 20 part-time workers and pressing cider for crowds of families every Saturday afternoon. The mill's only year-round, full-time employee, Vander Heide says the business is committed to being a place where children and families can experience Michigan in the fall as well as learn about local products and agriculture.
Vander Heide is proud that all the products for sale at the mill are either made in-house or sourced locally from other Michigan growers. All their apples are hand-picked in a nearby orchard, where they "never touch the orchard floor" and are washed and graded before Vander Heide picks them up.
Back at the mill, he culls the apples for imperfections before washing them again and grinding the entire apple into a pulp. The cider press squeezes out the juice, and this finished cider either goes into a bottle for sale or goes into a vessel for fermentation into hard cider.
Created in a process that's nearly identical to the making of fruit wine, traditional cider-making uses yeast to ferment the natural sugars into alcohol. Vander Mill's cider contains no added sugar, is not filtered or pasteurized, and results in a beverage with around 7 percent alcohol. Pulp leftover from the cider-making is sent to a local farm to be composted and spread on the fields.
"It's a rebirth, a product that goes back to the beginning of American history," he says, "and it's satisfying to bring our product into a new place and see people enjoy it." Vander Heide says they'll continue to promote the hard cider throughout the state and region, mostly through micro-brew festivals and culture.
Though he's convinced that there's a growing interest from restaurant and bar owners in having something different come out of their taps, he's being methodical about the growth, too. "The reason we're in three of the best bars in Grand Rapids is because we're selecting bar owners and managers that have customers who appreciate a craft product," he says.
Vander Mill cider is currently on tap at The Green Well , The Winchester, and Hop Cat in Grand Rapids, as well as The Kirby House and The Rosebud Bar and Grill in Grand Haven and Jamesport Brewing Co. in Ludington. There is also a tasting bar at the mill with samples of all the hard ciders any time during business hours.
Stephanie Doublestein writes and blogs about food, business, and parenting, among other things. She lives in East Grand Rapids with her husband and their two young daughters.
Photos:
Paul Vander Heide owner of Vander Mill Cider Mill and Winery
Vander Mill Cider Mill and Winery (5)
Photography by Brian Kelly -All Rights Reserved