07/03/2026
Our take on fine c***r stresses its essential connection to the land, a thing in near-opposition to commodification and industry. Yet this tension - perhaps seen as a continuum in c***rmaking - also plays an essential role in what is presented in the glass.
That said, huge respect for this amazing article by Charles Kirkwood and for , founder of Aaron Burr C***ry (NY) and famed exemplar of one side of the above-mentioned continuum. Highlights: (For Brennan) "...the c***r apple is not only something a tree is born as but something the land makes it into. He does not spray, fertilize, or irrigate; the policy of leaving the trees to fend for themselves is what turns them into c***r fruit, since a plant under real stress builds the very things a press wants, the acids and tannins and the dense load of compounds that a coddled, well-fed tree never bothers to make. Some varieties carry more of that by genetics, he allows, but cultivation strips it back out of them. The c***r apple, in his hands, is at least as much a condition as a category."
We also love how Kirkwood contrasts Brennan's approach with masters like Eric Bordelet, and with places where c***r has been part of the cultural landscape for centuries.
Worth the read, and worth consideration in helping American c***r find its way forward - and ideally, toward its greater potential.
The Orchard After the Orchard: Aaron Burr C***ry and the Problem of American C***r Continuity
