by RENEE PATRICK Cascade Business News Feature Writer
Atlas Cider is upping the ante of Central Oregon’s craft drink industry with their delicious hard ciders. Joining the 20+ breweries, several distilleries and multiple vineyards, cider is the newest addition to the exploding business of craft beverages in the high desert.
The Atlas story begins in England when Sam McCoy found herself pouring traditional hard ciders while working in a pub. “I could see why it was so popular; it just tasted great,” she said. Once Sam introduced her husband Dan to the traditional English beverage, he was hooked. Back in the states he began to explore the ciders available, and found them lacking.
“Not fully satisfied with the amount, variety and type of ciders being sold in our region I set coarse to join the cider revolution when I enrolled in Washington State University’s fermentation program,” he stated. From learning about tree varieties to the biological process of fermentation, Dan absorbed all he could, and upon completion of the course began traveling throughout Oregon and Washington to visit orchards, meet the farmers and test their produce.
When naming the company, Dan and Sam looked to an inspiring new member of their family, their young son Atlas. “We liked the idea of the atlas and the word itself, it kind of all came together and felt right,” Sam shared.
The Atlas Cider tasting room opened earlier this summer and has recently expanded their hours due to more steady walk-in traffic. “Our goal is to be known as Bend’s cider company,” Sam said. “It is important to us to get out into the community; we sponsor events like Fall Fest and Winter Fest.”
Atlas Cider donates five percent of their profits to a selection of different causes; the recipient of the donation changes each month based on votes received by cider drinkers. By visiting their “Give Back” page on the website (www.atlascider.com) or scanning the QR code on their bottles, customers can have input into which organization receives funds. The husband and wife team jumped into business ownership with both feet.
“We have been doing everything ourselves,” Sam explained. “We used all of our savings and took out a small business loan. We don’t have any investors, it’s just Dan and I, and we know Bend really appreciates [locally and family owned businesses].
“In the beginning it’s really hard to determine the production and cash-flow [balance],” Sam explained. “With no investors sometimes it’s been down to the wire, but overall the community has been great…cider is the fastest growing [market].”An important part of creating a quality local product lies in Dan and Sam’s choice of ingredients. “Most of our apples come from Hood River and Yakima,” Sam said. “We are trying to stay as local as possible…most of the rest of our fruits (apricots, berries, cherries) come from the valley.
We really want to develop our products using those resources.”Atlas has four ciders: apple, apricot, cherry and blackberry/elderberry. They plan to have two seasonals: a winter blend of cherry pomegranate and a spring blend. “We don’t want to get too gimmicky with our flavors,” Sam explained. “It might be fun to do small-batch barrels [of different flavors]some time in the future, but for now we are focusing on what is easy to drink, and refine what we are doing now.”
The blackberry cider has had the most buzz, especially since there isn’t another competing blackberry cider in the market.The ciderhouse is licensed as a winery as cider production has more in common with wine than beer. Atlas uses a mix of apple varieties to allow for more control in the sweetness, tartness and tannins, or dryness, in the drink.
The harvested apples are pressed into juice before delivery to Bend, then yeast is added to begin fermentation (yeast cells convert sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide). Using a state-of-the-art cross flow filtration system, Atlas can ensure a bright and polished cider that retains the fruit flavors before being transferred into temperature controlled conditioning tanks. Aging can benefit cider, similar to wine, as it allows tannins and flavors to soften before bottling or kegging.
The McCoys have been producing 4,000 gallons about every three weeks, and can produce two flavors at a time, rotating among their four varietals. “That production schedule has worked for now, but it’s always changing,” she explained. Currently Atlas Cider can be found in Portland, Southern Oregon and along the coast and in Eastern Oregon, and has a five-year goal to be distributed throughout the western states.
Find Atlas Cider at Wholefoods, Trader Joes, Thriftway, Rays, Grocery Outlet, Localvore, Newport Market and many more locations. A full list is available at www.atlascider.com.
Visit the Atlas Cider tasting room for free samples and to purchase, 900 SE Wilson Ave., Ste. H, Bend. dan@atlascider.com.
