027: Aaron Anderson | Austin Eastciders, Texas

Austin Eastcider is helping to make Austin Texas a cider mecca in a land where the apple root faces harsh growing conditions. Aaron Anderson is the R&D Coordinator at this growing cidery. He sat down for a chat with me at CiderCon2016 in Portland Oregon during the United States Association of Cider Makers conference. The head cidermaker is Preston Nickens.

Austin Eastcider opened in 2011 and is distributed in cans and draft throughout Texas and into Oklahoma, New York and New Jersey. The cider is selling so fast that come June of 2016 they will be moving into a much larger production facility.

Austin Eastciders ciders available

• Texas Honey Cider, with wild flower honey sourced from Texas 5%
• Original Dry Cider 5%
• An English cider called Gold Top was produced but at that point Texas cider drinkers weren't ready for a bittersharp/sweet cider. That cider is still being produced, but is barrel aging.
• There is also a hopped cider made with Falcon hops.

The juice from the cider is sourced from the UK, France, Italy, and the Pacific Northwest. It is easy to taste the bittersharp and bittersweet apples in each can that I tried. I was quite pleased that the cider was so balanced and refreshing. The cidery did well with the branding for a Texas Cider and meeting a mass market demand without going overboard sweet with the final product.

All the artwork for Austin Eastciders is done by Simon Walker

Austin Eastciders

Website: http://www.austineastciders.com

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Austin Eastciders Twitter @Eastciders

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See you in Ciderville!