162: S. Martinelli & Co. | 150 Years of Cider

S. Martinelli & Company was founded by Stephen Martinelli in 1868.

The company is located, as it has always been, for the last 150 years in Watsonville, California.

The first cider made by Stephen was a 7.5% alcohol by volume sparkling cider.

This chat is with Stephen John Martinelli, the great grandson of the Founder and the current CEO and General Manager of this family owned business.

John’s first job as a teen was to clean the 125 gallon redwood fermenting tanks that were used at Martinelli’s to ferment apples juice to cider. You can still see the slats from the old tank today at the Company Store, where they flank the tasting bar.

In this chat, we discuss Martinelli’s new product “1868” which came out in August of 2018 to commemorate the 150th year. 1868 is a 5.7% cider that Martinelli is currently contracting with the Gordon Biersch brewing company to ferment.

• The bulk of the apples are sourced from the Pacific Northwest.
• 1868 has the signature Martinelli juice profile, with a Newtown Pippin apple presence.
• It is sold in 12 ounce bottles in 12-packs.

Costcos in California and the two Safeway stores in Santa Cruz are the only location currently selling this product. The 1868 is selling fast, as Martinelli loyalist buy sometimes up to 2-4 12-packs at a time.

Listen to and see the wordplayed by Hip Hop Artist Andy Mineo called: Martinelli's

Contact info for S. Martinelli & Company

Website: https://www.martinellis.com

Tours? Martinelli’s does not provide public tours.

Mentions in this chat

• Totally Cider Tours
  • April 12th & 13th 2018 Monterey Bay California 
    •  Reservations open January 11, 2019
  • September 22-28, 2019 - Normandy France - Reservation will begin in late January
  • Interested in these tours? Sign up for the eCiderNews and receive updates on tours.

• February 4th-8th, 2019 CiderCon The United States Association of Cider Makers annual Trade Conference will be held in Chicago. Find out more and reserve today. Volunteer for CiderCon and have your registration fee waivered! Contact : Woodley email - [email protected]
• February 10th - New York International Cider Competition
  • The NYCC has a different philosophy from other competitions in that all of judges are trade buyers judging by category and price
  • This competition uses the USACM categories
  • Submit your cider to the New Jersey and Canadian locations and NYCC will ship your additional entries for free to the www.berlininternationalbeercompetition.com   

• Here below are the links for more info
  • https://berlininternationalbeercompetition.com/announcing-free-shipping-from-canada-to-the-2019-berlin-international-beer-competition/
  • https://berlininternationalbeercompetition.com/announcing-free-shipping-from-the-usa-to-the-2019-berlin-international-beer-competition/
• Listen to 108: The Alcohol Professor chats Cider Competitions and Judging

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