257: Courthouse Creek "Garagistes" | Building a Cidery Part 3

We are Garagiste!

Liza and Eric Coffi - Courthouse Creek Garagistes

Liza and Eric Coffi jokingly call themselves 'Garagistes' of the cider world. Courthouse Creek is a family-run, small agri-business committed to respecting our land and our community.  They grow apples and other fruits and vegetables using sustainable, low impact practices, and produce orchard-based cider by adhering to natural methods.  Their cidery model is premised upon the small wine boutiques that they are familiar with from their time living in the Central Coast of California.

Liza Coffi at Courthouse Creek Tasting Room

Initial estimation of build out vs the actual time it took

In the orchard:  "We planted our first section of the orchard in 2014, and the second section about six months later.. We knew it would take about four or so years to start seeing an appreciable yield for production purposes.  It took six years. This past harvest, the 2020 harvest, was the first year where we had enough apples to produce a decent amount of cider.  We ended up with three barrels – about 180 gallons."

In the cidery:  "The plan was to launch our cidery as true garagistes — producing in our garage.  After doing this and making sure there was a market for our product, the plan was to build a production barn and a separate tasting room on the farm by the second year, maybe third year."

Courthouse Creek outdoor tasting room

The Coffi's started producing some cider in the garage in 2014 (which is partly why they are called garagistes!) , but the real first year of production was 2015. That first and second year, 2015-2016, they produced 450 cases, or about 18 barrels.  Says Eric, "Because our methods are low-fi (ie, no filtering, no fining, adhering to natural methods), this initial build-out was very basic.

[ The Coffi's had an oak barrel fermenting in their living room - and used the family's two car garage as the cidery. True Garagistes![/caption]

By 2016, they knew their plans had to change.  Somewhere in the middle of building the production barn they realized that there was no way they could afford to build a separate tasting room.  So, they converted the front third of the production barn into the tasting room.  They opened the tasting room in March of 2017 and are currently expanding this tasting room to get to the square footage they anticipated having from inception.

Initial estimate of production (barrels) vs what the actual production is now or where you expect it to grow in next 5 years post covid

We initially planned to reach 3000 cases, or roughly 120 barrels, by year three (2018).  Actual production has not hit our target:

• In 2017 season 935 cases (750ml) and 1395 gals in kegged product = 60 barrels.
• In 2018 season 1250 cases (750ml) and 1000 gals in kegged product =  65 barrels
• In 2019 season 1250 cases (750ml) and 1000 gals in kegged product =  65 barrels
• In 2020 season 1050 cases (750ml) and 850 gals in kegged product = 56 barrels

Initial projections included a split of about 75% tasting room sales, and 25% distribution.

Says Eric, "The reality for us is simple—the tasting room model works very well. Indeed, the silver lining of COVID has been a boon at the farm—we had the space in the orchard for people to properly social distance.  Our new projections are more of an 85 to 90% tasting room, and the remainder targeted distribution at small, local bottle shops and high-end restaurants."

Equipment you love having on hand from the start

• Barrel steamer

Equipment you would reconsider had you known then what you know now.

• "For the orchard, we didn’t need to put in irrigation. We put in a drip line in the first section, but realized we don’t need it, we can successfully dry farm in Virginia."
• Purchased a good pump straight away—and do not skimped on a cheaper model. The Coffi's use a pump from US-FIP
• It is important to really map out your production flow so you can get a handle on what you need in regards to hoses, fittings, etc.  It is a bit of pain to buy things piecemeal, or on the fly.

2-3 Tips for folks getting into this industry from the Garagistes!

• Know "Your who and why?"
  • Who are you, and why do you want to start a cidery. This is critical for a few reasons.  One is that if you know who you are and why you want to do it, it makes it easier to figure out the what—like, what kind of style cider you want to make, what kind of tasting room experience do you want, etc. Another, probably the most important, is that it makes marketing and advertising that much easier—it is far easier to market your own truth than to make up some story and brand after the fact.
• Whatever size production space you think you need, double it.
• After mapping out production flow and get an idea of the volume of cider you anticipate making, make sure you map out your tasting room.
  • IF you are going to rely mostly on tasting room for your stream of income, make sure the tasting room can actually sell your volume.  How many seats can you fit in your tasting room?  What is the projected average ticket per customer?  How many times do you anticipate turning over a seat? If you don’t have the room to sell your volume, you won’t.

Contact Courthouse Creek Cider

• Website: https://courthousecreek.com/
• Buy Courthouse Creek Cider

Mentions in this Chat

• CiderCon2021 February 3-5, 2021 - A virtual trade conference for the cider industry hosted by the American Cider Association
• New York International Cider Competition - February 21, 2021 3rd Annual New York International Cider Competition for commercial makers. Judges are real buyers making this competition stand apart from all others in cider. Send in your ciders now.
• Fermentis by Lesaffre -This week's Q&A with Kevin Lane from Fermentis:
  • Q: What temperature should one's apple juice be at before pitching yeast?
• Eliza Greenman - grafting orchards - https://elizapples.com

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