A new vendor at the Olney Farmers Market will be selling locally-made hard cider on the first and third Sunday of the month.
When you are looking to name your brand-new cidermaking establishment, what do you choose? A name that reflects the history of the land you plant your young trees on, in the hope of having the same longevity as the singular landmark on your property?
Tommy Evans named Two Story Chimney Ciderworks for the unmissable structure behind his house: all that remains of what must have been a very grand tobacco barn. The earliest records date the farm to 1847, when Luther Moore Sr. and his son began farming tobacco in rotation with corn, dairy cows, and cider apple trees. Two trees planted in the early 1900’s remain, and have formed the basis for a set of grafts Tommy is nurturing for fruit to blend into the cider his new trees will yield in the near future.
Tommy grew up in New York City, moving to Maryland and the land at Etchison in 2016. He has planted one thousand cider-specific trees with eight thousand more on order, for the 45 acre orchard he envisions. Meanwhile, apples from the two heritage trees enrich his cider made from fruit supplied by a local Maryland orchard.
In the bottling shed, the juice spends six to eight weeks in fermentation tanks after infusion with special Australian yeast made specifically for cider. A carbonation tank imparts that pleasing fizzy character to the finished product. Some cider is finished with hops, to make it more attractive to beer drinkers. Tommy is growing his own hops. Chacun à son goût. (“To each their own.”)
Currently, the cider is sold in glass bottles, but Tommy plans to shift to cans very soon. Cans are more environmentally friendly, and the bottles cannot be reused and are expensive to produce and ship. Also, the cans will hold smaller amounts than the bottles so portion control will be easier.
A tasting room is under construction and planned to be open to the cider-curious some time in August. Tommy will be selling cider at the Olney Farmers Market this Sunday and the first and third Sunday of every month. Meanwhile, Jose Andres has reportedly approved of Two Story Chimney’s cider. It’s only a matter of time before we can say “I knew him when…”
