Ellison Bay, Wis. (July 1, 2024) – Island Orchard Cider wins eleven awards during the 2024 hard cider award season, notably receiving the highest award of two platinum medals in the Cidercraft Awards and a gold medal in the Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition (GLINTCAP).
The Cidercraft Awards, hosted by industry-renowned Cidercraft Magazine, is a yearly competition where a blind panel judges commercial hard cider entries over the course of three days. Island Orchard Cider’s Pomona cider won a platinum medal in the dessert/fortified cider category. To make Pomona, the cidery’s Brut Apple Cider is distilled into a brandy at Egg Harbor’s Hatch Distilling. The resulting brandy is then aged for a year in repurposed bourbon barrels, resulting in a sweet, still, 17% ABV pommeau featuring notes of apple, vanilla, and brandy.
During the Cidercraft Awards, Island Orchard was honored with a second platinum award for their Hopped Brut Apple Cider in the hopped cider category. Hopped Brut Apple is an effervescent, semi-dry hard cider made from an apple cider base steeped in Door County-grown Cascade hops to add a citrusy, bitter kick to the cider.
At GLINTCAP, the world’s largest international hard cider competition, Island Orchard’s Apple Ginger Cider won a gold medal. The Apple Ginger Cider competed in the commercial producer division’s botanical cider category. To produce Apple Ginger Cider, Island Orchard Cider presses and ferments the apples, and then steeps the resulting cider in freshly ground ginger root. Award-winning Apple Ginger is semi-dry, spicy, medium-bodied with light astringency, effervescent, and 6.9% ABV.
About Island Orchard Cider
Island Orchard Cider is a hard cider company with a taproom, bottle shop, and production facility in Ellison Bay and an orchard on Washington Island. Island Orchard Cider’s name refers to their cider fruit orchard, where they grow apples, pears, and hazelnuts. Every fall, fruit is handpicked and ferried across Lake Michigan’s Death’s Door to their production facility in Ellison Bay, where they produce award-winning cider.
For further information, contact: Yannique Purman, 414-807-7220 or yannique@islandorchardcider.com