Peak Light Cider Debuts Farm School Cider

Peak Light Cider, a new cidery that opened this past year on Sauvie Island in Portland, Oregon has released its latest cider, Farm School Cider.

After the 2020 apple harvest, Peak Light Cider hand picked traditional bittersweet and bittersharp apples to create Farm School Cider. The cider was first released to Peak Light’s Cider Circle Club but is now available online, at Portland area Farmers Markets and in select retail locations.

Farm School Cider is made from Oregon fruit, mostly European varietal bittersweet apples (such as Yarlington Mill, Vilberie, and Muscadet de Dieppe), with some blended bittersharps. Bittersweets, one of four classes of apples, are sought out for cidermaking due to their higher tannin, lower acid composition. Bittersweet apples offer structure and roundness; they give Farm School Cider a sturdy, familiar, earthy profile and a rich, amber color.

The fermentation of Farm School Cider brought forth just over 300 gallons of cider and was hand-bottled by Travis Lovejoy. Each 750mL bottle retails at a robust $20 per bottle.

The name of the cider came together after the founders of Peak Light Cider, Jen and Travis Lovejoy, ended up home schooling their children on their farm. This home schooling also brought together another family’s children where the parents alternated teaching duties. Something that many parents experienced last year.

“We were tired, we were happy, we were overwhelmed, we were stressed, we were in a moment in time that none of us and none of our direct ancestors had ever dealt with,” said Jen Lovejoy, in a statement. “We were all learning together one day at a time,” she continued. Hence, with a nod to the tough and beautiful shared experience of the moment, “Farm School” at Peak Light was named.

The line up from Peak Light Cider, including Farm School, is available at www.peaklightcider.com, at Portland area Hollywood and PSU Farmers Markets, and at select independent retail partners across Oregon. Peak Light plans to release two additional small batch, limited release offerings later in the year.