Issue #2: Michigan Hard Cider Maker's Thoughtful Expansion Path
How a cider maker and a fellow Michigan company are showing the world the state's beauty
Michigan is a wonderful state, an overlooked gem with an incredibly diverse array of landscapes, attractions and industries.
When I lived in Las Vegas, I wouldn’t stop spreading the gospel of the lakes and forests and beer. Today’s deep dive is a story of a few fellow Michigan State University graduates and their partnership that helps showcase Michigan: a collaboration between Blake’s Hard Cider and Gypsy Distillery.
And I love this quote from Gypsy co-founder Michael Kazanowski so much that I want to share it here:
“Michigan is one of the best places in the world. Michigan’s an area that the people wear on their chest, like they do in Texas or Colorado. It’s a state people like to brag about when we’re on the road. We like to tell people what makes Michigan so pure and special. You go to Beer City or the Motor City, the lakeshore. It’s a completely different beach experience with crystal clear water and white sand beaches.”
In this issue:
What Pat’s Drinking?
Literary Libations
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A Michigan success story
Note: June 3 is apparently World Cider Day!
One thing Andrew Blake noticed as he returned to his family business, Blake’s Orchard & Cider Mill, after graduating from Michigan State it was insanely seasonal.
Blake’s Hard Cider is a spin-off of a family farm that’s been in Armada, Michigan, since the 1940s, when Blake’s grandfather bought a 100-acre apple orchard. Over the years and another generation, that operation grew to include four retail locations and two million visitors a year.
Those visitors came in tsunamis. Blake said 80% of revenue came in two months of the year.
“That’s a wild way to run a business,” Blake said. “Keep in mind, we had 1,000 employees, all very seasonal. I saw this great, growing business, but unsustainable in certain ways and it’s hard to keep long-term talent. It was feast or famine with a lack of stability.”
At MSU, he saw the craft beer boom happening — but back at home, he recognized there was no alcohol on the orchard property. The products they did sell, fresh produce, were hard to sell off-property.
He came back with the idea to start a hard cider company. That got off the ground in 2013 and grew from there. It quickly became a staple at Michigan stores and bars, with products like Flannel Mouth, a semi-sweet classic American cider, and El Chavo, a cider with mango and habanero.
Then, Blake’s began a steep climb to the heights of the independent American cider companies in the U.S. in 2022. That was when Blake’s acquired Avid Hard Cider Co. in Oregon.
That was the start of a five-year strategy to “accelerate its national expansion plans and distribution footprint.”
In late 2023, Blake’s announced it acquired Austin Eastciders in Texas. At that juncture, the entity rebranded from Blake’s Hard Cider Company to Blake’s Beverage Company.
"We don't want to change what makes these brands great, we are coming together to become the largest independent cider company in the U.S.," Blake said at the time. "While our passions and mission align, each brand offers consumers unique flavors, personalities, and complementary perspectives filtered through the lenses of their regions.”
Today, the company has operations in Michigan, New York, Oregon and Texas and sits as the second-largest cider maker in the U.S., behind Angry Orchard.
Cider had a few minutes in the spotlight during the craft beer surge a decade or so ago. But it faded quicker than beer — which itself is now a plateaued market. Still, the Blake’s Hard Cider brand grew 10% on its own in 2023.
“To understand cider, you have to go back 20 years or so and cider was having a renaissance as well as craft beer started to come out, but it kind of faltered and went stable,” Blake said. “What we saw in 2023 and now 2024, cider is breaking out and having another growth moment. Not only are we growing our market share, cider’s market share again.”
While there is a proliferation of seltzers, canned cocktails and brands splitting products into flavored malt beverage space, like Sunny D and Simply, cider continues to be a stalwart.
That is led by its American Apple, an 8% ABV cider that began in 2022 and burst out in 2023 with an 85% growth in sales. (Note: Blake’s is in 29 states, while Austin Eastciders is in 22 states and grew 5% overall in 2023. Avid is in six states.)
Its Triple Jam saw 24% growth. Like we saw with various large breweries in the U.S. in the past decade, Blake’s is now looking to extend its successful brands with extensions, like Triple Jam’s lighter sibling, Jam Session. Rather than the 6.5% ABV berry cider flagship, Jam Session clocks in at 4.5%. This year, the company plans to introduce an imperial version.
“There’s been these beverages having their big moments that eclipsed cider, but regionally it’s always been strong,” Blake said. “The only reason it’s not growing more is the one national player has such market share it weighs it down, but as we continue to grow market share, it’s helping drive the category and I think it’ll be one of the more attractive growth stories again soon.”
But to grow the pie even more and help highlight more Michigan companies and products, Blake’s partnered with Gypsy Distillery in Petoskey, Michigan. Twin brothers Michael and Adam Kazanowski started the distillery in 2015 after moving back to Michigan from Colorado.
While they weren’t always set on jumping into the beverage world — they were going into medicine and finance, respectively — they eventually jumped into private label distilling before settling on Northern Michigan as a home base.
“There’s a new consumer who is interested in a fourth category of fruit-forward innovation,” Blake said. “That’s where this relationship started. A couple of MSU boys who I knew from the industry and a huge fan of their story.”
The Blake’s partnership with Gypsy began last year with a special spirit building on Blake’s Apple Pie Cider, one of their biggest seasonal ciders. The cinnamon and brown sugar cider vodka was infused with apple cider and retailed at $24.95.
“Frankly, we always wanted to be in that space, but we didn’t have the time or expertise and didn’t want to distract us from the main goal,” Blake said. “They’re smart, young, hungry and growing and developing in so many ways. We could help inject some sales and energy and resources helping them go to the next level in their journey while helping us expand category innovation.”
This year, the second collaboration is further expanding Blake’s Triple Jam brand label with Triple Jam Vodka. The vodka is loaded with strawberry, blackberry and raspberry and backed by the apple cider.
Like Blake’s, Gypsy sees Michigan as a place where quality shines all around, from the water to the produce. Michael Kazanowski wants to see Michigan products and companies grow together.
“In order to win, you have to work together and you see that a lot in Michigan craft beer, cider and spirits,” Kazanowski said. “It’s nice to work with one another. You’re never going to get noticed and go toe-to-toe with the big companies without doing so, so it’s always important to work with whoever we can.”
Literary Libations
Welcome to Literary Libations, where I share a book and beverage pairing! This is a spoiler-free zone. If you have any books you’d like featured in this section, reply and let us know! -Alyssa
Table for Two by Amor Towles
I can’t stop talking about this book! I won’t stop talking about this book. Amor Towles is on my Immediately Purchase author list, and for good reason. I was introduced to him a few years back when my book club read A Gentleman in Moscow (BTW, the TV adaption on Paramount+ is well worth the watch), and since have read my way through his oeuvre. I’ll admit short stories aren’t really my thing, but I gave Table for Two a go because if anyone is going to make me a short story convert, it’s Towles. Plus, I was THRILLED to learn this book included a novella featuring Eve, who we met in his debut novel Rules of Civility.
Titled Eve In Hollywood, the novella follows Eve's journey from New York City to L.A. during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the late 1930s. Simply put, Eve is glitz, glamour, and the kind of woman every girl wants to be her best friend and every man wants to bring home to mom. We’re pairing this book alongside a Death In The Afternoon, popularized in the mid-30s by one Ernest Hemingway. It’s served in a champagne flute because that screams Old Hollywood Glamour.
Eve’s Death In The Afternoon
1.5 ounces absinthe
4.5 ounces very cold Champagne
Method:
Pour absinthe into flute
Top with Champagne
Read!
-Alyssa
What Pat’s Drinking?
Getting a taste of Nevada is always appreciated since moving back, so I recently was sipping on some Frey Ranch 100% Wheat Whiskey.
I’m a huge fan of this “farm to glass” distillery in northern Nevada. The wheat whiskey was a touch hot, but was full of butterscotch on the nose and palate.
Here’s an additional muse after I saw a new brand extension of a whiskey this week: As the world of beverages continues to grow and more products hit the shelves, interesting explorations can catch an eye, even if they might not do much to make the product different.
I am a fan of Teeling Whiskey, let me start there. Along with the choice of blue, “Virgin Swedish Oak” made me immediately want to try this:
How is Swedish different than American? Only one way to find out: try it.