There was a time not too long ago when you couldn’t throw an apple in the Methow Valley without hitting a local cider house. Whether you craved Sixknot Organic Cider’s Gingerella or Goldilocks, hankered for Booth Canyon Orchard’s 37 Apples, enjoyed a glass of Six Point Cider’s Tart Cherry from time to time, or couldn’t get enough of Methow Valley Ciderhouse’s Honey Bear or Pinnacle Goat, there was — for nearly everyone — a hard cider that went down easy.
Now, former Methow Valley Ciderhouse owner Richard Wasson told me, “All four cideries are out of business.”
Richard and his wife, Lynne, “were the first 20 years ago and the last out in 2025.”
Lynne and Richard Wasson opened the Methow Valley Ciderhouse at its current location in 2016.
Why has the local cider business gone down the drain, so to speak? Richard asked me what I thought. Being neither an orchardist nor a cider maker, I turned the question right back on him.
Richard speculated about a series of situations that could have contributed to the demise of the Methow Valley cider industry. Changes in life priorities and relocations certainly contributed to at least one closure. COVID shutdowns took a bigger bite out of business than was surmountable for another. And a hard freeze about three years ago wiped out about half of Richard’s trees and, he speculates, those of some of the other orchardists.
Although he wasn’t sure about the national scene for cider, Richard says he is encouraged by some of the excellent ciders coming out of other cideries in our area, like Snowdrift Cider Co. and Union Hill Cider Co., both in East Wenatchee.
The west side cider business seems to be thriving still, if the past weekend’s Cider Summit Seattle is any indication. Featuring more than 100 different ciders, the two-day festival offers an opportunity to savor some of the region’s diverse cider flavors, Richard says.
Because of my longstanding relationship with the Methow Conservancy’s annual Cider Squeeze (Sept. 27 this year!), Richard and I have had an equally longstanding friendly disagreement about whether or not the term “cider” can refer to both fermented hard cider, with an alcohol content, and the juice produced by freshly pressed cider apples. I call them both cider, but Richard disagrees.“If it’s not fermented,” Richard says, “it’s just apple juice.”
I never press Richard too hard to change his mind. When it comes to the core issue — the awesomeness of apples — we are in agreement.
