SEE VIDEO OF
COMMON CIDER AT
COMSTOCKSMAG.COM
PHOTOS BY DEBBIE CUNNINGHAM, CAPTION BY SHOKA
A Daring Brew
Fran Toves began brewing cider on a dare in
2012. She was teasing her son for winning a
hard cider homebrew competition — because
he was the only entry — so he challenged her
to enter one. She did, and the dare turned into
an interest for starting a business. In 2013, she
launched the Common Cider Company. Based
in Auburn, Toves estimates the brewery produc-
es around 75,000 gallons of hard cider monthly.
The process begins by filling tanks, some up to
their 5,500-gallon capacity, with fresh apple
juice from the Pacific Northwest. “It takes about
14 days to ferment” and become alcoholic, she
says. It’s then transferred to other tanks. “That’s
when I add the flavoring, sugars and stuff to
get our final batch,” says Fred Lisanti Jr., the
company’s cider maker (in photo, preparing to
clean the tanks). Common Cider’s staple flavors
are blood orange tangerine, pineapple guava,
hibiscus saison and blackberry sangria. The
cider is then ready for canning. Empty cans are
mechanically distributed onto a conveyor belt,
and employee Chris Bidart (pictured above)
ensures each 12-ounce can is filled equally. The
tops then are sealed on, the cans are rinsed and
dried, and the batch number and expiration date
are printed on the bottom. “We do about 43
cans a minute,” Bidart says, and up to 19,000 a
day. Toves says the cider is available at Whole
Foods, Raley’s, Total Wine, BevMo, Safeway,
SaveMart and Costco, among others. At the
onset of the coronavirus outbreak, she says the
team increased production to create a three-
month inventory so they could continue dis-
tributing with fewer employees on-site during
the crisis, and they are continuing to brew.
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