Apples and berries and hops ... oh , my !
Apples and berries and hops ... oh , my !
The birth of a cidery
BY WIB MIDDLETON
If cideries seem to be popping up everywhere , they are . For cider nerds they ’ ll tell you it ’ s not a trend but a “ Cider Renaissance .” According to Michelle McGrath , executive director of the American Cider Association , this phenomenon “ kicked off in 2010 and 2011 . There has been a synergy with the craft beer movement , a new gluten-free trend , and an interest in local food — and you get all of those things with cider .”
So if you ’ ve never been to a cidery for a crisp , refreshing glass of hard cider maybe it ’ s time . Two Story Chimney Ciderworks is the Ag Reserve ’ s latest countryside setting for tasting flights of handcrafted hard cider . Many choices include wild fruit foraged right on the property . By all counts it ’ s a popular new hang for friends and family , and gathering community is a prime mission of entrepreneur and founder Tommy Evans .
Tommy Evans got it . He is one of a growing number of next generation entrepreneurs who is passionate about living on farm-worthy acreage and creating an ag-based business that everyone can enjoy . It was hard fought . First he had to get here to this area . Raised north of the Bronx in Ossining , New York , it was hard leaving his community literally for greener pastures . His work gig included working crazy hours and global travel for a celebrity sports advertising photographer as the digital technician running computers and cameras during the shoots , and managing film crews . Even though the money was good , travel took its toll . His parents , who were looking for a place to retire and checking out a few cites out West , finally landed in Frederick , Maryland . Tommy , a new dad , was searching for his own place relatively close by with some specific criteria . “ I wanted a house over 100 years old on at least five acres within a half hour ’ s drive from Frederick .” The house he manifested was pre-civil war and checked all the boxes . “ Everything works out for me . I just get lucky ,” he laughs .
It was 2016 when he moved into the old farmhouse with son Tommy III . In 1847 , as the story goes , the farmhouse was built with a tobacco barn next to it . Today the only remnants of that time are the barn ’ s chimney , standing like a lonely sentinel with two hearths in the field behind the house . Thus the origin of the name : Two Story
Chimney . And a bonus to his new home — two venerable apple trees planted in the early 1900 ’ s .
The next couple of years were devoted to clearing and caring for the land in preparation of creating an apple orchard . Planting new apple trees , grafting cuttings from the heritage trees , enriching the soil , was all part of the plan to establish a sustainable orchard .
Looking to create income from the property Tommy experimented
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