“ Whatever we can fine from the property we ’ ll be making small batches of that ,” says Tommy . For cider enthusiasts they can join the Members of the Bottle Club and they will receive a bottle of a different seasonal cider once a month . with some hard cider and “ it came out pretty well , so I decided I ’ d do this . Just dove right into it .”
He needed five acres of planted trees to be called a farm . To make it all work , Jeremy Criss from the Montgomery County Office of Agriculture , guided him through the challenging County regulations , and he was able to lease the acreage from his neighbor . In 2019 Two Story Chimney Ciderworks was licensed and launched .
“ Just before the pandemic the goal was to produce cider and sell to local farmer ’ s markets — keeping it small ,” recalls Tommy . Then three months later the pandemic hit and all the farmer ’ s markets shut down . Tommy had to pivot . Lone Oak Brewery just down the road opened up around the same time , and because they had so much open space outside , people could distance , and the word got out . “ I realized then that a tasting room
was my path forward , and I needed an outdoor space where people could social distance and feel safe during the pandemic ... and hopefully be attractive to people from DC and down county .”
Next to Tommy ’ s property was an abandoned two-story house . The lawns weren ’ t mowed , and the surrounding fields were seven feet high . Could it be the spot for a cidery tasting room ? A pandemic silver lining happened when Tommy was able to take the abandoned property off the market for a reasonable deal . He got to work immediately converting the house . “ I took the kitchen out , the bathrooms out , every wall , even the siding . It was basically a shell . I stored a bunch of farm equipment in it and had it rezoned as an agricultural building . I put in steel beams to support the building and wrapped them all in oak .” Remarkably , in six short months , he had
20 plenty I summer growing 2023