Redfield is the name of a stunning apple variety that was born on US soil and was very nearly forgotten. You see, the Redfield apple has a bit of a problem: it doesn’t taste very good to eat, so it was never widely grown. It’s wildly tart and has a sharp, astringent edge to it that will make your mouth pucker. Bury it in sugar and it makes a serviceable pie, but the Redfield apple best expresses itself in a glass, as cider.
We first tasted what the Redfield apple could do thanks to the work of the Maloney family of West County Cider, an industry pioneer in Western Massachusetts that makes a brilliant Redfield-dominant cider. The late Terry Maloney is credited with rediscovering the apple on a walk through the reference orchard at Cornell University, identifying it as a candidate for great cidermaking. West County’s Redfield was one of the ciders that set us on the journey of opening our own shop, and the cidery continues to inspire our work and the work of other producers around the country, many of which are planting and using the Redfield apple to build flavor and complexity in their own ciders.
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