An interview with Will Loughlin of Riverhead Ciderhouse!
For June, we’re switching gears a bit and focusing on the great east coast cider makers! All of which are active TCE members! First up is Will Loughlin, Cidermaster of Riverhead Ciderhouse, whom I had the privilege of interviewing! When Will’s not making great cider or playing volleyball and MTG, you can catch him on the TCE Zoom Social every other week!
Ryan Gravell: Tell us about yourself, both your cider and non-cider life.
Will Loughlin: My entrance into cider was very roundabout. If you asked me 4 years ago I wouldn't even think it was possible. I began college declared as a Computer Science major with an IT minor, but it ended up not being for me. I then switched and graduated with a dual major in both Mathematics and Secondary Education. Teaching people is something that always caught my attention and seemed to give me purpose but I never found that perfect job fit. After college I took some odd jobs that ended up with me working for an electrician wiring a building that was slated to be a Farm Cidery. The serendipitous situations didn't stop there either because the owner ended up being someone who was a cook in my dad's deli when I was a kid. I stuck my neck out and told her I would do anything to be the cidermaker's production assistant and she accepted. The Cidermaker who was there was a super knowledgeable winemaker that I learned a lot from but within 4 months of The Riverhead Ciderhouse opening he left the company and the totality of the Cidermaking fell on my shoulders. With the whole 3-4 months of commercial experience I had to take over the reins of production of a new cidery everything from fermentation plans, filtration, stabilization, labeling, blending, the first batch was a bit nerve wracking to say the least. But these past 3 years have been amazing. I love the cider industry and community and being able to teach (preach To) people about cider is awesome. For some non cider information I'm a huge "nerd" big into gaming, anime, I have an ongoing MTG game every Thursday night (postponed due to COVID) and me and my girlfriend are huge(interest wise not size) both beach and indoor volleyball players.
RG: Tell us about your involvement in Riverhead Ciderhouse, and a bit of history on the cidery and team.
WL: The Riverhead Ciderhouse is a Farm Cidery in Riverhead NY (on Long Island). We opened in march of 2017 so we just had our 3 year anniversary although we didn't get to celebrate like we would've liked because of the Pandemic. Currently we are mostly doing direct sales through our tasting room with a small amount of distribution on the Island. My title at the Riverhead Ciderhouse is "Cidermaster" basically I'm the production manager, although currently I'm the only employee in production so I get glowing reviews from my subordinates. Although our tasting room is very sizable, our staff is pretty small. We have our COO Sinead, the General manager Jon, Me running production and then we have tasting room staff that took on more roles like Gillian who does our entertainment scheduling and social media and Matt who does our event planning.
RG: 2020 has been a year for the history books, how's are things going at Riverhead? What is the cidery doing to weather the storm? How are you holding up?
WL: Oh man 2020 huh? We began curbside the last week in April and it's been going well. We have gone through alot of our 4 pack reserves and are planning on doing more canning in the upcoming months. Our crowler machine has been a godsend and is a driving force in our process through this. The curbside system allows our business to run efficiently with a smaller staff and limited tap and kitchen menu but keeping staples that our customers want like the Poolside Pineapple 4 packs, our Blackberry Habanero crowlers, jumbo pretzels and table side... well I guess curbside guacamole. Personally, I am doing alright. I had a slight fever near the end of march while we were on hiatus and recently had been tested positive for antibodies so I was lucky to have a mild case.
RG: What do you enjoy most about cider and the industry?
WL: I think the best thing about cider is that it is still in that area that it's not clearly defined. It's a huge open palate and people are doing some great things (of course some people are doing terrible things as well). The fact that you can talk to 100 makers and there is something different about each of their products, be it the fermentation, the apples, adjuncts/no adjuncts, filtration or aging, barrels, etc. that list could go on and on (I deleted like 7 more things and stopped myself). The industry itself is a pretty great community if you allow yourself to ask questions, if someone looks down on you for asking a question you probably wouldn't want advice from that person. The best advice I have been given was from Yann the cider maker at 1911, I went to check out their facility when I was first starting the job and before I left he told me "At the end of the day you are just adding yeast to juice don't get a big head about it." it was such a small sentence but it plays over and over in my head.
RG: Cider is often about experiences and moments. What's your most memorable cider moment?
WL: I can't really put my finger on one specific moment, I've had a few. One of the big ones was getting a gold medal at GLINTCAP for the blackberry habanero, it kind of showed that something that I put together and created from inception could be enjoyed and be seen as "good". Another recent one was getting my Pommelier Certification. The test was intense but I really enjoyed taking the test even when I failed the first time. I was kind of glad I failed, it meant that the test was hard and the fact that so few passed it really means something. I'll stop at three, the last moment that really sticks with me was one night at the CINA (Cider Institute of North America) Essential sensory program at Glynwood in New York there were cider makers and enthusiasts from across the country and we all were sharing cider and had some great food and were sitting together listening the Elizabeth Ryan from Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider tell us the history of cider in the Hudson valley it was a moment that sticks with me because I felt like I belonged in the community.
RG: Cider has a long history, what was your introduction to it, and what's the first cider that really blew you away?
WL: My introduction to it was almost out of necessity, after finding out that I was gluten intolerant I tried GF beer and most of it was terrible(this was like 12 years ago there are a lot of good ones now) I quickly moved to cider. Starting with the classics of Strongbow (the original not the american stuff they have now), Magners and some Woodchuck and AO every now and then. I think early on my favorite cider was Anthem Hops, but a mindset changing cider is probably Hudson Valley Farmhouse's Wickson. I'm of the thought process that a blend is better than a single varietal 99 out of 100 times and this wickson cider was that one.
RG: When you're not drinking your own ciders, what are you generally drinking? Any cider recommendations for us?
WL: I tend to drink a little of everything, farmhouse, adjunct, sweet, dry you name it. If I was to throw some recommendations out there though if you are into semi-sweet Awestruck Ciders Empire is great it's a cider blend that's back sweetened with fresh empire juice it's perfect for a hot day. If you are looking for something drier I'm a huge fan of the Northern Spy from Finger Lakes Ciderhouse. If I have to name something from outside NY I am a huuuuge fan of Eden Specialty Ciders Imperial Rose.
RG: Riverhead puts out some unique flavors of cider, with your new PB&J one being a hit. Where do you get the inspiration from? Any fun ones in the pipeline we should expect?
WL: Oh the PB&J haha, the flavor combos mostly come from me just thinking about what works together. PB&J was a special case that my boss told me to make and had faith that I could pull it off. Our other flavors aren't crazy outlandish. We try to use fruit juice adjuncts that we can get in season and go from there, it's more of what we can find locally and then if we have an specific idea we would reach further out. Hopefully this year our bees will produce enough honey for us to use in a small batch cider and we have two versions of a wine/cider hybrid both a sweet commercial version and a dry wild version that I'm super excited about.
RG: Anything else you'd like to add?
WL: I don't know about other people but I'm super lucky to have found cider. I know it sounds corny but it's truly what I should be doing. I found an employer that gave me the opportunity to get more education and travel to CiderCon for the past two years where I have met a lot of the people from TCE and grew great relationships that continue in the Zoom calls even if Mel keeps me up too long or if I give Terry the wrong zip code. There are a few people that I have met along the way that helped me a lot to navigate this crazy cider world and I would like to shout them out Ron Sansone, from Spoke and Spy in Ct., Chris Sheldon, from Diner Brew Co. in NY, Michelle Pagano, GF beer and cider powerhouse from NY. This group in general has allowed me to get to try things that I would never find near me and talk with people I never would have crossed paths with. I don't mean to speak for others but Erica, Matt, and Ryan thank you for all you do it means a lot!
Riverhead Ciderhouse
2711 Sound Ave.
Calverton, NY 11933