Sweetland Orchard's oh, so refreshing ciders

October 10, 2017 at 7:42PM
Gretchen and Mike Perbix of Sweetland Orchard with some of their fermented apple ciders. ] GLEN STUBBE ï glen.stubbe@startribune.com Tuesday August 22, 2017 Photo(s) for the magazine's "drink" page. Gretchen and Mike Perbix own Sweetland Orchard and produce a range of beautiful fermented apple ciders. Can you shoot them, among the pretty trees, plus some close-ups of the cider looking drinkable, inviting, delicious.
Sweetland Orchard 26205 Fairlawn Av., Webster, 651-252-4337, sweetland orchard.com (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Gretchen Perbix strolls among the 2,000 trees in the rambling orchard that she and her husband, Mike, purchased seven years ago. She rattles off the poetic names of apple varieties with the affectionate familiarity of an old friend: Oriole. Viking. Firecracker. Pristine. Liberty. Shamrock.

All go in service to the couple's tart, dry and effervescent hard ciders, bottled under the Sweetland Orchard name.

Expect to encounter roughly a half-dozen fragrant variations. There's a single-variety doozy named for its starring attraction, Northern Spy. A fruity version, redolent of cherries and rhubarb — both harvested from the premises, naturally — is another favorite. All expertly manage to capture the flavor of this picturesque acreage about 40 minutes southwest of downtown Minneapolis.

Visit on weekends through Oct. 29, and get a glimpse of the fascinating cider-making process, enjoy spectacular lard-fried apple doughnuts, sip raw and unfiltered cider and sample — and buy — some of those not-seen-in-the-supermarket varieties. There's no picking, however; visitors were plucking but then rejecting too much fruit, a heartbreaking prospect for the Perbixes. "Every imperfect apple that's dropped on the ground is a perfect apple for cider," says Gretchen Perbix.

Five years after their tiptoe into commercial sales, the farmstead operation's ciders are in more than 60 Twin Cities bars, restaurants and liquor stores. Business is brisk, in part because the cider, while served refreshingly chilled, is hot. As in trendy.

"We found that out after we started," Gretchen Perbix says with a laugh. "We were just so ignorant. We were like, 'Wow, so this is a 'thing'?" ­

Sweetland Orchard

26205 Fairlawn Av., Webster, 651-252-4337, sweetlandorchard.com

about the writer

about the writer

Rick Nelson

Reporter

Rick Nelson joined the staff of the Star Tribune in 1998. He is a Twin Cities native, a University of Minnesota graduate and a James Beard Award winner. 

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