DEALER INDEX LOCATED ON PAGE A10 NOVEMBER 2023
Volume 41
48 Pages
PO Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308
Phone: (509) 397-2191
Number 8
THE RISE OF
NW CIDER Beverages continue to gain momentum
Kyle Odegard/Capital Press
Carter Rickert of Salt Creek Cider House pours a goblet of Rebel Rose, a cider made with apples, pears, blackberries and Marionberries.
D
By KYLE ODEGARD Capital Press
ALLAS, Ore. — Carter and Lindy Rickert purchased his parents’ 20-acre farm in 2016 without a plan, but knowing they wanted a value-added product that tapped into agritourism. That fall, the couple walked through the farm’s orchard of 12 trees and had an epiphany. “The fruit was falling on the ground and it just clicked,” Carter Rickert said. Salt Creek Cider House opened in 2019 with its tasting room in a renovated cattle barn. The Rickerts planted 1,300 heirloom cider apple and pear trees, and this season they harvested 3 tons of fruit. Trees are still maturing, more will be added and the crop could eventually increase to 250 to 300 tons. For the time being, the Rickerts also purchase 5 to 10 tons of fruit each year to combine with 5,000 gallons of juice they buy from Hood River, Ore., and the Yakima Valley in Washington state. Salt Creek will produce 10,000 gallons of cider this season. “We’re See Cider, Page A8
The Growers’ Guide P.O. Box 2048 Salem, OR 97308-2048
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