CCLive: Helping Cider in Covid Time w/ACA

CCLive: Helping Cider in Covid Time w/ACA

Author: Ria Windcaller: Award-winning Cidermaker, Podcaster | Craft Beer Columnist March 20, 2020 Duration: 19:17

Hear what the ACA and the USA's regional associations are doing to help members while their businesses are shuttered during quarantine.

Cider Chat Live: Helping Cider in Covid Time w/ACA

Recorded March 19, 2020 with American Cider Association (ACA) Executive Director Michelle McGrath.

Helping Cider in Covid Times

"If the airline industry is getting excise tax relief, then the beverage alcohol industry should also get relief."

Goals to Help Members: 

  • Expanded Unemployment insurance
  • Suspension of Payroll Taxes
  • Federal Excise Tax Relief
  • no and low interest loan growth in the funding of the above programs
  • Industry Stabilization Funds
    • cash infusions
  • Maintaining an open commercial border
    • Suspension of beverage tariffs and their suppliers

Up to the end of April, the ACA  encourages association members who were forced to layoff staff, to Michelle to have their former employees sign up for a free level 1 Certified Cider Professional exam so they can add to their resume during this down time.

Link here to the American Cider Association's

  Covid Resources For Cideries

New York Cider AssociationNews:

  • 9am - Wednesday  March 25, 2020 The NYCA Town Hall to address issues surrounding the Covid-19 epidemic 
  • New York Cider Association elected new Executive Director is Scott Ramsey. He will be holding a Digital Town Hall meeting with New York Cider Association

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There’s a whole world in a glass of cider, and Cider Chat is your invitation to explore it. Hosted by award-winning cidermaker and writer Ria Windcaller, this podcast travels far beyond the bottle to meet the people who make the global cider culture so vibrant. Each conversation is a journey-you might find yourself in a heritage orchard learning the history of forgotten apple varieties, in a bustling taproom with an importer explaining regional traditions, or in a kitchen with a chef pairing cider with unexpected foods. The discussions get into the delightful nuances, too, whether that’s the semantics of what we even call this drink or how the concept of terroir translates from soil to sip. It’s not just about production; it’s about the community, the travel, and the stories that fermentation unlocks. This is for anyone curious about the craft, history, and sheer enjoyment of fermented apple juice in all its forms. So, pour a glass and settle in for a series that feels like a wide-ranging, informative, and genuinely good-humored chat with friends who happen to be obsessed with cider. You’ll come away with a deeper appreciation for every effervescent, tart, or sweet sip, hearing directly from the growers, makers, and enthusiasts who are shaping this drink’s exciting present and future.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 501

Cider Chat
Podcast Episodes
498: Heeman's Cellar | Somewhere Cider from Ontario [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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496: Liberty Ciderworks | Spokane, WA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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494: Humboldt Cider and the Historic Orchard of Albert Etter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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In this episode of Cider Chat, we hear from Tom Hart of Humboldt Cider Company, located in Eureka, California along the rugged Pacific coastline behind what locals call the Redwood Curtain. We also discusses preserving t…
493: Cider as a Sport | Sidra in Asturias (Archive Edition) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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492: Absolem Cider Company | Maine Cider Energy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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This episode of Cider Chat explores the growing Maine cider scene through Absolem Cider Company in Winthrop, a farm-based cidery helping shape New England's evolving cider identity. Located on a 60-acre farm in Winthrop,…
491: Revisiting Randall Grahm | Cider Exploration Without Hesitation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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An early conversation that explored possibilities cider was only beginning to consider. As Cider Chat moves toward its 500th episode, we revisit conversations from the earliest seasons, taking a long view of the moments…
490: Let Cider Lead [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:32
An editorial on leadership, scarcity, and why cider no longer needs to borrow authority from beer or wine. In Let Cider Lead, host Ria Windcaller steps back from interviews to offer a clear-eyed reflection on the state o…
489: Natural Cider Production Seminar | CiderCon 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Natural cider is often misunderstood as funky, volatile, or flawed. Recorded live at CiderCon 2025, this seminar reframes natural cider as a philosophy of low intervention, balance, and intentional care, not a free pass…