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

Help Support Cider Chat Please donate today. Help keep the chat thriving!


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
069: Marlene Sofia Sousa Araújo |Araújo Monte, Portugal [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:40
Araújo Monte, Lda is Portugal's first commercial cidery for the country that borders Spain and its million of Sidra drinking fans. Marlene Sofia Sousa Araújo whom I speak to in this chat, with the help of Anzu Fernandez…
068: Hello Chicago | 20 Chat's w/Cider Enthusiasts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:17
This week's cider podcast episode is a mini recap of Chicago Cider Week events, CiderCon, and 20 chats w/Cider Enthusiasts including recordings from the The Northman on February 7, 2017. 20 chats! Dang that was amazing.…
067: Llorenç Frigola | Mooma cidery, Catalonia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:39
Cider Chat will be at the Chicago Cider Summit February 11, 2017 Llorenç Frigola of Mooma cidery, in the Catalonia province of Girona is an Agricultural Engineer by trade who works with a fruit cooperative that has been…
066: Luis Ravina Pisaca |Posma cidery, Canary Islands: Tenerife [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:14
Cider Chat at The Northman (Chicago Cider Bar) February 7, 2017 at 4:30pm Stop on by and let's chat! I have a list of fun cider topics to chat with you for an upcoming podcast. Cider Chat at Chicago Cider Summit February…
065: Brian Rutzen | The Northman, Chicago's 1st Cider Bar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:16
February 7, 2017 at 4:30pm Cider Chat at The Northman recording chats with patrons on Cider Stories! Brian Rutzen is the Cider Director at Chicago's first cider bar, The Northman managing 20 taps of cider, 5 craft beers…
064: Bartosz Gałka| Slow Flow Group, Poland [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:27
Bartosz Gałka is one of three partner at the Polish cidery "Slow Flow Group". Along with Łukasz Sobór, Jakub Lorek and Jakub's father,Marcin Lorek, who makes wine and consults to this project they are helping to put Poli…
063: Alvar Roosimaa | Jaanihanso cidery, Estonia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:46
Alvar Roosimaa turned towards cidermaking after deciding to move out of the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. He bought a country house approximately an hour and a half to the south Tallinn with his wife Veronika. It was at t…
062: Anzu Fernández, MD | La Sidra, Asturias [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:39
Anzu Fernández has been selected as Cider Chat's pick for the Sexiest Cider Dude of 2017! picture credit: La Sidra Anzu Fernández doing a classic long pour This title is not given freely nor is it due to the fact that As…
061: Musée du Poiré | Normandy France [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:14
See all the videos of the Musée du Poiré by visiting the Cider Chat YouTube Channel The Maison de la Pomme et Poire (House of apple and Pear) was created in 1983 in Barenton by the Normandy-Maine Regional Nature Park. In…
060: Nicole Todd | Santa Cruz Cider Company, CA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:00
Scrumping, gluten intolerance and the ingenuity of two sisters helped launched Santa Cruz Cider Company in 2010 and licensed in 2013. Scrumping: Taking apples from a forgotten orchard and one that is owned by someone els…