The 2025 Maryland Apple Blossom Cider & Mead Festival

This past Saturday April 12th, I attended the Maryland Apple Blossom Cider & Mead Festival held at Linganore Winecellars.  Please pay attention to the Mead in that title as there were many expressions available. There were also several whiskies available to sample courtesy of Pathfinder Farm Distillery. Plus dozens of ciders. Apologizes to Silver Wheel Cellars for not traying their meads and ciders because there was a persistent line in front of this producer.

Starting with the meads we found a familiar options with Loew Vineyards and their assortment of cysers and pyments. Cysers are meads made with apple cider, whereas pyments (a subset of melomels - mead made with fruit) are meads made with grapes. My favorite was the Abba a blend of  Polish style mead that was barrel aged for 18 months and a Vidal Blanc pyment that was barrel aged for 11 months. The Mechel is the cyser - a pleasant dry blend of local apple cider, wildflower and clover honey.  I have a bottle of Honey & Grape (a semi-sweet pyment blend of Vidal Blanc, local clover and wildflower honey) cellaring for another year or two investigating if meads change over time. 

Clear Skies Meadery's urban location entices it to create meads with multiple flavor profiles to encapsulate a cocktail culture. This starts with their flagship dry cider, Friending Fenrir, made from Orange Blossom honey. This base is then translated into multiple melomel expressions like the Twisted Oliver (blackberries) and Hades' Trick (pomegranate). They also produce Hydromel or "session" meads such as the Mojave Rose or Guava Mama. They also poured a popular cyser in the Adam's Fall (apple pie). I definitely preferred the Friending Fenrir plus their Fenrir's Reserve aged in oaken stout barrels.

At the Pathfinder Farm Distillery table I learned about their portfolio based upon Bloody Butcher Red Corn -- an heirloom variety of corn that has been grown in Appalachia since at least the mid-1800s. The corn is the base for the surprisingly smooth (at 100 proof) Bloody Butcher 100% Red Corn Whiskey. They then saturate this moonshine into a plethora of fruits with an Apple Pie, Blueberry, and Orange Cranberry expressions. They also produce two aged whiskies starting with the Daily Driver Whiskey with a mash bill of 15% malted barley and 85% Bloody Butcher non-GMO red corn. Then there's the Bloody Butcher Bourbon made from 100% red corn.  A very unique whiskey to add to the collection.

Now to the ciders. 

Willow Oaks Craft Cider is based in a 38-year-old family farm and orchard located in the Middletown Valley at the foothills of the Catoctin Mountain. They were the first organic orchard on the East Coast and their farmhouse styles ciders date back to the cider preferences of some of America's Founding Fathers. The Gloaming, a delicious blend of organic apples and organic black currants, is a favorite - tart for sure, but also dry, fruity, and refreshing. They also offer the Integritas RGB series - ciders aged in rye, bourbon, or gin barrels. The Bourbon offers plenty of vanilla and creaminess. 

Doc Waters Cidery produces one of our favorite Maryland pomme and perry products, the Lady Kay Perry. Although they weren't pouring this perry at the festival, there will be plenty available in the tasting room very soon. On a sour note, last week's freeze most likely destroyed their pear crop for 2025. The challenges of farming. I did savor their flagship Orchard Blend Carbonated Cider. This is a consistent crowd pleaser. 

Brothers Ridge Cider is located practically due north of Linganore and poured their core set of expressions: Pippin, Wildling, and Sapling plus a barrel aged Granny Smith (aged for 6 months in Sagamore Rye Whiskey barrels) -- all fermented naturally. I'm always surprised how well the Granny Smith works in cider apples - particularly when pairing with spicy foods. I had also assumed that the Pippin was a single varietal but it is a blend with plenty of complexity for a dry cider. The off-dry Wildling was also very nice - a touch of sweetness to balance the tartness and acidity. 

The Proper Dry from Two Story Chimney Ciderworks is one of my favorite English-Style ciders and I love the Over the Falls Barrel Aged Cider as well. Unfortunately these weren't available at the festival where they were pouring the semi-sweet Crabtree and the dry Cherry Cider. I only tried the later and savored the dry tartness while waiting for my Peruvian Chicken from the Maytas food truck.  Plan a visit to the ciderworks to try their entire portfolio as well as the gluten-free beers from co-located Silly Yak Beer Company.

Pub Dog operates three brewpubs in Maryland and unbeknownst to me they also offer a couple ciders at each location. I went with the Pub Dog Hard Cider and this is a refreshing cider leaning on the sweeter side 

I finally get to our host, Red Shedman Farm Brewery, which tragically burned to the ground last September. They have been operating steps away at Linganore Winecellars in temporary housing. I've always enjoyed their beer portfolio over the cider because they do lean very heavily on the sweet scale. That being said the Classic Apple Sweet Hard Cider is well made and proportioned. I think adding some dry Vermouth would click. Or wash down with the Cool Kidz Kolsch.

Beer and Wine Partner at Linganore Winecellars & Red Shedman Farm Brewery

The latest trend to hit the farm winery scene is the co-habitation of wineries and breweries offering a wider range of products to attract an audience. Corcoran Vineyards & Cider was perhaps the first to establish this amalgamation in the DC area, and others quickly followed in the Commonwealth. In Maryland, a couple of brothers have gone rogue and combined wine, beer, and cider at the Linganore Winecellars and Red Shedman Farm Brewery facilities. And with more lenient tasting regulations, the overall visit is much more enjoyable. In Virginia, the two operations must be completely segregated where beer must stay in one boundary, wine in another. Absolutely no mixing of the two onsite. However, in the Free State, visitors are free to walk around the winery grounds with a pint and Linganore wine can be brought into the brewery. Imagine that Virginia.

Linganore is one of the oldest operating wineries in Maryland, established by Jack and Lucille Aellen in 1971, and succeeded by their son Anthony in the early 1980s, with another son Eric later managing the vineyards. The winery is known for their broad portfolio of sweet to dry wines as well as their numerous music festivals. Another brother Victor stayed out of the family business for most of his adult life until he escaped corporate America to work in the brewery industry in Grand Rapids Michigan. Eventually the Aellen's decided that adding a brewery to the successful winery would be the next logical progression so Victor returned to start Red Shedman. And Victor established their farm brewery credentials by cultivating several varieties of hops such as Cascade, Columbus, Chinook, Nugget and Crystal.


The brewery offers several styles of beer brewed from their fifteen-barrel brewhouse at the bottom floor of the facility. They also produce a cider, Silo Hard Cider, that is quite nice - very sweet and fruity up front, but finishes completely dry and tart. When visiting the brewery flights range from $8 to $10 for six beers. Besides standard IPAs and Blondes the brewery creates unique beers such as the Suicide Blonde White IPA (part classic Belgian Wit and part dry hopped IPA), Honey Rye, and Vanilla Porter. These were my favorites and I believe all available in cans. Cheers to Maryland wine and beer and as usual theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App can guide you to their location.