A brand-new cider production facility in the heart of the peninsula, fresh-for-summer products and a landmark retirement: These are just a few of the big changes coming to Leelanau cideries as an epic tourism season arrives on the county’s doorstep.

Though it’s still considered a niche market in the alcohol world – nowhere near as big as craft beer or hard seltzer, for instance — hard cider is a rapidly growing industry. Recent Nielsen data shows the beverage category grew by 10 times in a decade, with Michigan ranked third in the U.S. behind fellow apple-growers New York and Washington. Gregory Hall — who founded the Fennville, Michigan-based cidery Virtue Cider — predicts that the 2020s will prove to be “the decade of cider.”

If that’s true, then northern Michigan should be well-prepared for the shift. Some Leelanau growers, including Kevin VerSnyder of VerSnyder Orchards in Lake Leelanau are experimenting with hard cider apples that can be produced in modern high-density growing systems. He also is collaborating with researcher Chris Gottschalk from Michigan State University’s Department of Horticulture to grow red-fleshed apple cultivars to introduce red juice to the hard cider industry.

Also bracing for growth is Tandem Ciders in Suttons Bay, which is currently putting the finishing touches on a new 13,000-square-foot building production facility just south of Lakeview Hills Road on County Road 641. Tandem Cider co-founders and cidermakers Dan Young and Nikki Rothwell also put in two varieties of cider apples — Yarlington Mills and Dabinett — on the property.

There aren’t immediate plans to level-up the cidery’s production output — “We ended up spending all our money on our building and not really on equipment,” Young explains — but he does see the expansion as an open door to future scalability.

“We will have a huge amount of room there,” says Young of the production facility, which will not be open to the public. He notes their current production space at Tandem’s tasting room property is 6,000 square feet and significantly cramped — to the point where the team has to play what Young calls “a constant game of Tetris” just to make a batch of cider.

Despite the changes, Young assures Tandem fans the cidery’s off-the-beaten path guest experience won’t change. The tasting room, situated in a rustic white barn on a rural property on Setterbo Road near Suttons Bay, will stay intact. Young notes the property still has plenty of room for expanding outdoor seating, and says it’s generating plenty of sales, strong word-of-mouth, and repeat visitors on its own.

Young’s long-term vision involves growing a robust marketing and distribution strategy throughout the state. Tandem has had a distributor on the west side of the state for several years but has handled southeast Michigan distribution on a DIY basis, taking monthly road trips in a van packed with cider. Recently the cidery signed on with a new distributor that will take over those southeast Michigan operations.

More cider is also the big-picture retirement plan for Madelynn Korzon, who co-owns Suttons Bay Ciders with her husband Mark. The Korzons opened their cidery in 2015, but Madelynn has kept a second career as a Munson nurse for the duration. She officially retired from nursing this month, and while she says she loved her job — and has even offered Munson to “come back once in a while,” particularly in the winter if the hospital is short-staffed — she’s looking forward to devoting more of her time and energy to all things cider.

“It was a good run, and I enjoyed my time at Munson, but I was spread a little thin and now I'm feeling much better," Korzon admits.

Last year, as COVID-19 shutdowns caused several “key employees” to leave, Korzon’s workload at the cidery increased, signaling to her that it was time to finalize a retirement date. Now in the midst of what she calls her “working retirement,” she’s thinking about new products, events, and offerings to grow the Suttons Bay Ciders brand.

“I’m loving delving into the business and doing more,” she says. “I plan on being able to make the cidery even better and more far-reaching. Now that I have more time, I can research stuff, I can try new products. I’m making apple cider vinegar, even as we speak. That’s our newest product that’s coming out.”

Other new products on the way: maple syrup and potential new cider varieties. In addition, Korzon says the cidery is creating more reasons to stop and taste the cider: a full summer season of outdoor events, including a Friday night live music series, monthly full moon events, a summer solstice party, and a potential fireworks viewing party from the cidery’s perch overlooking West Bay on the Fourth of July.  

Also bringing hard cider fans to the county is Two K Farms Cidery & Winery in Suttons Bay, which is rolling out new summer-ready drinks in time for the hot months, including “mimosa flights,” which combine several of Two K’s cider varieties with its house-made bubbly Riesling wine, and “cider slushees,” frozen versions of its flagship New World cider.