Orchard Hill Cider Mill

Specialties

Orchard Hill Cider Mill and Tasting Room features our own bottle conditioned, extra dry hard cider that was recently chosen by Wine Enthusiast as one of the top ciders to taste. We also feature award winning, hand crafted spirits, wine and craft beer from our neighbors in the Hudson Valley and around New York State. We offer tastings on our ciders, and other products including great bourbons, whiskeys, applejack, moonshine, vodkas, rums, gins, brandies, liqueurs, and even Absinthe. Our knowledgeable and fun staff can guide you on a tasting of all the best that New York has to offer, and help you come up with great cocktail and gift ideas. provide an alternative to the homogenized «big beer producer» style of cider that is most widely available today. Our ciders are made with a minimum of manipulation and intervention. We respect traditional techniques and the natural expressiveness of our fruit, while not copying old world styles. We offer a new look at an American classic.

History

Established in 2013.

Born of a collaboration between Jeffrey Soons, Andrew Emig, and Carolyn duHoffmann, Orchard Hill has a unique pedigree. Jeffrey harbored dreams of reviving the great American tradition of making hard cider, an agricultural legacy practiced by our founding fathers that had been widely destroyed by Prohibition and hampered from revival by post repeal legal restrictions. Jeffrey’s mother Sandy Soons had attempted to make hard cider years before only to be rejected by the regulatory authorities of the time. Meanwhile, Andrew Emig, a business consultant and Karl duHoffmann, a spirits and wine industry professional had been exploring the idea of opening a distillery specializing in apple distillates. While distilling brandy from Soons’ apples at Tuthilltown Spirits in Gardiner, NY, they approached Jeff with the idea of opening Orchard Hill to produce hard cider made from apples grown at Soons Orchards. After much planning and effort, Orchard Hill Cider Mill opened in September, 2013.

Meet the Manager

Donnan S.

Manager

Donnan is manager, host, head bartender and general advice-​giver at Orchard Hill’s Tasting and Sales Room.