Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 7 50 Many growers were locals but the scent of big profits lured inves- tors from the east. Large inexpensive tracts of land were purchased and resold to naïve buyers at prices reaching $1,000 an acre. Pro- spective buyers were treated like royalty when they arrived in town with a personal tour of the orchards and luxury accommodations at Frank Lloyd Wright's Bitter Root Inn. Wads of cash were plopped down, local hands were hired to tend to the orchards and buyers hurried back home, never again setting foot in the valley. As with many booms comes the bust. Orchards in Washington and Oregon started to flourish as growers found methods to sell apples more efficiently and at lower rates than Bitterroot growers. Events of biblical proportions, drought, disease, insect invasions, came together to add to the apple's fall. Growers attempted to form a cooperative as a last ditch effort but personal disputes and lack of direction caused the budding co-op to fail. Local farmers lost a significant share of their income and absent owners lost life savings. Today the apple is reclaiming its glory in the Bitterroot Valley through a few individuals who have found a way to bring the apple back by transforming this versatile fruit into glasses of delectable hard cider. Years ago the McIntosh dominated the market but these growers and producers are experimenting with whimsical varieties such as Porter's Perfection and Cox's Orange Pippin to give each batch a unique flavor. Take a tour of the valley's cideries and you will find history in every glass. MONTANA CIDERWORKS "Respect the apple" is Lee McAlpine's motto and that respect shows as she takes you on a tour of her impressive cider operation. McAlpine started making cider in her basement 17 years ago. Over time she has perfected her craft and has won numerous awards, such as the gold medal at England's Royal Bath & West Show and Best Small Cidery at Portland's International Cider Cup Competition. All of these accolades begin among McAlpine's four acres of apple trees outside of Darby. Her trees are strictly hard cider fruit trees with primarily bittersweet varieties such as Yarlington Mill and Kingston Black. "e Kingston Black is the only apple considered by the English that makes a good single varietal," says McAlpine. McAlpine is a one-woman operation in that she grows the apples, ferments the cider, and fills roughly 1,000 bottles each sea- son largely on her own. But she also seeks to support other growers in the valley. "My goal is to grow at least 50% of my apples and use 50% of other peoples' apples so they can have a market for their less than perfect fruit," she says. Montana Ciderworks offers three mainstays, North Fork Traditional, Darby Pub, and McIntosh, plus one small batch that allows McAlpine to bring out the flavor profile of a different apple every year. is year she aged Dolgo Crabapple in oak barrels. Her flagship, North Fork Traditional, is a semi-dry cider with hints of wood, grass, and smoke, which McAlpine recommends "après lawn mowing." of the A PPLE TREES EXPERIENCED A BOOM IN BITTERROOT VALLEY IN THE EARLY 1900S. e mild climate and rich soils produced bumper crops of unspoiled fruit. About 720,000 apple trees blanketed the valley in 1920, the result of rampant planting by farmers and spending by investors, everyone hoping to find wealth in the humble fruit. Truckloads were shipped across the nation. The apple trees at Montana Ciderworks have a spectacular view by SUSIE WALL T as t e A pp l e C i ders B itt e rr o o t V a ll ey

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