One on One – An interview with Jennifer Seiwald – Summit Hard Cider and Scrumpy’s Hard Cider Bar

Each month, BizWest asks a business leader to respond to questions regarding his or her industry and the issues that it faces. This month, Jennifer Seiwald, founder and managing member of Summit Hard Cider and Perry Co. LLC, DBA Scrumpy’s, located in Fort Collins, talks about the hard cider industry.

BizWest: Tell us about the origins of your company, and what is Perry anyway?

Jennifer Seiwald: All of my business endeavours have led me to running a cidery in historic Old Town Fort Collins. I began my career in restaurant management. I moved to fabulous Fort Collins to open my own sandwich shop, Summit Subs, and successfully sold it after five years. I wanted to open 10 of them but my husband suggested that I go into banking so that we could have more free time together. I loved banking and over the next 20 years, I worked as banker, stockbroker, financial planner and mortgage lender. These experiences taught me a lot about the business world by meeting a wide variety of people, analyzing tax returns, reviewing debt, and listening to clients’ life goals and plans. When the housing crisis arrived, I had already started taking science classes ranging from anatomy and physiology to organic chemistry. I had thought about going into the medical field but I knew in my heart it wasn’t quite the right path. I craved a creative outlet. Being mildly allergic to hops, I was drinking more hard cider without even realizing it. One night when we were out having a great, locally produced beer, I had an epiphany moment and realized that no one was making hard cider in Fort Collins, the land of adventurous drinkers. I went home that night, found a cider school, got on the wait list, and the rest is history. Without the restaurant, financial, sales, and chemistry experience, I would still be sitting in an office instead of shaking trees!

Perry is a fermented alcoholic beverage made out of pears. They are one of my favorites but take a lot of TLC to produce. I am making my first commercial Perry right now. It should be out in limited quantities in about six months and is made from all Colorado pears.

BW: You were recently in Palisade juicing peaches and pears. Are all your ingredients locally sourced or sourced in the state?

Seiwald: Colorado is a harsh mistress, especially when it comes to agriculture. I use as much Colorado produce and herbs in my cider as I can. Much like our historic state economy, we have boom and bust years. This year is huge. Last year was terrible.

I actually run three businesses: Scrumpy’s, Summit Hard Cider, and Summit Mobile Juicing.

Scrumpy’s is the taproom side of things. We have 49 taps pouring our own cider, other ciders from around the world, beer, wine, and spirits. We also serve sandwiches and appetizers, inspired my previous life owning Summit Subs.

Summit Hard Cider and Perry Co. is the heart and soul of it all. We produce all of our cider right here in Fort Collins in the back of Scrumpy’s, putting it in kegs, bottles, and cans, which are in over 100 Front Range locations, with more to come.

Summit Mobile Juicing is the result of a USDA grant that allowed us to buy a mobile juicing trailer. This year we have juiced over 400,000 pounds of Colorado fruit, including peaches, pears, plums, grapes, and apples. Most of this fruit was perfectly delicious but a little too blemished for the grocery store and would have otherwise ended up in the landfill or simply fallen on the ground. Ugly fruit makes great juice. We have utilized this fruit in our production, sold it to other cideries, wineries, breweries and distilleries as well as making boxes of pasteurized,non-alcoholic peach juice and apple cider that local growers can sell year round at farmer’s markets and fruit stands. There is an enormous amount of fruit that goes to waste in Colorado. Part of our mission is to reduce this waste and support local agriculture.

In October, we are heading to the southern part of our state where there are over 5 million pounds of apples that are only suitable for juice and are going to waste. We are going to juice like crazy for ourselves and several other Colorado Hard Cider producers. We are also in the process of setting up a GoFundMe project called “Cider for the Holidays” that will allow us to pay orchard owners for their fruit, hire pickers, juice the apples, and put it in five liter pasteurized boxes. These boxes of non-alcoholic, sweet cider will be donated to Food Banks and other similar organizations.

BW: To what do you attribute the growing popularity of hard ciders?

Seiwald: Cider is a surprisingly multifaceted beverage. I attribute its explosive growth to any number of the following:

First of all, it is tasty! Its an alternative to beer, gluten free, and infinitely quaffable.

It is often made from local apples, showcasing the terroir of the region.

Formal styles and rules aren’t established, so cider makers are free to experiment with all the flavors and combinations they can dream up.

Cider is an American tradition. Johnny Appleseed wasn’t planting apple trees so the masses could make pie, if you know what I’m saying. Our founding fathers drank cider, not beer. Like wine, cider pairs well with food.

Cider makers can create a wide range of product, from the expected sweet cider to the dry, champagne-esque cider. As Americans experience more cider, their tastes are growing and maturing from the sweet to the semi-dry and dry. The craft cider makers are happy to meet this need.

BW: What careers are available in your industry?

Seiwald: The cider industry is booming, akin to the craft beer business of 20 years ago. There are many positions available in sales, marketing, fermentation and the thing we spend the most time on, by far: cleaning. Running a cidery sounds like a romantic notion, and it is, but sanitation rules our life. With the boom in craft cider, there will also be a change on the agricultural side. Orchards need to plant different varieties of apples for the craft cider industry. While we use as much local produce as we can, there are apple varieties that we crave that are currently unavailable in large quantities.

BW: What advice would give to a young person looking to start a business of his or her own?

Seiwald: Take lots of math, science, and accounting classes. It is very helpful to have a strong background in chemistry in this industry. Enroll in fermentation science programs, but also make sure that you get plenty of practical experience. This comes from home fermenting/brewing, or from working at a cidery. It is also critically important when seeking a job to have mechanical aptitude and knowledge of industry specific equipment.

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