Though the “Reverend” part is slightly tongue-in- cheek, Nat West is absolutely serious about spreading the gospel about hard cider.
It all started in 2004 with an unknown variety of apple being grown in a neighbor’s yard, a bountiful harvest, and a cider experiment in the basement. He has never looked back. West says cider is “the apple’s deepest purpose realized,” and has spent the intervening years experimenting, perfecting and educating people about its many glories.
A craft beer enthusiast in a city full of craft beer enthusiasts, West experimented with beer yeasts and different kinds of fermentations and now uses beer yeasts almost exclusively, setting his apart from the other ciders being made. He says that sometimes a knowledgeable beer drinker or maker will try his cider and say ‘isn’t that…?’ naming the precise yeast he’s used. West is happy when that happens, a sign that others are picking up on the uniqueness of his product. He has found that talking about cider is indeed much the same as talking about beer; the two are closely aligned on people’s palates, which is why an increasing number of bars and taverns have a hard cider on tap or in bottles along with their beers. “It’s cool to drink cider in a beer bar, now,” says West.