By Emily Haerter
In the fall season, apples drop off trees almost as fast as the autumn leaves. Many folks don’t know what to do with the abundance, but this wasn’t the case for cider-making connoisseur Ben Nielsen, founder of Lassen Traditional Cider here in Chico. Nielsen started his journey to fermenting apples early on, and in the year 2005 he decided not to waste his neighbors’ plenitude of fruit that fell in his backyard.
Nielsen previously worked as an engineer, though his love for creating and fermenting pushed him in a new direction after he was laid off back in 2014. After spending a winter skiing and contemplating, Nielson started down the path of making a high quality, traditional-style cider.
For years Nielsen had only drunk his own attempts at the ancient beverage. His decision to develop a company came after noticing the lack of “real cider” lining store shelves, as well as his realization that he genuinely enjoyed the making and tasting of his own experiments. Now, Nielsen describes his cider house as his “happy place.” The inspiration to name it ‘Lassen’ came from back country skiing, despite being located in Chico.
During an interview with CN&R, Nielsen dove into his appreciation for the complex process it takes to produce bottles of hard cider. Instead of receiving trucks of apples from across the United States, Nielsen travels across Northern California picking his own. He says being an orchard-based cidery leads to maximum freshness and creates regional specialties in every bottle.
Lassen Traditional Cider only makes its products seasonally when “the apples are at their peak of ripeness.” Its ciders are then allowed to ferment and age in neutral wine barrels.
Additionally, Nielsen uses wild-fermentation procedures instead of commercial-fermenting, which means he doesn’t add any sulfites or pesticides in his product. He also doesn’t add any sugar to the apples — the sweetness in the cider is from the apples alone.
“You get a lot more complexity, you lose a little bit of consistency that way, but you get a more unique product,” Nielsen explained. “The yeast sediment at the bottom of each bottle makes the cider a living product, similar to kombucha.”
According to the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, or ABC, Lassen Traditional Cider is technically classified as a winery. Funny enough, the process for cider-making is very similar to the process of making white wine, insomuch as it involves “pressing the fruit and fermenting the juice,” as Nielsen points out.
Monikah Niemczynowicz, a friend and occasional marketing consultant with Lassen Traditional Cider, admires Nielsen for his values around good cider and community. About five years ago, Niemczynowicz decided to travel to Chico from Santa Barbara for a cider tasting at Nielsen’s operation.
As a wine enthusiast, she mentioned that before she tasted the Lassen cider, she disliked the taste of hard cider due to its overly sweet flavor. But Nielsen’s work made Niemczynowicz come to the realization that maybe it wasn’t all hard cider that didn’t sit well with her, just many of the bottles currently lining store shelves on the West Coast.
“It’s really unique in flavor compared to anything else I’ve ever tried,” she notes of Lassen cider. “I like dry cider, but it’s not that easy to find. There is so much cider out there that is sweet and soda pop-y.”
Niemczynowicz quickly made Lassen Traditional Cider her own quiet reading spot to sip on a brew and take in the scenery.
She acknowledges it isn’t so quiet anymore. New fans are catching on to its menu that’s full of bottles with names like Wombat Flats and Eve’s Forbidden Fruit Pomegranate.
“That cider is very special, it is delicious and each one of those ciders that he makes is a blend or a single varietal that he gets from an orchard,” Niemczynowicz observes.
Nielsen is working currently on smaller product batches, with a recent customer favorite being a Honey Mead. He’s also just whipped up a Pommeau Wine, which uses fully ripe Granny Smith apples from Noble Orchards in Paradise, which are pressed and fermented with native yeast then distilled by Golden Beaver Distillery in Chico. The end product is a brandy that’s blended with fresh Newtown Pippin heirloom apple juice and local wildflower honey that’s aged in bourbon barrels. Niemczynowicz helped Nielsen bottle this new gem. Fans of the cidery say such creations highlight Nielsen’s thoughtfulness in every part of the drinking experience, from the foamy first sip to the last drop of sediment at the bottom.
Eric Rogers, a friend of Nielson’s for 7 years, adores these products and the work ethic that’s gone into them.
“I really admired that he had left a career in Engineering to pursue cider making, which is clearly his passion,” Rogers mused.
Just like Niemczynowicz, Rogers wasn’t an enormous hard cider fan until he tasted Nielsen’s touch with it. He especially likes the endless stream of apple blends and varieties that Nielsen uses – some of his blends have dozens of different apples packed into a singular cider.
“With so many options, there is a nearly endless list of cider variations that can be created,” Rogers reflects. “While Ben does have a few flagship recipes, he also does a great job of creating several new options every year.”
Rogers has ultimately become an investor in Lassen Traditional Cider now.
“My advice to anyone who thinks they have tried cider and don’t like it, is to come into Lassen Traditional Cider and do a tasting,” he suggests. “Just like I was, I am sure they will be pleasantly surprised.”
Nielsen continues to find new ways of building up and supporting his community. One of those has been to team up with co-owner of Turkeytail Farms, Samantha Zangrilli, in order to throw festive markets at the cidery every month.
Zangrilli deals with every aspect of planning these markets, as well as their funding so that participating shops don’t have to stress about it.
“It was an opportunity to give those local small businesses an outlet to sell their wares and share their offerings,” Zangrilli says.
A resident of Chico for 20 years, Zangrilli encourages any aspiring businesses with hand-made products or crafts to reach out via the market’s contact page (website).
“We advocate for locally handmade and thoughtfully sourced products,” she notes. “We want to promote makers and their vision.”
The kind of vision that is going strong at Lassen Traditional Cider.
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