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VPR Cafe: Hard Cider At Flag Hill Farm

Flag Hill Farm owners, Sabra Ewing and Sebastian Lousada, have been making hard ciders since long before the beverage's recent wave of popularity.
Melissa Pasanen, courtesy
Flag Hill Farm owners, Sabra Ewing and Sebastian Lousada, have been making hard ciders since long before the beverage's recent wave of popularity.

Hard cider has become increasingly popular in Vermont with the advent of many new makers in recent years. But reach back a few decades and you'll find some of the state's earlier producers, including Flag Hill Farm in Vershire.

At their homestead perched on top of a mountain, Sabra Ewing and Sebastian Lousada havest more than 80 varieties of apples (and some pears) for their organic Flag Hill Farm hard ciders and brandies they make on-site. The hard cider market has come a long way since they started in the mid-1990's and, as Vermont Life food editor, Melissa Pasanen, explains in this podcast, Ewing and Lousada didn't originally plan on becoming cider makers back then.

Listen in to hear how a book by Pulitzer prize-winning novelist, Annie Proulx, led the pair down the path of cider making, how they met and what their initial business venture was at the farm.

The VPR Cafe is made possible with support from Bistro de Margot in Burlington. A chef-owned restaurant offering modern, French cuisine in a casual atmosphere.

Ric was a producer for Vermont Edition and host of the VPR Cafe.
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