While our young orchard grows, we have looked to the well-established “local orchard” dispersed among homesteads and backyards of the Gallatin Valley. In the fall of 2019, we began accepting extra apples from the backyard trees of the Gallatin Valley in exchange for cider (1 cider for every 25 lbs of apples).
We press and craft these neighborhood apples into a specialty local hard cider, the “Bozeman Backyard Blend”. This delightful cider, made from a diverse blend of hardy local crabapple and heirloom varieties captures the majestic flavor and community spirit of our beautiful Big Sky Country!
We have been joyfully overwhelmed with the positive response from our community. Together, we have collected nearly 40,000 lbs of local apples. We owe this success to the uniquely Montana enthusiasm for local craft beverages, community, and giving back.
This delicious community cider turns fruit that would otherwise go to waste into a delicious cider that gives back. 10% of sales benefit local non-profits: Zoe Care, Gallatin Watershed Council, and the Montana Wilderness School. WIN-WIN-WIN!
Bring your extra backyard apples, crabapples, and pears to the Cider House beginning Friday, September 27th, 2024. We’ll trade you a pint of cider for every 25# of fruit and will craft them into our legendary Bozeman Backyard Blend Cider.
Apples are ripe when you can gently pull up on the apple and the stem breaks easily from the branch. It’s best to leave fruit on the tree to ripen, but if bears are getting into them or they are falling to the ground, you can pick earlier and store in a cool dark place. We can take apples with bumps, bruises, and wormholes but please no mold, mush, sticks or lawn clippings please.
If you have more fruit than you can pick on your own, let us know and we’ll do our best to help.
Backyard Blend – Lockhorn Cider Turns Unwanted Apples into Cider – Bozeman Daily Chronicle 2019
Better Together – Outside Bozeman 2019
Bozeman Backyard Blend is Underway – KTVA 2021
Apples to cider: Lockhorn Hard Cider turns unwanted apples into specialty batch – Bozeman Daily Chronicle 2021
Backyard Harvest: Cidery’s ‘Backyard Blend’ to benefit local non-profits, Belgrade Orchestra – Bozeman Daily Chronicle 2023
Belgrade Orchestra to perform on D-Day Anniversary in Normandy – Belgrade News 2023
