Marks milestone with new Cherry Smackintosh
Tandem Ciders, which has been making ciders with local fruit since 2008, is about to release it’s first seasonal canned cider of the year.
Tandem Ciders in Suttons Bay recently canned its one millionth can since moving into its new building, according to owner Dan Young.
The milestone can happened to come off the line during a run of the company’s new Cherry Smackintosh, a cherry take on Tandem’s top- selling Smackintosh cider.
Young said the moment was caught by a team member.
“Bert’s like this thing’s gonna kick over into a million,” Young said. “JP grabbed the can and took a picture of it.”
Young said the total count of cans produced is likely higher than a million, since the mark reflects only output from the company’s newer canner, purchased in 2021. The older canning equipment it replaced also produced an unknown number of cans over the years that will always be a mystery.
“We are excited that our canner has done a million cans and it’s still cranking them out with no problems,” Young said. “It’s kind of a random milestone in some ways, but it also just makes us feel good... we’re continuing to sell cider, business is doing great.”
Young said the new canner, purchased around 2021, has already paid for itself compared to the company’s previous equipment.
In 2022, Tandem Ciders acquired a production facility in Elmwood Township that can produce upwards of 2,000 boxes (24x16oz cans). Tandem Cider’s new production gives legitimacy to its expansion desires in markets including Traverse City, Leelanau County, west Michigan, southeast Michigan, while breaking into the cider hungry Chicago, Illinois market.
The new Cherry Smackintosh blends Tandem’s standard Mackintosh apple blend with Balaton and Montmorency cherry juice, giving the cider a pinkreddish color and fruity flavor while keeping the sweetness of the original.
“It’s got a nice cherry flavor and beautiful, pink, reddish color,” Young said.
Young said the cherry release was timed to coincide with cherry season and the National Cherry Festival, and follows years of experimentation with cherry-based products, including a cherry jam cider.
“We’ve all over … Five, six, seven years, we’ve been doing Cherry Jam cider,” Young said. “But this year we figured, Smackintosh is our big name, people know it, and we figured we’d just do a cherry version of that.”
On reaching the million-can mark, Young said it’s a source of pride for the team.
“Compared to our old machine, this machine has been so nice,” Young said. “And it’s still relatively small, but for us, it’s cranking out the ciders. We love it.”
Beyond the new release, Tandem has also introduced live music at its tasting room this summer, with performances on Sundays and other days during the week.
Looking ahead, Young said the team is already eyeing this year’s apple crop for future blends.
“The apples look good this year, we’re already scheming for some different apples that we can get this year to try some new blends,” Young said.“And then continue to make our three standards that we always have.”
