SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -
If you like to sip cider in the fall, expect to pay more for that pleasure.
An early, warm spring followed by a late fall was a disaster for orchards west of the Champlain Valley. Places like Michigan, Ontario and western New York lost up to 90 percent of their crops. Which means companies who relied on those apples are looking further east to buy their cider apples -- and that includes Vermont. Local cider producers are now also having to pay more for their local apples.
"While the apple growers are loyal to people who have been taking from them for 35 years, like us, they still want to get the highest price they can for their apples so because the rest of the country is having a disaster everybody wants apples being grown in the Champlain Valley, so the price is being driven up by demand," said Paul Brown with the Cold Hollow Cider Mill.
It takes 12 pounds of apples to make one gallon of cider. Last year Cold Hollow cider was selling for about 4.50 cents a gallon. This year you can expect to pay more than 7 dollars a gallon.
