All Over Albany

Nine Pin Cider Works tasting room opening soon

Nine Pin Cider Works -- the startup cidery in North Albany -- has been granted the first farm cidery license in the state, the Cuomo admin announced today.

One of the big payoffs to being granted the license: Nine Pin can operate a tasting room at its building on Broadway. Owner Alejandro del Peral told us today that they're planning to open the tasting room February 28.

Like the farm brewery and farm distillery licenses, the farm cidery license grants a range of rights if the operation primarily uses agricultural products from New York State (all of Nine Pin's apples come from right here in the greater Capital Region). In addition being allowed to offer tastings, a cidery can also sell not only its own product directly to consumers, but also beer and wine made from New York products along with small food items and gifts.

The cider business is on the upswing in New York. There are now 23 producers in the state, up from 5 in 2011, according to the Cuomo admin. It's good business fit here -- New York is the nation's second largest producer of apples.

Nine Pin started setting up in North Albany this past summer ahead of the fall apple crop. When we stopped in this past January, it was making the final preparations for the launch of its flagship product, an off-dry cider.