I popped into the Farmstead Ciderhouse at the end of a long hot day of bottling and packaging a new release, but co-owner Ian McGregor was kind enough to show me around. Their two-story space is in a small retail park just south of Jackson, Wyoming and down below is where all the hard work of pressing, fermenting and bottling happens and upstairs they have a really nice tasting room featuring local artwork. Unfortunately, they got to use this space only briefly before COVID put a halt to their tasting room plans, and for now they are using it as an extra workspace to focus on shipping their ciders out. On the backside of the tasting room is a deck with an incredible view of the Snake River valley, just south of the Tetons, where they source most of their apples. When they are able to fully reopen it will be a wonderful space to come and try some Rocky Mountain cider. In the meantime, their next-door neighbors, The Bird pub, share the killer view and serve Farmstead on tap so you can try it out.

What is great about Ian and Orion is that they are just two local guys with a passion for the land, the community, and making responsible cider. They don’t have a fancy orchard, instead they work with local residents and forage for apples that would otherwise be wasted—or even attract bears which was a problem they wanted to help solve. As of right now they have not experimented with adding a bunch of ingredients, but instead have just focused on trying new fermenting, blending and bottling techniques in order to let their local apples shine. In the end they are just two really great guys who I wish all the best in their future cider making endeavors. If you are ever staying in Jackson or are on your way to the Tetons or Yellowstone, make sure you check these guys out to see what they’ve got going.