Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/589641
36 | NOVEMBER 2015 nshoremag.com If Downeast Cider House feels like it's run by a bunch of 20-some- things, that's because it is. There's music blasting over the din of the canning operation, rolling papers and pint glasses for sale, and a huge American flag crafted out of empty cider cans hanging on the wall. On the canning line, the words "Brady Wins" are being printed on the bot- toms of cans in black block letters alongside the cider's expiration date, a triumphant nod to die-hard, Deflategate-weary Patriots fans. Ross Brockman walks around talk- ing to his fellow craft hard cider enthusiast coworkers with a head full of rumpled hair, wearing a Though located in Charlestown, the guys behind Downeast Cider are distributing all over the North Shore. photographs by Michael Basu BY ALEXANDRA PECCI A burgeoning cider house is making a sweet splash in New England. Seasonal Cider worn-looking bright green Downe- ast Cider T-shirt. "My wardrobe is about 20 of these things in different colors," he says. Brockman is the cider house's 27-year-old co-founder and co-own- er. But he's not the kind of guy—and Downeast Cider isn't the kind of business—that's all about marketing and branding and logos. "This is what matters," he says, gesturing toward the 4,100-gallon tanks of cider that fill the Charles- town production facility. "We're trying to make good cider and make it available to everyone." For the folks at Downeast Cider House, "good cider" starts with fresh- pressed apples from local orchards. Downeast Cider's signature product