When we bought the house it already had a small, established (tho somewhat neglected) orchard. We knew that several of the trees were incredibly productive, so I thought I'd try my hand at cider making. We treated ourselves to a press and crusher from a local maker and I spent quite a bit of the autumn picking, washing and crushing apples. The resulting juice all started bubbling away quite nicely and I was quite optimistic but when I tried it just before Xmas is was undrinkable. I almost poured it away in disgust but got distracted, kept forgetting about it and got lazy and never did. Boy, am I glad I didn't. On a whim I thought I'd try some last night; it's absolutely corking, as good as a lot of cider I've bought at country fairs and the like. And strong to boot, I could feel my lips going numb after the 1st glass. I now have approx 120 or so pints to get through.
However, as a consequence, I am feeling a tad delicate this morning...
I may look into expanding my operation and maybe selling it.