20th-century American ciders were sweet, syrupy - a far cry from the dry, crisp, revolution-inciting ciders of our country's past.

In 1996, Gidon Coll wanted to reconnect America to its roots by creating a traditional cider with the complexity to satisfy today’s discriminating palates.

But where to begin? 

Coll immersed himself in the history and the craft of cider. He fermented batch after batch in a small upstate New York winery. A wide-range of heirloom apples varieties were tasted and tested. He sought counsel from a local wine expert and from the owners, bartenders and patrons of bars he frequented in New York City’s Lower East Side and East Village. He collected feedback from everyone he knew, adjusting and tinkering with his cider until it was clean, crisp, and practically perfect.  Then he enlisted friends to painstakingly hand-label bottle after bottle. He lugged cases and cases in and out of NYC's subways, delivering bottles to establishments in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Soon OS was being stocked in New York bars and music venues such as Raven Cafe, CBGB’s, Don Hills and Rudy’s.

And it wasn’t long before Original Sin began receiving wide acclaim from sources as diverse as The New York Times, New York Post, Paper Magazine and Market Watch.

Today, you can find Original Sin's unique, award-winning ciders in over 28 states, as well as overseas. But it all started here in New York — inspired by our country’s past: a clean, crisp, DEVILISHLY DELICIOUS cider for our future.

The United States has an impressive history of hard cider production and consumption. Hard cider was the drink of choice during the early days of our republic. In fact, cider was more popular than beer in America until the mid-1850’s!

Many of our Founding Fathers were both apple growers and hard cider makers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Cider was known as the drink of the common citizen, so much so that in 1840, the Whig Party Presidential Candidate William Harrison had ample amounts of hard cider available at campaign rallies to garner popular support. (Not a bad idea, if you ask us).

Unfortunately, the Temperance Movement was not kind to cider. Post-Prohibition, U.S. hard cider culture had all but disappeared.

In the past quarter of a century, the interest in hard cider in America has come full circle. We are proud as a company to have witnessed this reemergence. When we went bar to bar in New York City in late 1990’s, there was limited knowledge or enthusiasm for cider as a category. Over the years, this has clearly changed.

One turning point in the U.S. cider industry came with the formation of the United States National Cider Association in 2011. Original Sin was one of approximately 40 attendees of that first association meeting held in Salem, OR. That meeting consisted of a unique mix of cider makers and orchardists coming together with the hope of unifying our efforts to move the industry forward. Through the years, this national cider conference has grown steadily. Today, the United States Cider Association Conference attracts over 1,000 attendees each year. With the growth in knowledge base, diversity in thought and creativity of our industry, the future of American cider culture could not look brighter.