I think it was Summer , and my wife had taken a message from some guy called Jakob living near Freiburg who wanted to come by to buy some cider and have a chat. It not that near, so I think he was passing by.
I never got down to Freiburg, but three years later I was thinking the guy with the crutch at a booth in the corner of the expo space at CiderWorld looked very familiar. So I ordered a mixed box to have a proper tasting on my own, or with the neighbours if I was feeling generous, and set to quizzing Jakob about his cidermaking activities. I am happy to be interviewed! CR: A question I like to ask all my interviewees, how did you fall into the cider trap?
JH: I never actually intended to become a cider maker, but over the course of the last 5 years, one step followed the other and eventually, I guess I became one. I grew up with apple trees, actually not around Freiburg, but in Upper Bavaria Rosenheim at the fringe of the alps. This region is famous in Bavaria for traditionally growing fruit apples, pears and plums mainly in form of high-stem standard tree orchards, with cows grazing underneath.
The traditional apple varieties serve multiple purposes, such as fresh eating, storage over winter, making juice, cakes and Kompott apple sauce , or Schnaps. Most is known there, but not quite famous as Bavarian beer is quite good if not the best and quite affordable. In the past, the fruits have been used more for making schnapps. Since a young age, I was also fascinated by fermentation and all things bubbling.
So, I started brewing beer at the age of 14, based on a recipe I found in a Viking cooking book in Norway. Eventually I took some fresh juice and made Most out of it, probably at the age of Through my skills in homebrewing, I managed to bottle ferment it and produce cider, resembling farmhouse style. I came to Freiburg for studies and stayed there, starting a family. I participated in a professional fruit tree pruning formation and pruned fruit trees in the region for a couple of years, realizing the devastating state of a lot of older orchard trees.
