Cold Hollow Cider Mill, a year-round destination

Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury Center, VT, boasts the Café at Cold Hollow, a store, a bakery, an online store, wholesale purchasing and more. It is also a popular Mother’s Day destination.

“Many locals take advantage of the mill’s unique offerings for special occasion and holiday shopping,” said owner Dan Snyder.

“On average, we make about 18,000 gallons of cider a week, even in April,” he said. He purchased the cider mill in October 2022. “When we move into the harvest season, we average 35,000 gallons a week.”

They do a lot of cider education. “Most customers locally and regionally know that apple cider can be made year-round because many modern apples store so well.”

Most of their apples come from within a radius of 100 miles of their facility, where the orchards’ owners keep their apples and fruit in their own cold storage so the mill doesn’t have to provide it. The orchards sell their fruit as part of a cooperative or on their own.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill’s distributor partner, Farrell Distribution, distributes their cider to restaurants and stores throughout Vermont.

The staple base of their cider is roughly 75% Macintosh apples, a New England favorite. “Twenty-five percent is sweet fruit – for example, Gala, Fuji or Honeycrisp,” said Snyder. The apples are inherently sweet, so the cider doesn’t need to be sweetened.

They offer tours of the cider making for pre-booked groups. The cider is made on a 1940s rack and cloth hand-worked press. “We press based on industry demand, so it is less like Disneyland and more based on needs of a small business fulfilling orders. It’s a 48-inch rack and cloth cider press. It makes a unique virgin juice, just cider from the apple,” Snyder explained.

Though the cider mill is open year-round, peak tourist season is July through October. “The peak travel is the third week of September through October – fall foliage,” said Snyder. But it has plenty to offer all year long.

The mill was started in 1974. Snyder is its third owner. The restaurant, store, bakery, wholesale business and cider mill are housed within a 19th century farmhouse and historic barn on 16 acres.

They started making hard cider in 2015, for sale out of the Café at Cold Hollow. In 2024, they started selling it wholesale. The same distributor that moves their cider to stores and businesses now distributes their hard cider.

All year long, customers can enjoy an afternoon tasting the four hard ciders that Cold Hollow Cider Mill offers – Semi Sweet, Extra Dry, Citra Hopped and Hibiscus Ginger – and eating specialty treats. They also offer specialty non-alcoholic cider, such as Cold Hollow Sparking Strawberry Lemonade.

The number of employees waxes and wanes with the seasons. Out of peak season there are under 40 employees; in peak season, 50 to 60.

“One of our major attractions 12 months of the year are our legendary cider donuts,” Snyder said. Customers can buy the cider donuts throughout the year in the online store – with the caveat that they must be shipped express.

“Fifty percent of the products in our online store are made here in our bakery,” said Snyder.

In the online store, customers can buy an array of specialty items including Cold Hollow Sparkling Cider, Cold Hollow Maple Horseradish and Vermont Maple Nut Crumble.

The online store also supports other Vermont businesses by offering Vermont Farmstead cheeses or Vermont Hard Cheddar Cheese made by Grafton Cheese Company, or Barre, VT’s Butterfly Bakery Header Topper Mustard.

They sell quintessential Vermont pairings of cheese and maple syrup online and in the store. They offer a wide variety of inspired gift packs for teachers, stadium snack gift packs, Thanksgiving gift packs, apiary samplers and self-care gift packs with bag balm, Elmore Mountain Lavender Lotion and soap and a candle.

There’s a little bit of Vermont in every bite and scent. It’s almost like walking in the pine-scented mountains or sitting at the Café at Cold Hollow, sipping on cider and munching on a legendary donut.

For more information access ColdHollow.com.

by Laura Rodley