Today I had the pleasure of my first visit to The Merry Hearted Cidery in Gladwin, MI. They opened in 2016 are are nearing their 10th anniversary. Dan Vannest and his wife Tracey have been tending to the orchard and making cider since taking over the farm. Currently, they have a store is open seasonally from August until the holiday season in addition to the year round tasting room. There is also a bakery. For their tasting room, it’s a cozy spot. They have a bar with multiple tap handles as well as bottle service. Being summer, all the folks who came in while I was there opted to sit outside. There were many picnic tables and seating areas in shady and sunny areas that overlook the orchard. Being in the vicinity of many lakes and vacation homes leads to a steady stream of out-of-towners and repeat visitors.
One thing that really excited me was a comment that Dan made. He said while they do many different flavors on their ciders, all of the flavorings are natural and usually whole fruit. Using concentrates and adjuncts is kept to a minimum and fruit is used as much as possible. The fruit is a combination of stuff grown there at their “Fruitful Orchard” (the name of their U-Pick) and locally sourced fruit, like the strawberries purchased from one of his Amish neighbors. The cider itself is cleanly fermented; nothing tasted off or funky. As far as apples go, they use a lot of Macintosh and Gala (among others) in different proportions depending on what they are going for. They grow the cherries, grapes, and some pears and use all of them for their lineup. I got excited when I saw that Merry Hearted has a perry! Not a pear apple cider, but a perry! It’s made from Bartlett. Jeremy, their guy in the tasting room guided me through many different offerings which included a bourbon barrel aged cider (in Traverse City Whiskey barrels), one made with black raspberries, and a jalapeno infused cider. The Tropical cider (POG) was delicious and smelled like a fruit cup. There were many other offerings that I wanted to try, but since it’s not a long drive, I opted to not run the whole gambit to ensure I was able to safely drive and plan for a return visit.
Currently, they are in the middle of an expansion. The new spaces are being finished with the hopes of a fall opening. With the additional space, they plan on moving the store, bakery, and tasting room. Once they move into the new building, they will have the ability to press longer into the fall and have additional cold storage space for the apple bins in addition to many other expanded benefits. In 2027, they are hoping to add some basic foods without adding a deep fryer. Dan was telling me about a few possibilities for food, but nothing is set currently. Right now, they have food trucks on Saturdays for those who want a bite to eat with their libations. This gives the guests a different option virtually every Saturday! Every flight I saw Jeremy pour while I was there went out with a small bag of oyster crackers but they had some bagged snacks like chips and popcorn available as well.
I really enjoyed my visit to The Merry Hearted Cidery! The ciders were on the sweeter side for the most part, but they didn’t even approach the level of cloying. Many of them fell into the semi-sweet to semi-dry part of the sweetness scale. Having a sweeter cider (although they did have a nice dry one called Heartless) appeals to many different people who come into the tasting room. I didn’t do an official count, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 offerings! If you visit this spot in Gladwin county, you are sure to find a cider that fits your taste…but be sure to watch out for the Amish in their buggies!
