Photos by L.G. Patterson

The fall season has always been a celebration in my family. We welcome hoodie weather with annual campouts every October. For the past 41 years, our folks and friends have come together, shared stories of the summer and made plans for the holidays over potluck, music and campfires. Crafting a beverage for these occasions is one of my greatest joys.

This year at Waves Cider, we put together the perfect fall sipper in our Golden Cider. It features a full body with a sweeter finish and softer acid profile than our other offerings. The use of a white wine yeast during fermentation brings notes of candy apple, honey and ripe fruit. This makes it a great complement to the season’s bounty and fits in effortlessly at get-togethers, whether that be the Thanksgiving table, football tailgates or huddled around a campfire sharing stories, scary or not.

For those that prefer a dry white wine, our Dry Cider is a great substitute for a chardonnay. It is a quintessentially-Missouri fall orchard in a glass, with notes of green apple, fresh-cut grass and limestone. For the last four years, we have sourced apples for Dry Cider from orchards found along the Missouri River.

We started Waves in 2020 to offer a gluten-free product line that would complement our portfolio at Logboat Brewing Company. Our approach has been to create balanced flavor profiles with high drinkability. In 2022, we completed the planting of our two-acre orchard. This summer, 200 heirloom apple and pear varieties suited primarily for cider production have begun to bear fruit. This brings a taste of Boone County terroir to our lineup in 2027.

Josh Rein is the head brewer at Logboat Brewing Company and the head cider maker at Waves Cider.