Mix 104.3's Local Love this week is about how Charles Talbott got his start making hard cider at Talbott's in Palisade and his inspiration behind the flavors.

The Talbott family has been in the Grand Valley since 1907 and has been farming for six generations. Talbott's was the first company to break away from the fruit co-op and start doing their own thing. He says all of the Talbott kids worked on the farm starting when they were about 12 until they decided to quit.

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Charles enlisted in the Marines when he was 18 and then came back and started working for his family again. He started Talbott's Hard Cider in September of 2015. Charles was inspired to make hard cider after he'd been making beer in the barracks as well as working on his family's farm.

He says there's a lot of similarities when it comes to making wine and hard cider. Bruce Talbott, Charles's dad, made homemade wine but according to Charles, it was terrible and influenced them to move toward making hard cider. Part of what sets Talbott's apart is that they use different brewing techniques and beer strains of yeast.

To determine the flavors of their cider, they looked at what was trending in the craft cider industry. He says there's so many cider companies making ciders that are just too sweet. Charles says they use more of a traditional less sweet cider taste, throw some craft beer love and some fun and experimentation to create their flavors. As far as naming their different cider, they drink them as they're coming up with the names.

Talbott's Cider is the first hard cider company to collab with a major brewing company, Breckenridge Brewing. They made an American apple blonde, called Colorado Core.

Talbott's has been remodeling their tap room and they're is doing a reopening this Friday. They've been remodeling it and making it more efficient for their bartender and making sure that when you come in, you feel like family. They'll have plenty of cider and wine on tap to celebrate.

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