— Elise had the idea to stop at Chatham Brewing when we were done with the our cider doughnut tour, so we stopped back home to pick up a couple of growlers and then made our way to the third stop, Goold Orchards.

Now we almost didn’t make it to Goold’s. There was a bit of a blowup on the Facebook about there being no pick-your-own this season, honestly, things could have been handled a little better on their PR side. The whole fiasco kinda set Elise off a bit, but after some convincing we ended up going anyways.

We had a few of the wines. Some were better than others, but honestly at this point the only thing in my head was “Chatham Brewery, Chatham Brewery, Chatham Brewery”. Knowing we were going to get growler fills there later I held off on getting any bottles of wine.

The Joe Daddy’s hard cider on the chalkboard piqued my interest, as it was the first time I had seen it offered. We all got a taste to try it out, but it was a bit of a let down. It was sweet, it wasn’t dry, it wasn’t spiced, it wasn’t flavored. Supposedly it had some 8 or 9% ABV, but even that wasn’t really present in the flavor. It was just… there.

At this point of the day, after eating doughnuts from three different orchards, I’ve carb-loaded so much I need anything other than doughnuts. Luckily Goold’s had hot dogs and offerings from the grill to fit the bill.

And I couldn’t end the post without a couple of pics from the oh so controversial apples. Apples are apples to me, and while I can see that some families in the area could be disappointed in not being able to Pick-Your-Own this year, have a little sympathy for the families and businesses who depend on you year after year and had a tough crop this season. Going ape-shit over it on Facebook doesn’t really help either party involved.

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Goold Orchards (link) | 1297 Brookview Station Rd., Castleton, NY (map) | All Cider Doughnut Tour Posts