Tonight was the first game for the Downeasters, the semi-official soccer team of Downeast Cider House. The standard was set exceptionally high, there was a lot on the line, and when push came to shove...we lost. It was a disappointment, but not a disaster. It was a tight game, we showed some moxy, and considering that half the team hadn't broken a sweat since high school, I think things are looking very positive for us. I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was a dove flying over the sea.
And then I dove into the ocean... And I swam with the dolphins. I was
two animals joined as one... ...which meant...good things are coming.
Good things.
Plus, if this guy can play himself into shape by the playoffs, so can we. Its all about rings baby.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
working the 9-5
This has been a weird, but nice, start to the week. As some of you might know, we've moved into our new facility in Charlestown, which happens to be about a mile from where we live. Because our electrician (Scott Boudreau, don't know if you ever read these, but here's a plug for you: Scott Boudreau Electric, best electrician in town*) is unplugging our Leominster facility, and hooking us up in Charlestown, we've hit a short production halt.
In lieu of the normal hike out to Leomnister, we've been making the 2 minute commute to our new place, moving stuff around, setting up tools/equipment, and doing a lot of computer work like trying to prep for our new equipment when the money starts growing on trees, which, with modern advancements in technology, should be any day now (I hope we get a really big money tree because we just got quoted $60,000 for the INSTALLATION of our glycol chiller, which is basically a refrigeration unit for our tanks. The INSTALLATION!!)
Yesterday our remaining cans shipped over here, which was a pretty hairy scene. Our cans come in units of 8,160 cans/pallet, stacked about 9 feet high. Each pallet of cans probably weighs less than 100 lbs, so you basically have this giant tower that's very prone to wobbling because it has no weight. So we had about 16 pallets of cans to unload off a truck, and we were borrowing our neighbor's forklift, which was finicky at best (foot down on petal, engine rumbles, no movement, foot down a centimeter more, full speed ahead). To add to the difficulty, if the pallets of cans are 9' tall, the box of a truck is 9'2". So we basically had an hour of heart attacks trying not to dump 150,000 cans all over the loading dock. All in all, we finished the job, picked up a few gray hairs, and maybe wrecked a hundred cans...not too shabby.
Tomorrow night (Thursday), we'll be at the Beacon Hill Pub from 6-8 doing some sampling and whatnot, so if you're in the area, drop by. On Friday at 5 we'll be at Gordon's on Main st in Waltham, and on Saturday at 1 we'll be at Idylwilde Farms in Acton.
Good talk, see you out there.
*Based on a sampling of 1 electrician, but in fairness, he's very good
In lieu of the normal hike out to Leomnister, we've been making the 2 minute commute to our new place, moving stuff around, setting up tools/equipment, and doing a lot of computer work like trying to prep for our new equipment when the money starts growing on trees, which, with modern advancements in technology, should be any day now (I hope we get a really big money tree because we just got quoted $60,000 for the INSTALLATION of our glycol chiller, which is basically a refrigeration unit for our tanks. The INSTALLATION!!)
Yesterday our remaining cans shipped over here, which was a pretty hairy scene. Our cans come in units of 8,160 cans/pallet, stacked about 9 feet high. Each pallet of cans probably weighs less than 100 lbs, so you basically have this giant tower that's very prone to wobbling because it has no weight. So we had about 16 pallets of cans to unload off a truck, and we were borrowing our neighbor's forklift, which was finicky at best (foot down on petal, engine rumbles, no movement, foot down a centimeter more, full speed ahead). To add to the difficulty, if the pallets of cans are 9' tall, the box of a truck is 9'2". So we basically had an hour of heart attacks trying not to dump 150,000 cans all over the loading dock. All in all, we finished the job, picked up a few gray hairs, and maybe wrecked a hundred cans...not too shabby.
Tomorrow night (Thursday), we'll be at the Beacon Hill Pub from 6-8 doing some sampling and whatnot, so if you're in the area, drop by. On Friday at 5 we'll be at Gordon's on Main st in Waltham, and on Saturday at 1 we'll be at Idylwilde Farms in Acton.
Good talk, see you out there.
*Based on a sampling of 1 electrician, but in fairness, he's very good
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Day
Woke up, dropped laptop off bed, broke screen.
Spent the next 9 hours attempting to make tee-shirts using a silk-screen.
Net result: 0 shirts made, 1 Tyler T-shirt destroyed.
Drive home.
Nobody ever said you win 'em all...
Spent the next 9 hours attempting to make tee-shirts using a silk-screen.
Net result: 0 shirts made, 1 Tyler T-shirt destroyed.
Drive home.
Nobody ever said you win 'em all...
Monday, January 28, 2013
Moving
Since our last post a lot has happened and nothing's happened. Our biggest project right now is moving for the third time to what will hopefully be our final resting spot in Charlestown, Ma. This will cut our commute down an hour. I can see our building out of my bedroom window. It's a great spot, and we're excited to get it up an running. Our first project, installing our cooler (needed for cold storage of inventory), has been a complete disaster, so while we expected to be fully up and running by now, we just have a whole bunch of cooler panels and tools lying around. That, and a lot of pent up rage. Imagine a puzzle where your goal is to take a bunch of different sized pieces and make a cube. The pieces all lock together with a latch on one panel, with a corresponding hook and an adjacent panel. Now figure that out, except the pieces are all big, heavy, and break way too easily for how big and heavy they are. And, to get a professional to put it together costs almost as much as the unit itself, which is unfortunate because our money tree still isn't blooming, leaving us high and dry. It's all very upsetting, and just typing this is making me a dangerous combination of angry and sad, so I'll move on...
Once the piece-of-equipment-which-must-not-be-named is up and running, we'll move our tanks over and basically resume what we have going right now in Leominster. Once we catch our breath, it's time for expansion. Our new canning line is set to arrive late February, at which point we'll start to battle operational bottlenecks as they come. This will include more kegs, larger fermenters, a new brite, and the million and one other pieces of processing equipment like chillers, air compressors, condensers, etc. Thinking about all of these non-sexy, but very expensive things is making me angry and sad again, so I'll move on...
Aside from the moving stuff, we're doing our best to keep Downeast rolling in the right direction. We're working on a couple exciting new things for this spring, but they're kind of super-secret. This probably isn't a very exciting update, I think the cold weather is draining us. We'll be more fun when the sun comes out.
--Downeast
Once the piece-of-equipment-which-must-not-be-named is up and running, we'll move our tanks over and basically resume what we have going right now in Leominster. Once we catch our breath, it's time for expansion. Our new canning line is set to arrive late February, at which point we'll start to battle operational bottlenecks as they come. This will include more kegs, larger fermenters, a new brite, and the million and one other pieces of processing equipment like chillers, air compressors, condensers, etc. Thinking about all of these non-sexy, but very expensive things is making me angry and sad again, so I'll move on...
Aside from the moving stuff, we're doing our best to keep Downeast rolling in the right direction. We're working on a couple exciting new things for this spring, but they're kind of super-secret. This probably isn't a very exciting update, I think the cold weather is draining us. We'll be more fun when the sun comes out.
--Downeast
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Mondays and Enemies
Hi all. We haven't really posted anything recently about what the heck we're even doing these days, so I'll run everyone through a typical week now-a-days:
Monday: Fill the brite tank. The brite tank is the final resting place for our cider before it's either canned or kegged. We awake our cider from its cold conditioning in the cooler and pump it into the brite. The tank itself holds about 800 gallons of juice, along with a lot of pressure. We introduce CO2 to the cider, and they dance overnight and then in the morning, POOF, we've got a nice, carbonated, finished product (it's a little more technical, but I prefer my explanation). We then clean the conditioning tanks and go home. At home we take care of fun things like entertaining the hoards of government agencies that regulate everything we do, paying off mountains of bills, and fending off sales people who want us to sponsor their events. I can save us all some time though: in a typical week we eat about 8-10 pb&j's, and another 8-10 grilled cheese sandwiches. Does that sound like the diet of a strong cash flowing company. I think you're looking for a small VT company called Woodchuck, I hear there's some loose cash flowing over there (I see you Canney and Dan in Rutvegas).
I just realized it's going to be way too long to write what we do in a week, so I'll just break it down over a few blogs. If I wrote it all out I think the only people who would read the whole thing would be with our moms.
I will add one more note about a seemingly one-sided arch-enemy situation we've found ourselves in. It's a pretty funny little story. I won't give any names, and I won't tell you if you ask, so don't bother. So there exists a beverage company somewhere on planet earth that utterly DESPISES Downeast Cider House. It all started a year or so ago when we posted a blog about having a promotional party at a bar in Maine. It wasn't anything over the top, just a bunch of Downeast posters everywhere, and we were walking around with trays of shot glasses with cider samples (that we bought). A few days afterwards we got a call from the Maine liquor licensing agency asking questions about the party. After they came to the conclusion that nothing illegal was done I pressed him to find out how he came to hear of any of this, which is how I found out someone had read our blog and called in to report us, twice! I pressed further and found out who.
I also found out from a sales rep who works for one of our distributors that this company was spreading weird little "news releases" to them such as telling our rep that we weren't going to be canning or packaging, etc. Odd. This company also informed a different distributor's sales rep that they would "put [Downeast] out of business". Those are just a few. We've had reports of this from ALL of our distributors. Hate isn't a good look on anyone.
But, it goes on! Most recently we checked their website and found out a few interesting facts about our own cider that we didn't even know. Apparently, we don't use local apples. Yet Harpoon's cider does. Those damn snake in the grass cider mills! I always had a sneaking suspicion that they were pressing the juice, then separating the local and non-local juice, and giving us out-of-town stuff. Either that or those quaint local apple farms are putting up fronts for their back-door Chinese import operations. You can never be too careful with these folks. Also, we apparently add sugar and and flavorings. I guess there is sugar in apple cider, so we're all guilty? As yes, guilty as charged with adding flavorings, but it was really really hard to market our "Original, Original Blend", which was an empty, vacuum sealed can. It was sooo pure, but due to complaints, we decided to flavor it with some hard cider. Finally, we learned our abv isn't actually 5.1%. We thought that since we were the ones who made it every day that we would be keen on that sort of info, but we've been set straight. I'm sure samples have been sent to labs for the appropriate testing. Much appreciated!
Anyways, we've learned quite a bit about ourselves from this other company, and we'll certainly have to consult them in any future proceedings, lest we make careless mistakes like allowing people to enjoy samples, knowing what we make, and generally existing. But most importantly, everything you read on the internet is true.
Well, off to can some cider, enjoy your holidays. Be safe, and enjoy some local ciders and beers, we recommend Bantam Cider (the cherry is awesome), Jack's Abby Brewing (smoke and dagger is off the charts good), both of whom are from Mass, or if you're in Maine, give Urban Farms Fermentory a try (lots of cool experimental stuff), Fatty Bampkins (I hear good things about their Dry), and if you're into a really good, easy drinking beer, get at some Oxbow.
--Downeast
PS - I think I've been watching too much South Park
Monday: Fill the brite tank. The brite tank is the final resting place for our cider before it's either canned or kegged. We awake our cider from its cold conditioning in the cooler and pump it into the brite. The tank itself holds about 800 gallons of juice, along with a lot of pressure. We introduce CO2 to the cider, and they dance overnight and then in the morning, POOF, we've got a nice, carbonated, finished product (it's a little more technical, but I prefer my explanation). We then clean the conditioning tanks and go home. At home we take care of fun things like entertaining the hoards of government agencies that regulate everything we do, paying off mountains of bills, and fending off sales people who want us to sponsor their events. I can save us all some time though: in a typical week we eat about 8-10 pb&j's, and another 8-10 grilled cheese sandwiches. Does that sound like the diet of a strong cash flowing company. I think you're looking for a small VT company called Woodchuck, I hear there's some loose cash flowing over there (I see you Canney and Dan in Rutvegas).
I just realized it's going to be way too long to write what we do in a week, so I'll just break it down over a few blogs. If I wrote it all out I think the only people who would read the whole thing would be with our moms.
I will add one more note about a seemingly one-sided arch-enemy situation we've found ourselves in. It's a pretty funny little story. I won't give any names, and I won't tell you if you ask, so don't bother. So there exists a beverage company somewhere on planet earth that utterly DESPISES Downeast Cider House. It all started a year or so ago when we posted a blog about having a promotional party at a bar in Maine. It wasn't anything over the top, just a bunch of Downeast posters everywhere, and we were walking around with trays of shot glasses with cider samples (that we bought). A few days afterwards we got a call from the Maine liquor licensing agency asking questions about the party. After they came to the conclusion that nothing illegal was done I pressed him to find out how he came to hear of any of this, which is how I found out someone had read our blog and called in to report us, twice! I pressed further and found out who.
I also found out from a sales rep who works for one of our distributors that this company was spreading weird little "news releases" to them such as telling our rep that we weren't going to be canning or packaging, etc. Odd. This company also informed a different distributor's sales rep that they would "put [Downeast] out of business". Those are just a few. We've had reports of this from ALL of our distributors. Hate isn't a good look on anyone.
But, it goes on! Most recently we checked their website and found out a few interesting facts about our own cider that we didn't even know. Apparently, we don't use local apples. Yet Harpoon's cider does. Those damn snake in the grass cider mills! I always had a sneaking suspicion that they were pressing the juice, then separating the local and non-local juice, and giving us out-of-town stuff. Either that or those quaint local apple farms are putting up fronts for their back-door Chinese import operations. You can never be too careful with these folks. Also, we apparently add sugar and and flavorings. I guess there is sugar in apple cider, so we're all guilty? As yes, guilty as charged with adding flavorings, but it was really really hard to market our "Original, Original Blend", which was an empty, vacuum sealed can. It was sooo pure, but due to complaints, we decided to flavor it with some hard cider. Finally, we learned our abv isn't actually 5.1%. We thought that since we were the ones who made it every day that we would be keen on that sort of info, but we've been set straight. I'm sure samples have been sent to labs for the appropriate testing. Much appreciated!
Anyways, we've learned quite a bit about ourselves from this other company, and we'll certainly have to consult them in any future proceedings, lest we make careless mistakes like allowing people to enjoy samples, knowing what we make, and generally existing. But most importantly, everything you read on the internet is true.
Well, off to can some cider, enjoy your holidays. Be safe, and enjoy some local ciders and beers, we recommend Bantam Cider (the cherry is awesome), Jack's Abby Brewing (smoke and dagger is off the charts good), both of whom are from Mass, or if you're in Maine, give Urban Farms Fermentory a try (lots of cool experimental stuff), Fatty Bampkins (I hear good things about their Dry), and if you're into a really good, easy drinking beer, get at some Oxbow.
--Downeast
PS - I think I've been watching too much South Park
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
A Letter to the Alma Mater
Below is a letter written in response to a request for a few things, including some summer internships for some Bates College students. Before anyone who knows me gets too excited, it's not that kind of letter. I had been known in a past life to sometimes write overly...animated...letters to some of the staff at Bates, including one particularly heated exchange I had with a certain person referenced in the following letter.
Those letters aside, as I was proofreading this behemoth, I realized I should post it here because I stand behind what I said and could use any support I can get. If any former or current students are reading this (Bates or anywhere else), I strongly encourage you to make your voice heard if you're heading down some sort of entrepreneurial road. Shout it from the rooftops and make a scene, because that's the only way your institution of higher learning will maybe learn something themselves.
*side note - In the following letter, 'short term' is in reference to a program we had to take at least 2 years at Bates. It was 5 weeks in duration, after the school year was over in May, where your liver was tested up to and far beyond its limits while your mind was massaged by something they called "class", where you would show up to a place where the lights we dim and you were allowed to do art, listen to music, or "learn" about something not considered important enough for a real class. Don't tell anyone in administration, but the students actually found a way to use this time to partake in some less than exemplary experiences.
LETTER:
Sounds good <name>. We'd love to get some Bates kids thinking about entrepreneurship. Which brings me to a related question/offer.
When we were seniors a couple years ago, we came up with this idea to start a hard cider company sometime late fall/early winter, at which point there was no question what we would be doing upon graduation. We held meetings at night in that giant lecture room in basement of pgill where we made charts and graphs and plans and dreams. When it came time for short term, words can not explain how ready we were to start our business. We figured that for our short term class, with all of us already having our mandatory credits taken care of, we could do a (group) independent study with the guidance of any number of professors from bio/chem on the product side (we've brewed beer in class to learn about the fermentation process) to econ on the business side. When I approached a certain department chair about this, she told me that Bates doesn't do business class, and to basically take a hike (which, coincidentally, was a short term offering (seriously, you went on hikes and took pictures)).
My first two short terms were scenic painting, where I sat on alumni walk and painted for 3 hours a week, and soda firing**, where I messed around on a pottery wheel for a few hours a week. I thought it was pretty backwards that I was required to do these art classes, for which I had no passion and just wanted credit for hanging out with my friends for 5 weeks in the spring, and when I did have a passion for something, and sought help and tutelage from those who are paid to do so, I was flat out denied. Instead, we worked on our own. I didn't take a class and instead chose to be a campus hermit, getting let into my house by roommates to sleep, and sneaking into Commons for meals (sorry...). Needless to say we could have been more productive with some guidance.
Anyways, I'm not sure if this is even in your domain, but I'd like to do my part in making sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. We'd love to be there for any future students who are in our position. I know we're not exactly qualified to teach in any traditional sense, but drawing from my experience, I would have jumped at the opportunity to have the guidance of someone with a couple years under their belt, rather than being forced into a class for which there is no passion, or even worse, bumming around campus with zero responsibility and too much free time (I believe 24/7 qualifies as too much).
My point is, I STRONGLY recommend getting some sort of option for those with an entrepreneurial spirit. If that's not possible, let us help. I have learned more over the past 16 months than any other time in my life. If this were to go down in flames, I have already taken enough from this experience to give me the confidence to go do anything I want. I think it's not only fair that other Bates students should be afforded this opportunity, I think it would do great things for a lot of people. In a perfect world, Bates would have a budget for an Entrepreneur class over short term where students could actually get a chance to make a difference on their own, create jobs, and at the very least, gain some semblance of real life experience.
Anyhow...penny for my thoughts I guess. If you find this rambling cohesive and sensible, but maybe you aren't the person to make this call, could you do me a huge favor and forward this along to someone who might be able to do something?
Thanks for reading my novel, and go Bobcats!
Ross
** secondary note about soda firing that I didn't include in the letter. My friend and I would show up to this class, mess around on the pottery wheels for a little bit making weird shapes with the clay, then toss it in the compost mix when we were done, never actually making anything to be sent to the kiln. Near the end of the semester, our professor called us into his office for private meetings. We were individually informed that both of our performances were shockingly unproductive and in turn, we would be unhappy with the grades we were likely to receive unless we turned it around. Those grades were C-. Our professor was apparently unaware that short term is pass fail. Anything above an F got us our credit. We didn't turn it around. And for those counting, if you take the amount Bates costs for 4 years ($258,000) and divide it by the number of classes taken, 34, you get a value of $7,588.23. For pottery class. Also the reason my children (girls included) will be punting footballs from the day they can walk. Two words: full ride.
--DOWNEAST
Those letters aside, as I was proofreading this behemoth, I realized I should post it here because I stand behind what I said and could use any support I can get. If any former or current students are reading this (Bates or anywhere else), I strongly encourage you to make your voice heard if you're heading down some sort of entrepreneurial road. Shout it from the rooftops and make a scene, because that's the only way your institution of higher learning will maybe learn something themselves.
*side note - In the following letter, 'short term' is in reference to a program we had to take at least 2 years at Bates. It was 5 weeks in duration, after the school year was over in May, where your liver was tested up to and far beyond its limits while your mind was massaged by something they called "class", where you would show up to a place where the lights we dim and you were allowed to do art, listen to music, or "learn" about something not considered important enough for a real class. Don't tell anyone in administration, but the students actually found a way to use this time to partake in some less than exemplary experiences.
LETTER:
Sounds good <name>. We'd love to get some Bates kids thinking about entrepreneurship. Which brings me to a related question/offer.
When we were seniors a couple years ago, we came up with this idea to start a hard cider company sometime late fall/early winter, at which point there was no question what we would be doing upon graduation. We held meetings at night in that giant lecture room in basement of pgill where we made charts and graphs and plans and dreams. When it came time for short term, words can not explain how ready we were to start our business. We figured that for our short term class, with all of us already having our mandatory credits taken care of, we could do a (group) independent study with the guidance of any number of professors from bio/chem on the product side (we've brewed beer in class to learn about the fermentation process) to econ on the business side. When I approached a certain department chair about this, she told me that Bates doesn't do business class, and to basically take a hike (which, coincidentally, was a short term offering (seriously, you went on hikes and took pictures)).
My first two short terms were scenic painting, where I sat on alumni walk and painted for 3 hours a week, and soda firing**, where I messed around on a pottery wheel for a few hours a week. I thought it was pretty backwards that I was required to do these art classes, for which I had no passion and just wanted credit for hanging out with my friends for 5 weeks in the spring, and when I did have a passion for something, and sought help and tutelage from those who are paid to do so, I was flat out denied. Instead, we worked on our own. I didn't take a class and instead chose to be a campus hermit, getting let into my house by roommates to sleep, and sneaking into Commons for meals (sorry...). Needless to say we could have been more productive with some guidance.
Anyways, I'm not sure if this is even in your domain, but I'd like to do my part in making sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. We'd love to be there for any future students who are in our position. I know we're not exactly qualified to teach in any traditional sense, but drawing from my experience, I would have jumped at the opportunity to have the guidance of someone with a couple years under their belt, rather than being forced into a class for which there is no passion, or even worse, bumming around campus with zero responsibility and too much free time (I believe 24/7 qualifies as too much).
My point is, I STRONGLY recommend getting some sort of option for those with an entrepreneurial spirit. If that's not possible, let us help. I have learned more over the past 16 months than any other time in my life. If this were to go down in flames, I have already taken enough from this experience to give me the confidence to go do anything I want. I think it's not only fair that other Bates students should be afforded this opportunity, I think it would do great things for a lot of people. In a perfect world, Bates would have a budget for an Entrepreneur class over short term where students could actually get a chance to make a difference on their own, create jobs, and at the very least, gain some semblance of real life experience.
Anyhow...penny for my thoughts I guess. If you find this rambling cohesive and sensible, but maybe you aren't the person to make this call, could you do me a huge favor and forward this along to someone who might be able to do something?
Thanks for reading my novel, and go Bobcats!
Ross
** secondary note about soda firing that I didn't include in the letter. My friend and I would show up to this class, mess around on the pottery wheels for a little bit making weird shapes with the clay, then toss it in the compost mix when we were done, never actually making anything to be sent to the kiln. Near the end of the semester, our professor called us into his office for private meetings. We were individually informed that both of our performances were shockingly unproductive and in turn, we would be unhappy with the grades we were likely to receive unless we turned it around. Those grades were C-. Our professor was apparently unaware that short term is pass fail. Anything above an F got us our credit. We didn't turn it around. And for those counting, if you take the amount Bates costs for 4 years ($258,000) and divide it by the number of classes taken, 34, you get a value of $7,588.23. For pottery class. Also the reason my children (girls included) will be punting footballs from the day they can walk. Two words: full ride.
--DOWNEAST
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sediment and Fill Height Answered
We have gotten a few questions about sediment at the bottom of cans and fill heights. Hopefully I can explain both sufficiently. Feel free to give us a call (207-200-7332) if you have any further questions.
SEDIMENT: When there's some sediment at the bottom of the can, it is simply apple particles that have fallen out of solution. In looking at filtered vs unfiltered, we had to weigh two options. Using a filter, we could have a "perfect" looking cider, where all the small particles were strained out, although half the flavor would come with those particles, or, we could leave it unfiltered, and get a full-on flavor but have to deal with the sediment. We chose the latter, with hopes that you, the consumer would appreciate the sacrifices that go into leaving a product unfiltered. Believe me when I say it would be much easier to use a filter, and not have any questions/concerns regarding sediment in cans, or the occasional sludge keg. But this, along with our decision to use real juice, is the reason that many people love Downeast Cider. Authenticity can not be faked, especially in the mind of a discerning consumer. We love hearing "this tastes like it came right off the farm!" rather than "this is some sterile shit!" One day, when we have (a lot) more money, we can pay a team of food scientists to solve this problem without harming quality, but that day is still well ahead of us.
FILL HEIGHT: This is a problem that hopefully we've fixed, although I'm sure there are still some of the "high fill" cans out there. Our current canning equipment is VERY low tech, and the fill height is determined by us and a little knob/stem. The high fills were just a novice move. We filled those things to the brim and then capped and sealed. After making a few hundred cases like this, the reports started coming in, so we brought the fill height down. Those good fill heights should be hitting the market soon.
--Downeast
SEDIMENT: When there's some sediment at the bottom of the can, it is simply apple particles that have fallen out of solution. In looking at filtered vs unfiltered, we had to weigh two options. Using a filter, we could have a "perfect" looking cider, where all the small particles were strained out, although half the flavor would come with those particles, or, we could leave it unfiltered, and get a full-on flavor but have to deal with the sediment. We chose the latter, with hopes that you, the consumer would appreciate the sacrifices that go into leaving a product unfiltered. Believe me when I say it would be much easier to use a filter, and not have any questions/concerns regarding sediment in cans, or the occasional sludge keg. But this, along with our decision to use real juice, is the reason that many people love Downeast Cider. Authenticity can not be faked, especially in the mind of a discerning consumer. We love hearing "this tastes like it came right off the farm!" rather than "this is some sterile shit!" One day, when we have (a lot) more money, we can pay a team of food scientists to solve this problem without harming quality, but that day is still well ahead of us.
FILL HEIGHT: This is a problem that hopefully we've fixed, although I'm sure there are still some of the "high fill" cans out there. Our current canning equipment is VERY low tech, and the fill height is determined by us and a little knob/stem. The high fills were just a novice move. We filled those things to the brim and then capped and sealed. After making a few hundred cases like this, the reports started coming in, so we brought the fill height down. Those good fill heights should be hitting the market soon.
--Downeast
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