A Capital Region cidery is celebrating a new state law allowing direct shipping of more alcohol products to customers.
The new law, which went into effect over the weekend, was proposed by Democratic state Assemblywoman Pat Fahy of the 109th District and signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in August.
It allows craft manufacturers of spirits, hard cider and mead to ship directly to consumers after they had temporarily been allowed to do so during the pandemic.
Speaking at Nine Pin Cider Monday, state Senator-elect Fahy says the change supports both beverage makers and the farmers behind the drinks.
“This has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Yet they could not ship anywhere. So if you were in a rural county and were visiting a cidery or distillery, you could not call back to order another bottle of the cranberry cider for the holidays,” Fahy said.
Nine Pin became New York’s first farm cidery in 2014. Now, there are 125 throughout the state.
Packing one of the first orders, Fahy says the law was seven years in the making.
“The alcohol beverage control laws are over 100 years old. So any changes on those laws, it takes a lot of work. There's a lot of different interests. And on this one, there was a lot of opposition. Some of it was opposition to alcohol. Some of it was any form of alcohol,” Fahy said.
Fahy adds under the new law, New Yorkers can ship across the U.S. to states that also allow alcohol shipment by mail.
Sonya del Peral is co-founder of Nine Pin and its general manager. She says Nine Pin prides itself on its sourcing.
“One of our partners in the business is Samascott Orchards, and they have a very large orchard, over 1,000 acres. And we get the majority of our apples from them, but we also source apples and other fruits, pears, quince, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries from all over New York State,” del Peral said.
Nine Pin is also known for the large rose painted on the side of its building on Broadway, done by Sonya’s husband Casiano del Peral. He says the way his son Alejandro makes cider at Nine Pin is the same as in his native Spain.
“It’s a drink you make in the fall, when you harvest the apples. You make it into cider and let it sit and ferment a few days. When that’s done, you can drink it, it’s excellent- and the way Alejandro does it is the same way. The only thing different is here, there are more apples,” del Peral said.
By way of disclosure, Nine Pin has been a WAMC underwriter.
