A little before 5 p.m. on a chilly Saturday in the Lower East Side, a young and trendy couple walked into Wassail, one of the country’s few cider-centered bars, and looked unsure. The Women’s March rumbled outside, reverberating throughout Manhattan. But the sun was going down and the crowd inside Wassail had a calm, if sleepy air about them. Behind the bar was Dan Pucci, the resident cider expert and one of the few so-called pommeliers in the country, who welcomed the newcomers by handing them a drink menu.
“What is a cider bar? Like, hard cider?” the man asked.
“We serve hard cider, yes,” Pucci said. “But we serve other drinks too. Let me know if you have any questions.”
The couple looked over the menu and whispered to one another, before heading for the door; they waved to Pucci on their way out.
Despite cider’s historical relevance — it was the drink of choice for the earliest European settlers — the scene was representative of cider’s stature in contemporary America. That is to say, near last place, behind by wine, beer and spirits. An alternative, at best.
But at Wassail, and a few other bars across the country, barkeeps like Pucci are doing what they can to reposition the drink. Their thesis? Cider is special in its own way. It’s an agricultural product that, when done well, can express more than just the “apple” flavors people have come to associate with Yankee Candles. It’s a culmination of fruit and fermentation, with near-endless possibilities in the realm of flavor and aroma.
Pucci’s curly-haired and quiet. He spent years in the Italian wine world, but burnt out, moving on to cider. He’s dedicated the last two years to understanding apples, fermentation and cider making and has been preaching the gospel of cider since by creating one of the most ambitious bars in America. I spoke to the 28-year-old about cider in America and the possibilities ahead.