WASHINGTON — After spending several years advising U.S. commanders in some of the
world’s most dangerous war zones, Arlington native Marc Chretien decided it was time
for a change of pace.
And roughly a year after he retired from the State Department, Chretien made that
change: He started Mt. Defiance, a cidery and
distillery in Middleburg, Virginia.
“I’ve been all over the world; I’ve been in war zones for the past seven years, and
[after retirement] I wanted an idyllic existence for my wife and child,” Chretien says.
“And I think we’ve found it.”
Chretien opened the doors to his operation on Middleburg’s charming Washington Street
in August. In
the last four months, customers have packed
into the tin-ceilinged tasting room on weekends to take a break from a day of shopping
— or to
experience a change of pace from a day of vineyard hopping — all to sample one
of the area’s most historically significant drinks: cider.
“Every farm in the Civil War in Virginia — every farm, plantation, large house —
basically had 500 to 1,000 gallons of cider,” says Chretien, who emphasizes the cider
he
makes is not sweet cider, but hard cider. “The reason being, it was safer to drink than
water. The alcohol just kills the germs.”
But when German immigrants brought hops to the U.S., cider lost its popularity to
beer. “And the death-blow to cider was Prohibition, where they actually destroyed
cider-bearing trees and apple orchards,” Chretien says.
Ninety years later, the cider industry is still trying to restore its trees and recover
from the nationwide ban — and Chretien is doing everything he can to help.
—
Mt. Defiance’s production room looks similar to that of any brewery: It contains
stainless steel tanks and rubber hoses and smells like fermentation. The base of
Chretien’s cider is a sweet, fresh-pressed cider, which he sources from Rinker
Orchards, in Stephens City, Virginia.
Chretien adds yeast to the cider and allows the mixture to ferment for
about two weeks.
Then the cider is placed in a 35-degree room, where it is left to sit in 275-gallon
containers. Chretien explains that the yeast basically goes dormant and falls to the
bottom at this stage. When the cider is clear, about a month or two later, it is pumped
into a
finishing tank where it is chilled and introduced to carbon dioxide before it’s
bottled.
“This isn’t like bourbon, where you need to wait three years for it to mellow. Cider is
a drink that’s best served within four months of being pressed, up to a couple of years
later,” Chretien says. “It’s like a white wine. You don’t cellar cider; you drink it,
and you enjoy it.”
Mt. Defiance’s distillery occupies a smaller room in the back of the building. It’s
filled with glass jugs, a shiny pot still and a smaller, copper alembic still, which
Chretien uses to make absinthe.
Technically, Mt. Defiance is a nano-distillery — an operation smaller than a
micro-distillery. And while the distilling part of Mt. Defiance is not yet up and
running
(Chretien predicts it will be ready by the end of November/early December), he’s
already hard at work macerating herbs, infusing flavors and aging his products.
“Here you have, in different stages, rums with different types of wood treatment, rums
in charred barrels, rums and brandy in a bourbon barrel,” says Chretien, pointing to
his experiments. “We try to produce products that the large distilleries won’t
touch.”
In addition to rum and brandy, Chretien also plans to make and sell apple liquor,
almond liquor and, yes, absinthe. “It’s a fussy drink, but it’s also herbal, and it’s a
classic centuries-old drink,” he says.
In accordance with Virginia law, Mt. Defiance’s distillery will feature have a separate
entrance and tasting bar from the cidery.
—
Chretien says he never formally studied how to make cider and distill spirits; he
learned
over the past 15 years from a friend who runs Stowe Cider in
Stowe, Vermont. (Chretien is also part owner of Stowe Cider.)
“I’m a war adviser from Afghanistan; I am not a fermenter by profession, but it’s
something you learn,” he says.
Chretien was originally interested in brewing beer. But by the time he was ready to
retire and start a new life, he felt like the microbrewery market was too saturated.
Cider’s market, on
the other hand, was just ramping up.
“Cider is an expanding niche market. It grows at about 20 to 22 percent a year,”
Chretien says.
The ciders at Mt. Defiance are served on tap in the tasting room, in a variety of
flavors. They are also available for purchase at the cidery, bottled and in
growlers.
Mt. Defiance’s classic cider, The Farmhouse, mimics the blend traditionally
served in Virginia and Maryland 150 years ago.
Chretien also makes a ginger cider, a spiced cider (which is especially popular this
time of year) and a bestselling bourbon-aged cider called The General’s Reserve after
Gen. John Allen,
whom Chretien advised in
Afghanistan.
“I can’t say how much political advice he took from me, but we’re old friends. We
served together in Iraq and Al Anbar Province as well. And it’s my homage to a great
Marine, that we named our bestseller after him,” Chretien says. “I told him about it
and he just laughed. I suppose no other living general has had a cider named after
him.”
Gen. Allen isn’t the only slice of Chretien’s former life at Mt. Defiance. His business
partner is Washington Post associate editor and war correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
“He and I shared a tent together four years ago in Marja, in Helmand Province, when we
invaded the place with the Marines. And I always got a kick out of Rajiv — a reporter
who, I have to admit, was pretty damn brave as we went on ground convoys in an IED-
laden place.”
Chretien says the two have been friends ever since.
—
Chretien wants to revive the cider industry, and part of that process is educating
consumers on the
difference between the small, artisan cider makers and mass
producers.
He says that unlike the larger cider companies, smaller operations fully ferment and
“don’t
use too much modern technology.” For instance, Chretien doesn’t filter his cider and
doesn’t use pasteurized cider. He says that alters the taste, and the fermentation
process kills the germs, anyway.
All of his ingredients are fresh, unlike many of the mass producers, and as a result,
his cider is dry, not sweet. It tastes crisp and hearty, with just a touch of tartness.
Want to give it a try, yourself? The tasting room at Mt. Defiance is open most days
from noon until 6
p.m., and the cider tastings are free.
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