The New York Times has published an obituary of Ben Watson, the influential author, editor, apple advocate and longtime figure in the American cider community who died August 15 at his home in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was 64.
Written by New York Times reporter Michael S. Rosenwald, the obituary brings national attention to Watson’s role in helping elevate cider, and the apples behind it, during the formative years of the modern American cider movement.
Watson was the author of Cider, Hard and Sweet: History, Traditions and Making Your Own, first published in 1999 and subsequently released in new editions as American cider began its remarkable resurgence.
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Saving an Apple From Disappearing
The Times opens Watson’s story not with cider, but with an apple.
Rosenwald recounts Watson’s efforts to save Granite Beauty, a New Hampshire apple from his childhood that was in danger of disappearing. Watson tracked down four surviving trees, took cuttings to graft new ones, shared young trees with friends and distributed scionwood (small pieces of wood used to graft the variety onto other trees) to others interested in preserving the variety.
Years later, Granite Beauty was once again producing fruit on trees around New England.
It is a story that speaks to a larger part of Watson’s legacy: he didn’t just advocate for cider. He helped people pay attention to the apples themselves.
Helping Shape Modern American Cider
Rosenwald reached out to Cider Chat’s Ria Windcaller while she was traveling in France in September. Their conversation about Watson and the early American cider community led to additional connections, including Judith Maloney, co-founder of West County Cider and one of the people who knew Watson through the formative years of CiderDays in western Massachusetts.
“Before Ben, people really weren’t talking about the apples,” Windcaller told The Times. “He geeked out about them in a way that people probably associate with grapes and wine.”
Maloney described Watson as someone who helped hold that emerging community together, telling The Times, “He was like the glue that brought everyone together.”
That influence can still be seen throughout cider today: in the attention paid to individual apple varieties, their flavors and histories, the orchards where they grow, and the people working to keep those varieties alive.
Watson’s influence extended well beyond cider. As an editor at Chelsea Green, he worked with books exploring organic farming, fermentation, permaculture, natural building and sustainable living. He also contributed to the Slow Food movement.
But within cider, Cider, Hard and Sweet became a touchstone. Published at a time when American hard cider remained largely outside the burgeoning craft beverage conversation, the book introduced readers not only to cider making but to its history, traditions and possibilities.
As the American cider movement grew, so did the book. New editions followed in 2008 and 2013.
The publication of Watson’s obituary in The New York Times brings his story, and the story of some of the people, apples and ideas that helped shape modern American cider, to a much wider audience.
Read Michael S. Rosenwald’s full obituary of Ben Watson in The New York Times
Why This Matters to Ciderville
National recognition for Ben Watson is, above all, recognition for the apples and traditions he spent his life calling attention to. It’s also a reminder that the connections built over years of community reporting — the relationships between growers, cidermakers and the people who write about them — are what make it possible for a story like this to reach readers who have never heard of Granite Beauty, CiderDays or Cider, Hard and Sweet. That work of connecting people to a wider audience, done quietly and over time, is as much a part of preserving cider’s history as grafting a tree.
Related eCiderNews:
Ben Watson Remembered: Author, Apple Advocate and Cider Ambassador
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