498: Heeman’s Cellars | Somewhere Cider from Ontario

“You could have cider that could be from anywhere – we want to make cider from somewhere.” Tom Heeman

Heeman Cellars is a multi-generational farm near London, Ontario that grew from strawberries and bees into cider and mead production focused on heritage apples, blending, and terroir. In this conversation with Tom Heeman, we taste through a range of ciders made from apples like Yarlington Mill, Wayne, Swayzie Pomme Grise, russets, and crab apples while exploring Ontario apple history and what it means to make “somewhere cider.”

Tom Heeman

This episode explores

Starting a cidery during the pandemic
Ontario apple history and heritage varieties
Blending culinary and cider apples
Barrel aging and bottle conditioning
Pet Nat cider production
Heritage apples like Swayzie – Pomme Grise The Wayne apple, a Cornell juice apple with Old World cider character French cider varieties like Muscadet de Dieppe Russet apples and their role in cider
Crab apples and traditional cider apples
Preserving historic apple varieties
What defines terroir in Ontario cider
Making “somewhere cider”