Best Cider

A family-run cidery that has been pressing Hudson Valley apples for years, known for crisp, low-sugar ciders and a rotating list of seasonal small batches. The taproom pours the flagships alongside local craft beer, with a kitchen turning out food all afternoon. Easygoing, family friendly and dog friendly too.

A working orchard where the ciders lean dry, funky and wild-fermented, poured in a tasting room surrounded by the trees they came from. Make a day of it with u-pick apples, cider donuts and wood-fired pizza, then take a bottle home from the farmstand. Readers named it the top cidery in Chronogram's 2026 awards.

Small-batch ciders and meads made from fruit gathered within about an hour of the cellar, including apples foraged from forgotten Greene County trees. The riverside taproom pours a rotating list of their own work plus other New York drinks, with seasonal snacks to share. Order a flight and something to dip, and stay for the evening light on Catskill Creek.

An independent family orchard that has grown heirloom apples for decades and now makes cider from two certified organic orchards with more than 30 varieties. Sip at the Orchard Bar under an apple tree, often with a pizza or taco pop-up on site. A sweet, slow afternoon in the hills near the Massachusetts line.

A holistically farmed orchard making low-intervention ciders and wines with nothing added and nothing taken away. Linger in the tap room or out on the lawn, or book the guided tasting that walks you through the cidery and into the orchard with one of the makers. It placed among the top cideries in Chronogram's 2026 reader awards.

Cider made from the apples of Fishkill Farms, a family orchard going back generations, poured at a cider bar with views over the trees. Order a tasting flight to compare the dry and semi-dry styles, and stop at the farm store on your way out. Weekends in fall get busy, so come early or on a Thursday.

A small farm in the Rondout Valley that grows its own fruit as sustainably as it can and turns every bit of it into cider, vinegar, jam and seasonal trattoria plates. Settle in for pizza and a glass on a fall evening, often with live music in the background. It feels like being welcomed onto someone's land.