Out of my mind with cider

By Joel Thurtell

When I posted my plan to cut our booze bill to zero last March, a reader commented, “You’re out of your mind.”

I must be nuts, then, because I followed through on my plan.

The idea was to replace beer, wine, whiskey with straight cider. Non-alcoholic, high-quality cider that I would buy in quantity from the Rochester Cider Mill.

The Barkham family owns the mill. Around Thanksgiving, they press a special blend of apples for a drink they call Holiday Cider.

Oh boy!

Great stuff.

For at least 10 years, I’ve been making trips over to Rochester at least once a year for Holiday Cider. Sometimes more often, because I didn’t have enough refrigerator and freezer space to hold all the Holiday Cider I wanted.

The recipe is secret.

I know the name of one hard-to-find heirloom apple variety that is an ingredient among several varieties of apple.

A worker at the cider mill spilled the beans. Well, the bean. If you don’t know all the varieties and the proportions, you don’t have the recipe.

But I digress.

The idea was to save money.

Replace booze with cider.

And I dun it!

With some changes.

I had calculated my costs as well as the amount of cider I’d keep based on buying a 21-cubic-foot freezer. I figured a 21-footer would hold 50 gallons, which I thought would be a year’s supply of cider.

We’d consume, I figured, a gallon a week, expecting to be out of town and not drinking cider for some of that time.

Not long ago, I talked to Trevor Barkham, one of Ruth and Tom Barkham’s three sons. Trevor runs the mill. Turns out my initial calculations were off. He told me he can fit 60 one-gallon jugs of cider into a 15-cubic-foot freezer with room to spare.

So I didn’t need a 21-cubic-foot freezer. Good. That cuts my equipment cost.

I went to the Sears Outlet Store in Livonia and found a 15-cubic-foot Maytag freezer with a few cosmetic mars on the front, priced at $344 with sales tax.

Sold.

The freezer cost is a start-up expense. A one-time outlay.

Sixty gallons of Holiday Cider at $7/gallon = $420.

My total cost was $764.

After the first year, I’ll have only the cost of cider.

Does this save money?

If I consume all 60 gallons in a year, the cost will be $420 divided by 52 = $8.08 a week.

Last March, I figured my booze costs this way: A beer a day. Well, okay, figure a six-pack of Sam Adams Black Lager at $9. My wife would consume a bottle of wine a week at let’s say, $12. That’s $21 a week, or a weekly savings of $12.

Over a year, the booze costs $1,092.

The cider costs $420, not counting the price of the freezer.

Cider saves me $672.

Subtract the freezer cost — $672 minus $344 = $328.

So, even figuring the freezer cost, I will save $328 the first year.

Thereafter, I save $672 a year.

Now comes the big question: How to spend the money I save!