Tell us your name, your cidery name, and a brief introduction.
Christopher Aamodt from Thor’s Hard Cider. We named the company Thor’s after my Great grandfather, Thor Aamodt, who started our family’s orchard back in 1948. He was an entomologist and professor at the University of Minnesota, with the orchard being his retirement project. He was a dreamer and wasn’t afraid to chase his dreams. We feel as though we are in a way following in his very footsteps by starting something new and chasing our dreams from the roots he planted 73 years ago. Being that the name Thor’s also gives homage to our strong Norwegian heritage, it was the perfect fit for the name of our new hard cider venture.
“We feel as though we are in a way following in his very footsteps by starting something new and chasing our dreams from the roots he planted 73 years ago.”
What do you find to be the most interesting thing about cider?
I have always been a huge believer that, if possible, to let the region of which you are making a product shine through. Allowing that specific region to highlight that product’s identity and character. Fortunately, we are in Minnesota, a region rich with apple breeding at its core. The University of Minnesota is one of only three academic apple breeding programs in the nation. It started over a hundred years ago in the early 1900’s. The only other programs in the nation are Cornell University in New York and Washington State University.
Our hard cider is a blend of varieties that have been bred and developed specifically for us here in Minnesota. Yes, some of the more popular varieties are now known and grown across the globe like the Honeycrisp, but a good handful of them are still primarily only found here in Minnesota.
This also ties back in with Great Grampa Thor and his career at the U of M. When I first started making hard cider, I was told that the apples we have here in Minnesota are not good for making cider. That you can only make good hard cider with cider specific apples found over in Europe. We came to find out this was far from the truth. It did take a couple years, but we finally found a yeast that paired beautifully with our Minnesota apples.
This is what makes our cider unique; it is hard cider the world has never seen before. Hard cider with apples from our backyard. We are making a beautiful, clean, unique, regional-specific hard cider. We love to drink it and couldn’t be more proud of its quality and ultimately how it tastes.
What is something you wish everyone in Minnesota knew about cider?
I always tell people that cider is the beautiful middle ground between beer and wine! The process is exactly like wine in the sense that we are fermenting fresh juice from fruit with different yeasts. You can blend different cider varieties like you do with wine as well. On the other hand, we carbonate it like a beer and have the freedom to flavor it however we want. The only limitation is our own creativity and imagination. Also, you typically find the ABV right between the two. Literally the beautiful middle ground!
“ The only limitation is our own creativity and imagination.”
Tell us a bit about your cidery’s history. When were you founded? What prompted you to make cider?
Our cidery was founded in 2017. It all started about 10 years ago when I was put in charge of the production management at the orchard. It was the perfect introduction into cider making, without me even knowing it. I learned about all the different apple varieties and of course how they each have their own unique taste and flavor profiles.
Something that always bugged me was at the end of every year we would have left over apples. Beautiful Minnesota grown apples that we would literally take out back and dump in a field. One year I decided to do something about it, which resulted in my first batch of hard cider.
I started making small batch after small batch, year after year learning what to do and of course what not to do. A couple years later, when I got to the point where I needed some help, I asked my older brother Andreas if he wanted to give me a hand bottling a batch I had just finished making. His response was, “Wait, is there alcohol in it?” We have been making hard cider together ever since.
“We are very grateful and blessed to get to hang out together every day making a product that we are all very proud of. A product that I know Grandpa Thor would be proud of as well.”
It was only a matter of time after that when we brought our little brother Geoffrey into the mix. We again needed some extra hands and help “testing out” the finished product. Growing up, Geoffrey was always our guinea pig for everything we did. This still lives true to this day.
We are very grateful and blessed to get to hang out together every day making a product that we are all very proud of. A product that I know Grandpa Thor would be proud of as well.
Spread the love … What cider would you recommend from another MN cidery?
One cider, out of the many quality hard ciders produced in this state, I would have to recommend Odin by Number 12 Cider. It is a semi-sweet cider that has a kick to it, coming in at 12.4% ABV. It’s an awesome cider with an equally awesome name!
How can people find you online?
You can find us on Instagram as @thorshardcider, on Facebook as Thor’s Hard Cider, or on our website at www.thorshardcider.com.
