As witches, hermeticists, esotericists & magicians of the past were forced by the institutions of church and state to communicate in code, present-day US cider makers are restricted from participating in the winemaking community, whole-heartedly, by the powers that be within the wine lobbyists and TTB. 

Presently, it is illegal to label vintages, varietals, and the AVA appellations on cider labels. Although cider is categorized as wine by the government, the winemaking community has strong-armed cider from being considered wine to the outward-facing public--which, really, is fine by us. 

Having grown up in the wine country, we are fine with this division because the wine industry has devastated the natural environment of California. Overseas money has industrialized the landscape of California and corporate interests have made it next-to-impossible for family wineries to carry on producing real wine. 

As a result of these restrictions, ciderists have been forced to communicate in code, as if it operating in the dark ages. The spirits of the terroir and dry-farmed fruit that we celebrate must be shared with you, our customers, through encoded means. Maybe someday we will look back together, able to speak freely about what we did, made, and enjoyed together in half-secret. But for now let us make the most of our playful occult symbolism as we present to you our occult keys to our vintages, varietals, terroir, AVAs, and aging methods--