LEWISBURG, Pa. — It's called Misfit Mashup Hard Cider, and it's made with produce that doesn't look good but tastes great.
Robert Antanitis and Ben Fink took a celebratory first drink of their new product on Tuesday.
Antanitis is a cider producer in Lewisburg, and Fink is a senior Environmental Studies major at Bucknell University.
Recently, the two collaborated on the new beverage. A few years ago, Fink interned at a brewery in Australia and learned about sustainability. He wanted to bring that knowledge back home.
"Being in central Pennsylvania where there's an orchard every ten minutes, there was a great opportunity to make a cider and not have a lot of waste. The setup was perfect, in my opinion, and I'm really proud," Fink said.
Misfit Mashup Hard Cider uses what is known as "ugly fruit."
"We choose bad apples or otherwise not aesthetically pleasing to be sold on a shelf, but it's still good enough to be sold in a cider. It's a little bruised, but it's still perfectly good," Fink said.
Civil War Cider has been in Lewisburg since 2013. Antinitis regularly comes up with new ciders and makes them in-house. He Says fink worked with him every step of the way on this project.
"From the logistics of how to get the apples to the cider press, then to the fermentation, to getting it in the can, and doing all of the marketing and everything," Antinitis said. "The cider is really dry, and it has a thick, wonderful apple taste to it. So, if you're an apple cider drinker, this is an apple cider drinker's cider."
Civil War Cider will debut Misfit Mashup Hard Cider on Friday at Lewisburg's Late Night Shoppers event.