Vala’s Hard Cider

Kelsey Vala Donovan is taking Vala’s back to its agricultural roots with Vala’s Apple Orchard & Cider Mill.

We wait all year long to invite you to experience a taste of our craft, orchard-based ciders: grown, pressed and fermented right here in Gretna, Nebraska.

Come experience our backyard!

What is Hard Cider?

Vala’s hard cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fresh-pressed apple cider that has gone through the fermentation process, converting sugars into alcohol. It is typically served chilled and bubbly.

What is Sweet Cider?

Sweet cider is simply the unfiltered juice from apples. At Vala’s, whole apples are crushed and pressed to extract the juice, and then the juice is UV treated.

Making Cider

After Vala’s planted the 30+ acre apple orchard on their land, we also built a 7000 sq. ft production facility for producing sweet and hard ciders. In 2020, Vala’s began making both sweet and hard cider in this production facility known as the Cider Mill. We continue to plant more apple trees every year to support the growing demand for sweet and hard ciders, and we are excited to grow a number of cider-specific varieties of apples.

We like to say we make cider the hard way, because it’s true, and it’s the most honest way to showcase our farm’s harvest. Our orchard crew maintains the health and production of over 40,000 apple trees that get pruned each winter and harvested each fall. Each one of those apples gets stored in a 20 bushel bin and then brought to the Cider Mill cold storage. The bins of apples get pressed into cider throughout the fall season.

From there, the cider is either packaged for sweet cider that we sell exclusively at Vala’s; or it goes into a fermentation tank, where we add yeast that will transform all the sugars in the cider into alcohol. We then filter our ciders, flavor with fruits and organic cane sugar, and then finally package into a bottle or keg.

This long process begins with the bees, sun, water, and warm temps of Spring that bring about the apple blossoms; and it ends with the fall harvest, pressing, and a slow fermentation, resulting in the ciders you can drink at Vala’s today.

Visit the Cider Mill this fall to watch as we press our apples into cider!

Core Series

These are our traditional ciders, made from apples grown, pressed and fermented here at Vala’s.

NEBRASKA CLASSIC

Our standard, semi-sweet craft cider made with our own orchard apples

  • Tasting Notes: Semi-Sweet, Tart, Fruit-forward
  • This Nebraska Classic craft apple cider is made with wholesome apples with good morals and values. They just say “no” to apple juice concentrates, and want to have a clean, fun, good time from orchard to bottle.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Always Available
  • Core Series
  • Glitcap 2021 – Silver
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

NEBRASKA DRY

Our own orchard apples fermented dry

  • Tasting Notes: Semi-dry, Crisp, Clean Finish
  • We pay homage to the history of Nebraska’s lost orchards and American hard cider with Nebraska Dry. Made with apples from our own backyard, this dry cider is crisp, balanced, and farm fresh.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Always Available
  • Core Series
  • Glitcap 2021 – Bronze
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

TRACTOR JAM

A sweet, blush craft cider made with strawberries

  • Tasting Notes: Ripe, Jammy Sweetness, Lingering Finish
  • This strawberry cider is inspired by the original strawberry farm that was Vala’s Easy Pickin’s Farm back in 1984. Tim Vala purchased his first ever tractor to plant strawberries, but did not know how to drive it! Luckily for us, he learned quickly, and for those first few years of the farm, guests came to pick strawberries. Now, that’s something to drink to!
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, strawberries. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Always Available
  • Core Series
  • Glitcap 2021 – Bronze
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

CHERRY FIZZ

A bubbly craft cider made with Montmorency tart red cherries

  • Tasting Notes: Sour cherry, Lingering Finish
  • This cherry cider is the bomb. Seriously, be careful. Our Cherry Fizz Cider fuses rich, tart cherries against a just-sweet-enough apple-y background. Refreshing enough to keep you sippin’ on a warm, late summer day. Boom.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, Montmorency cherries. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Always Available
  • Core Series
  • Glitcap 2021 – Bronze
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

Orchard Series

These are our traditional ciders, made from apples grown, pressed and fermented here at Vala’s.

GOLDRUSH DRY CIDER

A tart and dry cider made with Goldrush apples from our orchard

  • Tasting Notes: Tart, Crisp, Clean Finish
  • Lemon acidity and rich aromatics characterize this cider, made with Goldrush apples grown in our backyard. This beautiful apple has the colors reminiscent of a turning fall leaf. Pick a Goldrush at its peak in mid-October from our orchard, or pour it from a bottle all year long. Either way, we’re sure Goldrush will steal your heart as much as it has stolen ours.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select Goldrush apple blend, organic cane sugar. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 7,5 ABV
  • Limited Available
  • Orchad Series
  • Glitcap 2021 – Gold
    Glitcap 2022 – Silver
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

NEBRASKA HEIRLOOM CIDER

A semi-sweet cider made with a blend of bittersweet and bittersharp heirloom cider apples from our orchard

HARVEST HONEYCRISP CIDER

A sweet and bubbly cider made with Honeycrisp apples from our orchard

Spell-Bound Series

These are our traditional ciders, made from apples grown, pressed and fermented here at Vala’s.

WITCHES BREW

A bubbly, dark craft cider made with blackcurrants

  • Tasting Notes: Dark Berry, Sour, Lingering Sweetness
  • Sweet-tart flavor and a deep purple hue, make this fermented blackcurrant cider our most magical. Blackcurrants, a small, glossy, purple-black fruit commonly found in the Old World, fall somewhere between a blackberry and cranberry in flavor. You’ll be positively spell-bound by this brew.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, and blackcurrants. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Always Available
  • Spell-Bound Series
  • Glitcap 2021 – Silver
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

PINEAPPLE LOVE POTION

A loveable, semi-sweet cider, touched with a splash of pineapple and lavender

  • Tasting Notes: Pineapple Sweetness, Lingering Tart Finish, Subtle Lavender Aroma
  • Inspired by the vibrant, tropical sweetness of pineapple, we created Pineapple Love Potion with our fermented apple juice base, pineapple juice, and lavender buds. This bewitching elixir will arouse your senses with a subtle floral hint. You can’t help but fall in love.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, pineapple juice, and lavender. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Limited Available
  • Spell-Bound Series

  • NEW!

Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

Limited Release & Seasonal

These are our traditional ciders, made from apples grown, pressed and fermented here at Vala’s.

HOPPY APPLE

A lightly hopped craft cider

  • Tasting Notes: Soft Hop, Refreshing Finish
  • There is something about hops and cider that just go together. We take our fresh orchard apples and build layers of floral aromas and subtle bitterness with the addition of hops. It’s sure to make you hoppy… well, happy.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, and a blend of hops. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Very Limited Release
  • Seasonal Series
  • —
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

COZY CRANBERRY

A blush cranberry cider aged on Ceylon cinnamon

  • Tasting Notes: Sweet, Warming, Tart Berry
  • For snuggling up in a cozy cabin or toasting family and friends, our cinnamon-scented cranberry cider is comforting and festive. Our fermented apple cider is infused with the flavor of citrusy, subtle Ceylon cinnamon and sweet-tart cranberries, to make a beautiful blushing beverage.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, cranberries, and Ceylon cinnamon. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 6,5 ABV

  • Limited Available
  • Spell-Bound Series

  • Glitcap 2021 – Gold

Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

SUMMER PEACH

A sweet and sessionable peach cider

  • Tasting Notes: Refreshing, ripe peach sweetness
  • Inspired by the twisty, sprawling peach trees that line the original one-acre apple orchard at Vala’s, we developed this delightfully sweet and refreshing peach cider. It showcases everything we love about peaches, and reminds us of hot August days, plucking soft, ripe peaches from branches so full, they hang heavy with the harvest.
  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, and peach juice. Contains sulfites.
Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 5,5 ABV

  • Very Limited Release

  • Seasonal Series

  • NEW!

Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

BLACKBERRY

NEW! A semi-dry cider made with Marion Blackberries. 

Barrel-Aged Series

These are our traditional ciders, made from apples grown, pressed and fermented here at Vala’s.

IMPERIAL CHERRY

Carbonated cider with cherry juice

  • Tasting Notes: Dark Cherry, Oak, Hints of Bourbon Barrel, Balanced Sweetness

  • Imperial Cherry has a robust bourbon barrel backbone with dark, round notes of cherry. We take our orchard apples, press and ferment them dry, and then age for over 6 months in oak barrels. We then blend with Montmorency tart red cherry juice and lightly carbonate for a full-bodied, Imperial-inspired experience, made to pair with the chill of late fall evenings.

  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, Montmorency cherries, aged in barrels.

    Contains sulfites. Naturally Gluten-Free.

Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 10 ABV
  • Very Limited Release
  • Barrel-Aged Series
  • NEW!
Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate

BOURBON-BARREL BLUEBERRY

Carbonated cider with blueberry juice

  • Tasting Notes: Refreshing Blueberry Sweetness, Oak, Hints of Bourbon Barrel Aging

  • Our cocktail-inspired, barrel-aged Bourbon Barrel Blueberry is a deliciously refreshing and bold summer sipper. We take our orchard apples, press and ferment them dry, and then age the cider for over six months in oak barrels. We then blend with a splash of blueberry juice and lightly carbonate it for a subtle sweetness and bubbly texture that balances the pronounced flavor of oaky astringency.

  • Ingredients: Fermented on the farm with a select blend of orchard apples, organic cane sugar, blueberry juice, and aged in barrels.

    Contains sulfites. Naturally Gluten-Free. 

Sweetness Scale

DRY

SWEET

  • 10 ABV
  • Very Limited Release
  • Barrel-Aged Series

  • NEW!

Gluten Free
Not From Concentrate