Best friends since fifth grade, Soham Bhatt and Jake Mazar were looking for careers after graduating college.
The Nipmuc Regional High School graduates (Bhatt is from Upton and Mazar is from Mendon) had an apartment together when inspiration struck.
“We graduated from college-type of beverages to the finer things in life,” said Bhatt, 31. “We discovered craft cider around the same time we discovered craft beer. We toyed around with some ideas, and the conversation kept coming back to cider because we both love it.”
That spark of an idea turned into the Artifact Cider Project, which Bhatt and Mazar opened in 2014.
“Cider is accessible to people,” said Bhatt. “There was high interest in using local apples because we grow the best apples around here. We wanted to make ciders that were provocative, but also enjoyable to drink. That was kind of the impetus for us to get into the whole thing.”
Artifact started small, originally brewing only about 500 gallons of cider at a small brewing facility in Springfield in that first year. There, they learned how to make different ciders, and how to blend the various apples to achieve the flavors they desired.
They also received some assistance from West County Cider in Colrain.
“They’re the pioneers of the craft cider movement,” said Bhatt. “They taught me a lot about cider making and the cider making philosophy.”
Since then, Artifact has grown immensely. It produces about 25,000 cases of cider, and now makes its home in Everett.
But, despite those changes, what hasn’t changed is the philosophy behind their cider making.
“We’ve expanded our orchards a little bit, but we’ve kept our ethos of working with local fruits,” said Bhatt. “We use mostly Massachusetts fruits, but state lines are arbitrary when it comes to products like apples. State lines are political; we’re focusing on terroir, mostly from the upper Connecticut Valley.”
Artifact makes a variety of ciders, but the release schedules are unique, because they are based on apple blends and what each year-to-year apple harvest looks like, Bhatt said.
Wild Things is typically released in October. The cider is made with early harvest Macintosh apples, which give the cider a “bright” taste.
“When that brightness is gone, we switch over to Feels Like Home, which is a heartier cider,” Bhatt said.
A new cider that recently debuted is Wolf at The Door, which is made with Macintosh and Dabinett apples.
“It’s a very provocative cider,” said Bhatt. “It’s a cider that just a few years ago it would have been hard to make. It’s bone dry and tart. It’s almost like a sour beer.”
Artifact also brews several ciders that use Roxbury Russet apples. It is one of the oldest apple varieties found in the U.S., and was originally discovered in Massachusetts in 1640.
Artifact has brewed several ciders with that apple, and this year, they’re releasing the Roxbury Russet Project, which will be several interpretations of a cider brewed with that apple.
All of Artifact ciders are available in fur packs of 16-ounce cans, except an occasional bottle of special releases.
“We really want to emphasize that New England grows the best apples and we want to showcase the flavor profiles that those apples can produce,” Bhatt said.
Norman Miller is a Daily News staff writer. Email him at nmiller@wickedlocal.com or call at 508-626-3823. Check out the Beer Nut blog at blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @RealBeerNut and on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerBeerNut.