Jerkum

Our guess is your most likely have never heard of Jerkum, but after you try it you will never forget it. Jerkum is the plum equivalent to cider, back in the 19th century it was known as a traditional product of the county of Worcester in England. It is difficult to find much more than a tidbit of information here and there about it or how to make it, so we have set out to rediscover / reinvent it right here in the Santa Cruz mountains. 

We start by using 100% american wild plums found on our property. Each and every tree on our property is a seedling, resulting in each tree having its own unique flavor and character. We taste the fruit from each tree at various stages of ripeness to get an understanding of how that particular tree taste and how the fruit matures. When the fruit is ready we pick, press and ferment each tree individually so that we can get a true understanding of the fruit in every stage as well as the characteristics it will bring to the finished product. Next season we will take scion wood from our favorite trees and start to graft clones of them to ensure that trees qualities will be preserved for future production. 

As far as we know we are currently the first and only producer of Jerkum for sale in the United States. Our jerkum is made from 100% American wild plums found on our property. Each tree produces fruit with its own distinctive flavor and character. 

Straight Jerkum

If your looking to experience everything the plums have to offer and nothing else, Straight Jerkum is what your looking for. To make our straight Jerkum we start with one or more batches of base Jerkum that are blended together to give the profile we are looking for. The Jerkum is then aged a bit longer to let the flavors come together, then its finished, carbonated and either bottled or kegged. 

Blended Jerkum

Historically Jerkum was often blended with cider. Rumor has it that this was done to cut the potency of the Jerkum but we have found that naturally the plums we are growing have roughly the same amount of sugar as the apples, resulting in a similar strength drink. To create our blended Jerkum we start with one of our base Jerkum's and blend it with one of our base ciders, we then age the blend and use that to create one of our finished blended Jerkums.