Tucked away in the northern part of Michigan’s Macomb County is an 800-acre farm that has been in operation for more than 75 years. The farm is home to Blake’s Hard Cider Co. (BHC), which was founded in 2013 by Andrew Blake after he got the idea to transform the family business while attending Michigan State University.

Now, Blake serves as the president of Blake’s Family of Companies. He also wears another hat as well: founder and CEO of Blake’s Beverage Co. (BBC).

The BHC recently joined forces with Austin Eastciders, Austin, Texas, and AVID Cider Co., Bend, Ore., to form BBC, an independent cider company with a distribution footprint spanning across 40 states.

Blake says the beverage company is in a fortunate position regarding the overall hard cider market.

“We control three very strong, regional cider brands,” he says. “Blake’s Hard Cider is the fastest-growing cider brand in the country right now, with heavy help from American Apple and Triple Jam both bending industry trends. What’s nice about the position we’re in, as we continue to evolve all three of our brands, is we are in a place where we can move the market, to some degree, with our success, and we’re continuing to do that.”

Especially with the new generation of drinkers who grew up online, Blake says that the fruit-forward and full-flavored aspects of cider speak to them in a way that beer and other products do not.

“We’re catching on with that next-generation drinker and we’re finding more momentum and support,” he notes. “So I feel really good and really optimistic about the next three to five years.”

As far as consumer trends go, Blake suspects that being a farm-based beverage company is a plus, because consumers know where the ingredients come from and who they’re made by.

“Having that attachment to a real company has a real benefit with consumers right now,” he adds.

“We built our platform on fruit-forward beverages and that’s a huge trend that continues to curry favor with the younger generation,” he explains. “You are also seeing inclination toward higher ABV (alcohol-by-volume). People want the same experience, but want to consume less than they used to, as far as the amount of drinks. But they still want the same experience.”

BHC carries a line of imperial ciders all at 8% ABV. The line consists of American Apple, American Berry, Tropical Mango and Big Jam, a play on the regular Triple Jam. Blake says that the imperial line has seen great growth and feels it is working well to appeal to consumers.

Collaborating with the other cider brands under the umbrella of BBC has been a unique experience, Blake says. He describes it as each brand having its own soul and spirit. BHC is rooted in its farming heritage and tradition, taking inspiration from agricultural aspects of the family farm. Meanwhile, Blake says that, with its location, Austin Eastciders is in a mecca of food, entertainment and beverage.

“There’s a lot of intersection of cultures and different dynamics happening there,” Blake notes. “The playground that you can create products from at Austin is much different than Blake’s and much different than AVID out in the Pacific Northwest, which has a whole different vibe and feel.”

Blake characterizes AVID as being connected to the outdoors and West Coast culture. All three cider companies working together is a fun and creative environment for developing products and ideas, he says.

“We’re lucky, and we have a way in which they all work together as we put together our national strategy more broadly,” Blake adds.

Standing out on the shelf

When asked what differentiates BHC products from others on the market, Blake states that the company truly understands the fruit it’s working with.

“We have a historical context of understanding what makes really great juice, which helps us, because it’s not a complicated product,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s a pretty simple, natural process. If you start with good ingredients, you end with a great product. And as farmers, we understood the supply chain. I think we built our business on a real supply chain strategy that focuses on quality ingredients and quality product, in the end.”

The most successful products across the BBC portfolio include Austin Eastciders Original, which Blake says is a strong brand for the Austin-based cider company. Original is a dry cider that is described on the company’s website as “a crisp, smooth dry craft cider made with bittersweet apples and dessert apples.” It also was the bronze winner at the 2017 World Cider Championships.

Blake says that BHC’s American Apple, one of the previously mentioned imperial ciders, is on fire.

“Triple Jam is kind of our lead horse that really got us into every bar everywhere when we first launched,” Blake shares. “That’s growing, and it’s a five-year-old brand, and continuing to have double-digit growth. We’re super lucky and fortunate to have a good cadre of products that do well and are unique in a lot of ways.”

One of the newest innovations from BHC is an all-natural blue raspberry cider that Blake says will hit the market next year.

“We’re testing it on draft now, but it’s been our most demanded draft product we’ve ever produced and will be part of our seasonal SKU next year,” he adds. “The one I’m really excited about that is launching in November is our Peanut Butter and Jam imperial cider that we’re launching for the holiday season.”

Blake says that there is huge opportunity to innovate flavor profiles within the Austin Eastciders brand as well, especially thanks to its influences from Tex-Mex, Southern, Hispanic and Latin-inspired culture. Consumers can expect a line of agua frescas from Austin next spring.

“We just got done paneling and comparing our products to the market and they’re being received well,” Blake shares. “So, early signs point to: it’s going to be awesome. We’re excited.”

BBC products currently can be found on shelves in 40 states. As far as expanding that distribution footprint, Blake says that the beverage company is working on “internal optimization” within those states and will expand slowly.

“We’re putting together a broad strategy that has the total portfolio in mind, and that’s going to take some time,” he notes. “I want to iron that out and dial that in before we add in additional states.”

Blake says that growth has been organic among the three brands, and he expects that BBC products will be in all 50 states soon, although it’s not yet set in stone.

The BHC team is known for being on top of social media trends. That’s because the team knows where the consumers are at, Blake states.

“We are very engaged,” he says. “We communicate well. I think we have a sense of humor about ourselves and our marketing team does a great job there.”

Approachable and an everyman or woman’s brand is how Blake describes the marketing team. The team finds content that resonates with consumers, he says.

“We’ve done a good job landing the spirit of the brand with consumers and that’s taken a lot of time,” he adds. “Where we’ve really excelled over the last two years, is we’ve invested very heavily in our trade marketing program and putting together a 360 product to market ideas that show up and activate in retail, with scan-to-wins, rebates and programming in effect when it hits the market.

“We’ve taken that step from being a young, scrappy, entrepreneurial marketing-based company that’s communicating in all channels, to one that’s actually driving that communication through to retail,” Blake continues. “That’s been a big part of our success recently.”

Within the last year, BHC has collaborated with another Michigan brand, Gypsy Spirits. The collaboration has allowed BHC to offer their products in a spirits format, something that Blake says consumers, retailers and distributors alike had been asking for.

“We’re busy keeping up with our growth here on the cider side, and I didn’t want to distract the team from getting into spirit production here,” Blake explains.

Along with the Petoskey-based distillery, Blake’s has rolled out Apple Pie Vodka, Triple Jam Vodka and American Apple Whiskey.  Apple Pie Vodka launched as a seasonal offering last fall, and Blake says it was the fastest-selling vodka in the state for that period of time. He calls it a test.

“We came back in 2024 with a more robust portfolio of products and offerings that we’re just scratching the surface with, so we’re going to continue to evolve that,” Blake shares. “That’ll stay regional for now, but can continue to evolve and mature.”

A next generation beverage company

With October being National Cider Month, Blake says that fans can expect to see a huge campaign rolling out at retailers across the country. American Apple will be the center of these campaigns.

Blake adds that American Apple is a brand of BHC that communicates the spirit and ethos of BBC.

“We think it speaks to the spirit of Blake’s and spirit of the consumer,” he shares. “We’re proud of that brand and very grateful for retailers of seeing the opportunity to expand cider in the month of October. We’re going to continue to evolve the moment cider is explored, expressed and celebrated.”

Blake expects that the cider category will continue to grow and is excited for BBC to be leading that charge. He shares that the company will continue to innovate and expand its offerings.

“We’re distancing ourselves from the competition, as far as our growth, scale and size, we’re well on our way to being the No. 1 cider company in the country,” Blake expresses.

Blake also is grateful for all the company’s loyal fans.

“We’ve been blessed to have a great core group of believers in the product, believers in the brand and believers in the story,” he says. “We started very small, very organically, and I think that’s why we have such raving fans. We are committed to keeping the spirit of that as we grow nationally and become a leader in the category, and not just cider, but in a fourth category of beyond-beer beverages.”

He feels that BBC will be the next great, next generation beverage company.

“We believe that internally here, and I think our retailers and consumers also believe that,” Blake says. “We appreciate the opportunity to serve and create beverages that facilitate fun and conversation for people. We feel very fortunate every day that we get to come to the farm and do what we’ve been doing for the last 12 years.”