Prost Profiles: Blue Barn Cidery co-founder Jeremy Wolf

I remember standing in the massive, cavernous blue structure more than five years ago as I prepped for a D&C interview with my former colleague Jamie Germano. It was incredibly difficult for me to see the vision Jill and Jeremy Wolf shared.

Sure, I could see the bones of the space and I loved that it was opening on a multi-generational family farm. But I’ll admit that I didn’t quite get Blue Barn Cidery, 928 Manitou Road in Greece. Did the North Greece/Hilton area really have an appetite for craft hard cider? Would the location support the lofty ambitions of the Wolfs? (In hindsight, I was a complete dummy and it’s clear Jill and Jeremy really knew what they were doing.)

(You can relive that visual journey through Jamie’s incredible photos here: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/picture-gallery/lifestyle/rocflavors/2017/07/18/greeces-blue-barn-cidery/103809884/.)

(Plus, here’s my original profile: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/lifestyle/rocflavors/2017/07/26/greeces-blue-barn-cidery-apple-wolf-familys-eye/481419001/.)

As the Wolfs prepare to celebrate the project’s sixth anniversary later this year, Blue Barn has become a destination as it draws people from across the region looking to pick apples in the fall (across 32 acres between two adjoining farms), enjoy a quality meal or an incredible weekend brunch, or just relax over a cider or a beer with friends and family. And that’s not even counting the neighboring Pomona event facility, the one that hosted nearly 100 weddings in 2022. And even that’s not counting the smashing success Blue Barn’s packaged ciders have become, both directly from the facility and through retail partners like Wegmans.

The lesson here: Don’t ever doubt people with passion, drive, and diligence.

For the latest Prost Profile, I caught up with Jeremy, Blue Barn’s vice president who oversees distribution, maintenance, and ordering, to chat about the journey, the present, and then the future at Blue Barn. Expect big things. Jeremy and Jill are the fifth generation to run the farm. Their sons will potentially be the sixth. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

Q: So we’re sitting at your wife’s family farm, was there ever the thought that this would become what it has become? And how have you deviated from the original plan?

A: The farm wasn’t bringing in the revenue it needed to keep it operating. So we needed to diversify and find other options for using the apples. We wanted to bring in new customers to rejuvenate this. The original plan was to open a cidery where we could invite the public to come in and purchase fresh produce when we have it available from the farm, consume drinks, and have a space where families and friends could meet up and hang out.

We also knew that we wanted to host events, mainly weddings. The first year we opened our tasting room for customers to hold weddings here and we had a second tasting room in the back (that could be open at the same time weddings were held). We saw right away that there was a huge demand for this style of weddings in this area. So pulled the trigger early on our five-year plan to build the wedding venue Pomona. That’s in its third year of operation and it’s really full steam ahead. We’re doing a ton of events, not just weddings. A ton of holiday parties and corporate events and team-building days. It’s nice to have a venue we can also utilize for our own staff.

Q: Have you been surprised with how quickly things have grown, even during a pandemic?

A: We are very shocked at how the public has embraced us and encouraged us to keep growing and to keep doing new things. We would be nowhere without the support of everyone who comes into our tasting room.

Q: Give me a quick summary of everything you’ve done over the last five years.

A: For the farm, we were able to upgrade all of our apple variety signs and were able to plant new trees and new varieties for customers. We were able to pave part of the drive which is a big feat, not only for our staff but our customers. That has cut down on the dust here for people who come through for u-pick. We have WiFi out there now, which sounds funny for some, but now we can take credit cards and deal with 2023 transactions. We have made many upgrades to this building. We’ve expanded from a kitchen that was probably 200 square feet to one that is close to 3,500 square feet now. We have full-time chefs working all the time. We get deliveries three days a week for our produce and meat, so it’s always coming in fresh. We put in a bakery area and have fresh baked goods every day. The wedding venue, we kind of turned it from just a wedding venue to more of an entertainment venue.

Probably the biggest thing that we didn’t see coming was distribution (of canned ciders). For three years, we kept telling ourselves we don’t need distribution because we’re doing really well here. We were just going to keep it all in house. With everything shut down, we saw a need to have the stability of being in the grocery store. That (shutdown) really hurt a lot of places and we had nowhere to sell but curbside. We did really well there. But we saw that if something were to happen again, we would have something to fall back on. And that has shown us that we’re pulling in customers from areas we never expected to reach. They see us on the shelf and they read our story on the can and they’re driving from 90 minutes away or more. Now we’re selling even more cider out of our shop than we ever anticipated.

Q: How many accounts, just in the Monroe County area, do you service?

A: Right around 350 currently and just about 100 more in Buffalo. We still sell most of our own product right out of our taproom and our own shop which is just shocking.

Q: The goal was always to use the apples grown on the farm for your ciders. Is this still the case?

A: Yes! We currently make about 20 different ciders. I think we’re in a good spot right now. We’re focused on investing what we have into making everything just a little bit better.

(Aside: Jostaberry Jam remains the cidery’s best seller by a pretty wide margin.)

Q: What has surprised you the most during this whirlwind journey?

A: Just how much my wife and I can work. There are weeks where work together but we don’t see each other, because we’re both working on so many different projects. It makes it tough having a family, making sure you’re setting aside time where you’re not answering your phone, not trying to do emails because you’re home and trying to spend time with them. But I think we do a really good job of separating ourselves when we walk in the door at home and making sure we’re good parents. (The Wolfs have two sons, Weston, 2, and Wilder, 3.) When we leave in the morning, our kids know we’re going to work and we’re going to try to make people happy. When we come home, that’s their time. We joked in our first interview 5 1/2 years ago that the barn was our baby. Now the barn has grown up and we have great staff and employees. (Blue Barn had four employees in its first year and now employs almost 60 people.)

Q: What might the future hold? Anything that’s on your wish list?

A: My wife never stops dreaming, never stops thinking of different avenues to go down. I think there will be more construction in our future. I wanna improve on our outdoor concerts for the summer. I wanna improve on our events, like Cider Fest weekend and some of our larger weekends. I wanna improve the experience for both customers and employees. I’d love to get a stage built to bring in larger acts. I think that’s a niche for us, because we have so much space where we could grow. More storage would be nice, too.

Q: Are you having fun?

A: Yes! Every day we wake up and I’m thankful to be working for ourselves. The only person I have to answer to is my wife and I don’t know if that’s much different for lots of other husbands. She just pays me to say yes, which is great.

Wunderbar Lagerfest at Steuben Brewing

Here’s your chance to enjoy the finest lagers produced at the Finger Lakes. Steuben Brewing, 10286 Judson Road in Pultneyville, is hosting its annual Wunderbar Lagerfest from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19.

According to owner/brewer Chad Zimar, the event highlights some of the best lagers produced at Steuben, as well as some special guest taps from some of Steuben’s friends. The event is free. (You pay for each pour.) It’ll feature plentiful lagers, live music, and German-style foods.

And Steuben is also offering a commemorative lager glass for $20 that will include two fills. Surely this isn’t one to be missed.

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