"The apples John Chapman brought to the frontier were very different than today's apples—and they weren't meant to be eaten."

Photo credit and story: Louisville Courier-Journal.

Recalling that New Albany businessman will soon be opening a cider bar, and hopes to produce his own cider at some point, it's always a good idea to rewind and see where it all started.

The Real Johnny Appleseed Brought Apples—and Booze—to the American Frontier, by Natasha Geiling (Smithsonian)

The apples John Chapman brought to the frontier were very different than today's apples—and they weren't meant to be eaten

On a family farm in Nova, Ohio, grows a very special apple tree; by some claims, the 175 year old tree is the last physical evidence of John Chapman, a prolific nurseryman who, throughout the early 1800s, planted acres upon acres of apple orchards along America's western frontier, which at the time was anything on the other side of Pennsylvania.

Today, Chapman is known by another name—Johnny Appleseed—and his story has been imbued with the saccharine tint of a fairytale. If we think of Johnny Appleseed as a barefoot wanderer whose apples were uniform, crimson orbs, it's thanks in large part to the popularity a segment of the 1948 Disney feature, Melody Time, which depicts Johnny Appleseed in Cinderella fashion, surrounded by blue songbirds and a jolly guardian angel.

But this contemporary notion is flawed, tainted by our modern perception of the apple as a sweet, edible fruit. The apples that Chapman brought to the frontier were completely distinct from the apples available at any modern grocery store or farmers' market, and they weren't primarily used for eating—they were used to make America's beverage-of-choice at the time, hard apple cider.

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Two new breweries coming to Louisville, and a cider bar to New Albany.

A long story made short: Some years ago at NABC's R & D Brewery, Jared Williamson took on an intern of sorts named Kyle Tavares. Later they both migrated to St. Louis to work for Schlafly, and now Kyle has returned to Louisville to brew at Mile Wide.

I've been following Old Louisville's progress on Twitter, and it's been fascinating to see how much has gone into rehabbing the building prior to brewing equipment arriving.

And: Matt's CIDEways project is a ten-minute walk from my house. A few weeks ago, we rode up to Indy and visited New Day, where cider and mead now sell 50/50.

I'm looking forward to all three of these.

Brewery Roundup: Mile Wide, Old Louisville, CIDEways on track to open in 2016, by Kevin Gibson (Insider Louisville)

Monnik Beer Co. and Akasha Brewing Co. both opened in late 2015, while Goodwood Brewing rose from the ashes of the Bluegrass Brewing Co. production brewery. In addition, 3rd Turn Brewing made its debut in Jeffersontown early this year.

But Louisville isn’t finished. Two breweries and a cidery are in various stages of completion in the area: Mile Wide Beer Co., Old Louisville Brewery, and CIDEways, which will eventually become a cider brewery in New Albany.

Here are the latest updates on these three up-and-comers ...

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