Andy Brennan owns Aaron Burr Cider in New York’s Catskills region. His career started as a freelance artist, working in the fields of photography, design, and architecture. Since its founding in 2011, Aaron Burr Cider has become well known among cider enthusiasts for its natural approach to cider making, using wild apples and yeasts. As a prominent figure in the growing US cider movement, Andy has been featured in print media and on television, radio, and podcasts. He regularly speaks about natural apple growing and cider production at museums, trade events, festivals, restaurants, and anywhere local food enthusiasts are found.
“The best wine book I read this year was not about wine. It was
about cider, though not entirely. It was really about trees and
places, agriculture and culture, and the tension between nature and
industry . . . Uncultivated is thoughtful, pessimistic and hopeful
at the same time. Anybody who loves food, loves wine and ponders
where they come from should read this book."—Eric Asimov, New York
Times
“The Book for Cider Lovers”—New York Times
Booklist— "Brennan is deeply anti-capitalist and endeavors to work
with the land and the trees in a way that is respectful and
sustainable, actively rejecting the conventional wisdom of
entrepreneurship focused on continual growth. The book is written
in a conversational style and readers will get to know the author’s
personality easily."
“Andy Brennan is a stubborn, thoughtful original, and his apple
memoir is powered by inspiring verve and irreverence. Loving apples
or cider is not a prerequisite for loving this book. All that is
needed is the willingness to follow a vibrant narrative
voice driven by the pursuit of dreams.”—Alice Feiring, author
of Naked Wine and For the Love of Wine
“Andy Brennan’s new book Uncultivated is smart, wise, raw,
generous, unapologetic, and poetic. As delicious to drink in and as
profound as the unique and artful ciders he makes.”—Deirdre Heekin,
vintner, La Garagista Winery; author of An Unlikely
Vineyard
“Andy Brennan’s Uncultivated could become the
twenty-first century’s One Straw Revolution. Forty years ago,
Masanobu Fukuoka’s 1970s classic helped define the thinking of
thousands of us searching for a new way to look at farming and the
world. Every cider maker in America will want to
read Uncultivated, and everyone else should, too. Not
only does Brennan explore the questions facing those of us who love
to grow and squeeze apples, he also digs deeply into language, art,
economics, and life itself. Uncultivated is provocative
and fun. Whether you’re a cider maker or not, read this book. It’s
a One Apple Tree Revolution.”—John Bunker, apple historian; author
of Not Far from the Tree
“Part autobiography and part ecological
meditation, Uncultivated presents the case for the
rewilding of our agricultural imagination. Andy Brennan reflects on
the relationship between authenticity, location, and commerce and
finds his deepest truths in the dry farm cider of America’s
Northeast. Above all, this is a celebration of the power of the
wild apple tree to express a sense of place; as it acclimatizes and
adapts, so it tells us the story of the land.”—Francis Percival,
coauthor of Reinventing the Wheel
“This book captivated me—it’s wry and artful, informative and
soulful. In Uncultivated Andy Brennan throws down the
gauntlet (or rather gathering tarp) for cider made from foraged
wild apples, continuing hill town traditions of spirit and
survival. He offers readers a new/old (revolutionary/conservative)
way to think about community, business, and the living world. The
book is bright with art, spirit, and daring.”—Judith Maloney,
cofounder, West County Cider
“Andy Brennan’s journey with the fruit of our desire is wildly
inclined in ways that are going to surprise and delight. Dare I
describe my cider-making friend as raucous? That this
word-loving hooligan is the one orchardist among us who presumes
to ungrow the apple? Open a bottle of your finest, and
make a date with Uncultivated this very evening. The time
has come to ponder the dignity of the apple tree.”—Michael
Phillips, author of The Apple Grower and The
Holistic Orchard
“Every community has its visionaries. At times, they inspire and
enlighten. At others, they vex and confound. But they always push
you to think more deeply, reevaluate your judgments, and become
more intentional, while making you feel a little uncomfortable
in the process. I believe Andy Brennan is a key visionary for
contemporary American cider. In Uncultivated you learn that
while Andy was helping to shape and elevate the national
conversation about cider and apples, he was also evolving in
profound and personal ways. Idealistic and provocative, rebellious
and vulnerable, Andy is both cider’s conscience and a thorn in its
side, and we are the better for his work.”—Ellen Cavalli, editor
and publisher, Malus
“With regards to growing apples and making cider, uncultivation is
a concept that excites me, particularly coming from an American
author. Andy Brennan’s Uncultivated argues a case for
‘natural cider’, and his approach to it is something I hope to see
grow as craft cidermakers aim to express individual quality and
identity. Philosophical, haughty, and enjoyable, Andy’s approach
embraces what American cidermakers strive to understand: American
terroir.”—Bill Bradshaw, coauthor of World’s Best Cider
“American cider has traditionally been deeply regional, dependent
on ungrafted seedling trees like those lining the rocky farm fields
and sandstone ridges of the Hudson Valley in New York. Andy Brennan
and Polly Giragosian name their “locational” ciders after some of
these foraging sites: Neversink Highlands, Shawangunk
Ridge, Mamakating Hollow. Theirs are tannic, rich,
full-bodied, complex drinks. As Brennan writes, ‘Cider making is a
responsibility’—to the trees, the land, good food, and the
community. Uncultivated is a wonderful, timely reminder
of all that this drink can be at its best.”—David Buchanan, owner,
Portersfield Cider; author of Taste, Memory
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