Now the amber liquid is bubbling away in steel vats along the walls of a big cellar. Albert — sometimes with his Canadian enologist — tastes it just about every day to decide when to stop the fermentation. Ice cider makers aim for a subtle balance of apple, sugar, and acidity. Each variety of late-season apple creates a different flavor. Honey Crisp apples, for example, have a hint of honey, though no bees were involved.

A lot of people who don't love sweet dessert wines like ice cider. Apples are naturally more tart than grapes, so they leave a crisper, fresher aftertaste. And apples may be New England's true terroir. Though Calvinists might have frowned on turning a Northern Spy into a thimbleful of booze, hard apple cider was a popular alcoholic drink in Colonial America. Now that it's making a comeback with brands like Woodchuck, ice cider wine seems to be riding on its coattails.

Eden, Vermont's largest producer, is filling about 40,000 bottles a year, and it's available in at least 20 states. Vermont has sprouted at least five other ice cider makers, with more likely to venture into the orchard as the trend takes off.

So what else can you do with this alcoholic ambrosia, besides sip it? At 30 bucks a bottle, most thrifty New Englanders serve it in slender stemmed goblets on special occasions.

Martha Stewart gave it a thumbs up for Thanksgiving fare. You can also shake it up in cocktails. Eden has just come out with an aperitif cider infused with red currants and bitters, and they are now fermenting something like an apple champagne.

"We want Vermont to be known for ice cider," Eleanor Leger says. "This is apple country."

But Maine, New York, Michigan, and Washington are starting to ride the ice cider wave, too. The question is not whether they have enough apples. The real test will be whether they have enough ice.

There, at least this year, far northern Vermont may have them beat.

Copyright 2014 Vermont Public Radio.

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The Upside of All This Cold? A Boom in Ice Cider