About Western Cider Company: Founder Michael Billingsley and his wife Arielle planted a cider apple orchard in Montana's Bitterroot Valley in 2010. They found a bench with bare land above the valley floor. Historically, this bench was heavily planted with apple trees in the Bitterroot apple boom days. Irrigation for the orchard is gravity fed from The Big Ditch, which was originally constructed at the turn of the century to irrigate the original Bitterroot apple orchards. The Billingsley Cider Orchard has more than 2,500 apple trees, and takes inspiration and planting styles from modern American dessert apple orchards, French cidre orchards, Spanish Sidra orchards, English cider orchards, and Michael’s own hair brain ideas.  

Part of Western Cider's mission is to create 'easy going and traditional' ciders. The traditional ciders are crafted using cider apples from their own orchard, neighboring orchards in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, and apples gleaned through their Community Cider Collaborations. Their easy going ciders use apples from their neighbors to the west - Oregon and Washington - and range from off-dry classics like the Poor Farmer, to less traditional ciders like Whiskey Peach and Sour Cherry. Western Cider is committed to making cider for everyone - from easy-drinking to complex, affordable and high-end, traditional and experimental.