- The Dexter Cider Mill is celebrating 140 years of operation, making it the longest continually operating mill in the state of Michigan.
- The mill’s cider blend includes an intricate combination of apple types, including golden delicious but never red delicious apples.
- The mill offers traditional fare like cider and doughnuts, but also sells hard cider and other apple-based products.
It’s October, which means it’s now cider mill season. And like every good Michigander, the Stateside team took a trip to Dexter Cider Mill to learn more about how they make their smooth cider and cakey, soft cinnamon sugar doughnuts.
And they’ve perfected both of those fall staples in their 140 years of operation, which they’re celebrating this year. The milestone marks them as the longest continually operating mill in the state of Michigan.
The Steinhauer family is behind that operation, led by Nancy and Marty and their adult children. Nancy joined Stateside to take them on a tour of the mill and walk them through the milling process. The tour started outside the mill, where giant bins of apples await the process of becoming a drink.
How the cider gets made
Nancy Steinhauer (NS): So this is the first step of the process. We get our apples delivered from a large orchard on the west side of the state, north of Grand Rapids. These we call these bins or boxes. There are 20 bushels. In each of these bins will come bins.
April Baer (AB): This place is a mob scene on the weekends. What day do the apples get delivered?
NS: So that varies. They come in in the middle of the night on a flatbed truck. It will either be Tuesday night or Wednesday night, so we have capability to unload them, get them ready for us to press. And then up here we start with washing the apples. They go down a grind. They go down through a washer, they get ground up and then we'll go down the press room.
AB: Nancy walks us down slope along the side of the building. We're headed to the Apple Press, which is subterranean for a few good reasons.
NS: Oh, look at that first key.
AB: Yay! Oh, wow. Okay, so we're going under the building.
NS: So they built the cider mill on the river. Well, one, they used to dump the mash in there, but also for the coolness. It's like a root cellar almost.
AB: What you see with this cider making machine is a shoot from above, a series of layered oak racks and a large stainless steel pan with a drain right in the middle. Off to the side. There's also a giant floor to ceiling wheel and pulley system. It powers the press and it has been here as long as the mill.
NS: So that's where we talked about. The washer is above us right here. And then the apples get washed and ground and then they come down into the press.
AB: So the ground up apples actually come down through a hole in the floor. Yeah. The chute. Yeah.
NS: Two stories for for gravity reasons back in the day when they didn't have the power to maneuver.
NS: So when my parents bought the mill this was all wood. Marty and I have changed it to stainless just for obviously safety reasons and whatnot. We have a little bit of the oak still in the process, which we think adds a lot to the cider, but again, a lot's been transferred over to stainless. This is our rolling rack. We will put an oak rack down first and then it's an oak and rack, excuse me, cloth and rack system. So then we would put a cloth down for bushels of apples. Fold that like an envelope, put another rack, another cloth for more bushels of apples. And at this point we're blending the apples upstairs. We use 3 to 5 different apples in the blend. Probably go through 20 to 25 different varieties throughout the season. As we progress through the season, the cider gets sweeter the longer the apple sits on the tree, the higher the sugar content. Therefore, the sweeter the cider. It's not. Just throw a bunch of apples in and see what you come up with. There is a method to our madness and my husband, Marty, does all that.
AB: So how? I mean, how amazing is it to that? The technology hasn't really brought any innovations that this that this press couldn't do. I love that.
NS: You we probably could have a more efficient press. This is very physical. The new ones, you know, they come with a grinder and you walk around with the hose. It's a little different, but we truly are trying to keep the tradition so people can come in and see how the cider was made 100 years ago. Some days, we'd like something a little easier, but Marty has just done a great job perfecting this. We're super efficient. I can't give him enough kudos to how he has been able to work this to keep up with the demands that we have upstairs for it. So.
AB: And the flavor really speaks for itself. I just wanted to note that there are a couple of wrenches and screwdrivers, and just like everything, you'd need to keep your press just the way you want it right at hand here.
NS: And if they're not here when we need them, somebody's in trouble. Because who took the… right? Exactly.
Laura Weber Davis: That wrench looks like it might be 440 years old.
NS: Yeah, it's enough grease on it for sure to have that. Absolutely.
Celebrating the traditions
AB: Now that we've gotten a tour of the mill, it's time to learn a bit more about the operation and how this one family supplies so many people with cider and doughnuts every day for multiple generations. I mean, there are people who have literally been coming here for generations. I bet you hear that a lot.
NS: I see that a lot. My parents bought the mill when I was a sophomore in high school. So, or excuse me, a sophomore in college, and I have watched families come in with their kids. Now those kids are bringing their kids and grandma. And, you know, the parents at that time were parents. And their grandparents. So that is one of my most favorite things of the mill. So tradition and generations coming in.
AB: Obviously, people come here from Dexter, and I think you get a lot of Ann Arbor rights too. Where else do people visit from?
NS: Well, we have tons of people from Chicago. We have had our pies travel internationally to Dubai, but he would pick up a pie frozen. By the time he landed, his wife had the oven on, the pie was defrosted and into the oven it went. So we, I mean, just everywhere. The football games bring people in from whoever they're playing against and whatnot. So we've got great friends from Maryland that come in that we've befriended through the cider mill and all over the country, which is amazing.
AB: So it's just so nice that everyone, you know, from all over, wherever they're coming from, can enjoy this. Unless, of course, they're from Columbus, Ohio.
NS: Yes, right. Yes. But we welcome everybody. So red or white or blue and gold or green and white. We're all here for it. So, yeah.
The history behind the mill
AB: You mentioned the fact that your folks bought the operation in your lifetime. Can you tell us a little bit about the history of this building going all the way back?
NS: Going all the way back? Well, I did just find something interesting out. It was a flour mill before a cider mill. So that is new information. So I have to dig into that a little bit. But in 1886, Mr. Van Natter built this for farmers to bring their apples in because their drinking water was a poor quality around. So that's the guy that was the basis of the cider mill. He sold it to the Wagners. And then at that point it started to become more of a family tradition. And then obviously my parents bought it from the Wagners, and we've just continued on with that. So just the fall fun of cider and doughnuts and a crisp day with the leaves changing. And yeah.
AB: We are on a river. Do you know if a paddle wheel was at one point a part of this operation?
NS: There was no paddle wheel ever. People. That is a big assumption because we are on the river. What the owners did before us is, and there's tracks out there, they have a little trolley cart. They would dump the mash into the river. So we've been told the fish were like massive because of all the vegetation that the mash provided. So we don't do that anymore. But that is another reason why it's on the river for disposal.
AB: How did your parents get the idea that, you know what? We might want to buy a cider mill?
NS: Right. So many years ago, actually 61 or 2 years ago, they were here on a date. My dad's from the East Coast. The mill reminded him of being back home. And he said to my mom, someday, I'd love to own something like this. And lo and behold they purchased it as a retirement project. No idea what we were doing, just thought it would be fun to have a cider mill. My mom has a food background so she was great with the doughnut situation. We were told that some guys would help us transition and teach my dad and whatnot, and that didn't last very long. So we dug in and here we are and we know what we're doing. So we figured it out.
AB: Yes. You learn by doing.
NS: Correct. Exactly.
AB: At what point did you and your husband start to take more of a role in the operations?
NS: Actually, we, in 2003, Marty and I ... So when my parents bought the mill, obviously, I said I was a sophomore in college, finished my education, kind of did my thing for a while, was still working here on the weekends, helping my parents. And then when I had my kids, my dad just said, come on, let's just just do this with me and we'll whatever. And that's when I was just here full time, worked seasonally. And then Marty obviously would help on the weekends and whatnot. He may scratch his head at that point going, what are we getting into? But it's been perfect for us with our children. Now they're involved. You know, they had a great time growing up here. Their wives are all on board. Grandkids are popping in on the weekends, so just hope to continue it on. Yeah.
What it takes to operate the mill
AB: What kind of life is it?
NS: I think, I do think it's funny, somebody asked us the other day, like what? What do people, don't see behind the scenes? And our hours are crazy. I mean, I'm up at three in the morning. 3:30 arrival. You know, we do close at five. We're out of here pretty, well at five, and we're closed Monday and Tuesdays. I don't take those days off. It's busy, but it's OK. I mean, we people think we work three months out of the year, which is not so. I mean, there's more to it than that. A lot of prepping paperwork, all that kind of stuff. Physically, you know, three months we are here. But it's fun. We have it down. I've done it so long. We've got the routine, got it figured out a little bit.
AB: So the time when a lot of people really start paying attention is toward the end of August, the beginning of September, you know, the mornings start to get a little cooler, a little crisp. But when do you consider the onset? Where does your prep start for prime cider season?
NS: So when do we start prepping for… We probably come back, well, Marty's here a lot in the winter just because hard cider is brewing and adding and stuff like that. So that's the other thing too with the hard cider that's year round now for the most part. I probably start prepping, I've learned a lot. I would come in, I'd clean everything and then I'd just have to do it all over again because it would sit for months. So I probably start prepping like April. We paint all the floors. We paint walls every season because the building is so old. We're trying to get some big projects under our belt. So the kids, when they do take over eventually, hopefully that the bigger things are out of the way and they can just focus on the business. So we try to do a big project every year, whether we do it or hire it out. So April, I'm back over here. April: doughnut machines, like I said, painting, all that kind of stuff.
AB: The flavor is unlike any other, I got to say, you know, if people aren't drinking fresh cider, I don't even know what they're doing. But how would you describe the ingredients that go into making a really good glass of cider.
NS: We look for the acidity. We look for the skin color, the sugar content of the apple. Those are all items that we look at before we start pressing. So we don't want like an all Jonathan cider way too tart, way too dark. We don't want a total delicious, which we only use golden delicious. We don't use red delicious - high sugar content. So there is a method to our madness with our blending for sure.
All about the doughnuts
AB: Of course. Also no visit to the cider mills complete without the doughnuts. I confess that might be my favorite part. How do you describe [these]? For those five people who may be listening, who haven't haven't experienced them, how do you describe cider doughnuts?
NS: They are a fry cake, a traditional fry cake. Just a bunch of yummy stuff fried in a machine. They go down, they flip halfway over. Some are plain, some are cinnamon sugared, but they're just sweet and yummy.
AB: Nancy, how long have doughnuts been part of the operation here at the Dexter mill?
NS: Oh, the entire time we've had the mill. And I know the previous owners had it. I'm not quite sure before the Wagners what they did then, but we have pictures of people standing. They used to use this door right here, and they didn't have a salesroom before, so they would just make the doughnuts and cider and sell it right out the door here.
AB: So I imagine the folks on the bakery side of the operation, just having this enormous shaker of specialness that they just shake in. How what what is your secret? Why are the doughnuts so good here?
NS: My mom just perfected it. I mean, honestly, with her food background, we have a huge following for doughnuts, obviously. We just take pride in what we do, and we're precise with what we do, and we just. Some days the machines are a little trickier than others, and we just love them a little bit and just say, come on, keep going, keep going, keep going. And they do.
AB: Are the machines on the doughnut making side of the operation also? I don't want to say historic, but ...
NS: No. ... But I know there's bigger and better ones out there. But these work for us and we only have two doughnut machines. I mean, we kick out a lot of doughnuts for, I mean, we don't stop on busy October Saturdays and Sundays all day long. We have a little batch board. So we know how many batches we make a day and stuff like that. So that's kind of fun for us to always watch and stuff. But yeah they are, they are… I know there's something better out there, but these are perfect for us. They work. No, not a better doughnut, maybe a better piece of equipment. But we love ours, so yeah, yeah yeah yeah. No, our doughnuts are good. So we'll just stay with what we have on the equipment end.
AB: So there are other places where you can get apple cider. There are other places where you can get doughnuts. I know this is a very controversial thing for me to say, but I just feel like here in Michigan, people, this is so much a part of what they do in September and October. Have you ever seen any place else that really leans into cider culture like we do?
NS: I would say New York probably has you know, so New York, Washington State and Michigan are, you know, the three top Apple producing states in the country. So I just think everybody does it a little bit differently. It's funny in Michigan, from what I've seen, everybody has their cider mill. Like if you're Dexter Cider Mill, they're very territorial of their cider mills. It's pretty interesting. And it's fun for us to follow, but the other states that I think I know Ohio has a few, but I think the culture in Michigan with the leaves changing and all that and the terrain. And there's 120 cider mills in Michigan. I mean, it's a big yeah, that number may have dwindled a little bit, but between I would say probably between 100, 120 still some are big. We are very small in the cider mill spectrum, much bigger facilities out there than we are, but we don't want to change anything and we have no more room to expand. So what you see is what you get. So yeah. And we just try to do what we do really well. So people continue to come back.
AB: The Dexter Cider Mill is on the outskirts of downtown Dexter. Look for the bags of cider doughnuts with the spots on the outside. Nancy Steinhauer, congratulations on 140 years of Dexter Cider Mill.
NS: Thank you. We're super honored and just thrilled we can carry on with the tradition. Thank you.
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can play the full audio of the interview near the top of this page.
