Martinelli's Cidery of Monterey County---with Ticinese origins---turns 150 years old

I wanted to get this in before the end of the year, as 2018 marks a century and a half of Martinelli's Cider.


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'BREAK OUT THE BUBBLY: MARTINELLI’S TURNS 150!'

By Garrick Ramirez - SantaCruz.com - July 25, 2018

Beloved sparkling cider and apple juice producer S. Martinelli & Company is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and we’re bubbling over with excitement! Founded in Watsonville in 1868—the same year Ulysses S. Grant was elected President—the effervescent company is still family-owned, locally-based, and making juice the way they always have: fresh and 100% natural. We’ve got the inside scoop below, and trust us, it gets juicy!

If you were like us, you were introduced to Martinelli’s via their iconic, apple-shaped glass bottle that you begged your mom to buy on trips to the supermarket. Then at Thanksgiving, you’d act cool filling your kids' cup with their sparkling cider from a champagne-style bottle. We weren’t the only ones pretending, either. It’s believed that Dean Martin would swig Martinelli’s—not martinis—onstage, and Martinelli’s cider would double as champagne in Hollywood movies during Prohibition.

But before the Rat Pack and 18th Amendment, there were Swiss-born brothers Stephano and Luigi Martinelli, who immigrated to the U.S. during the Gold Rush years and started farming apples in present-day Watsonville. They introduced a fermented, or “hard,” cider in 1868, and by 1885, they were churning out 15,000 gallons a year (in 2017, Martinelli’s produced that much in less than 2 hours). The brothers began racking up gold medals for their cider at state fairs which explains the medals you see on the labels today. In anticipation of Prohibition, Martinelli’s bottled its first unfermented—alcohol-free—apple juice in 1917. In 1933, the brand introduced its famous apple-glass bottle with the slogan “Drink Your Apple a Day,” and the rest is history.

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'Martinelli's, long-known for non-alcoholic cider, celebrates 150 years by bringing back hard cider'

'On Martinelli’s 150th Anniversary, We Remember Stephen C. Martinelli'

'Martinelli’s to Release 1868 Hard Cider for 150th Anniversary'

'150 Years of Martinelli’s Labels'

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