Warren Counties Shadow Cider is made from short trees grown close together on trellises. The first thing I learned about the apples in Al Yelvington’s orchard is that most of them taste horrible.

A squint through the filmy garage door windows reveals a sizable space absolutely chockablock with cidermaking equipment: Vats upon vats, snakes of tubing, big bottles of cloudy cider-to-be. For now, ...