Jack’s Hard Cider is much more than your typical cider brewing company, and Its story is like none you have heard before.
“It was a bit of a surprise that I ended up buying Jack’s Hard Cider out of bankruptcy in late December 2018,” said owner, Donald Hoffman. “Once I realized I had it I decided that if we were gonna do it, we were gonna do it right.”
From what seemed to others a business with nothing left to give, Hoffman made his own while also ensuring the legacy of Jack Hauser, the original founder of Jack’s Hard Cider, would not fade.
When asked what makes Jack’s Hard Cider so distinguishable from the rest, marketing manager Polly Patrono said “Our hard cider is made from local fruit, first of all. A lot of bigger hard cider companies use concentrate, but we get bins of apples in daily and press them on site.”
The popular and original hard cider was only the beginning for Hoffman. What began as a small brewery soon took on more than a couple projects and has plenty more coming in the near future.
“Atomic Dog LLC owns three entities: Atomic Dog Winery, Jack’s Hard Cider, and Mela Kitchen” said Hoffman.
Hoffman said these three pieces of the company have demonstrated to locals and tourists that Jack’s Hard Cider is the place to be if you are looking to enjoy the finest of spirits and entertainment.
Hoffman said rebuilding Jack’s Hard Cider was not an easy or quick job, especially during a pandemic.
“It’s been really neat to see what could happen. I never imagined in a million years that you could take an old movie theater and make it into this beautiful light and airy restaurant,” said Patrono.
With the dedication and commitment of the employees at Jack’s Hard Cider the company was also still able to continue shipping its cider along the West Coast as well as delivering online orders to those in the area during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“During the height of the pandemic one of our chefs even volunteered to deliver online orders” said Patrono.
“We are here to give back as much as we are to deliver our service,” said Hoffman when asked how his company has impacted the community of Adams County.
Patrono said Hoffman named the company because he had rescued pitbull dogs. “You are able to see the personal commitment that Jack’s Hard Cider has to the community by simply looking at their name!”
“Most of my colleagues that have worked with me and most people I knew were asking me if taking on Jack’s Hard Cider was my mid-life crisis or if I was going off the deep end. I would have never guessed this would be my career path, but now that I’m doing it and working with all the people I’m working with, I’m excited as heck for not only what we are today, but what we are going to be,” said Hoffman.