Leonard Oakes will launch 4-pack of Steampunk Cider today

Provided photo: Leonard Oakes Estate Winery has announced the availability of their Steampunk Cider in four-packs. This is the first time any of the brand’s cider has been available to customers in anything less than a 750 ML bottle.

RIDGEWAY – Leonard Oakes Estate Winery has announced the inaugural launch of its flagship cider brand in four-packs of 12-ounce bottles.

The official launch will take place today at the Steampunk Carnivale. That event will feature live music, burlesque, sideshows, tarot and more. It runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on www.oakeswinerylocal.com.

Until this four-pack bottle release, Steampunk Cider has been primarily available in local breweries, liquor stores and online via shipping by Leonard Oakes Estate Winery. With the launch of 12-ounce four-packs, this will mark the first time the cider will be seen on the shelves of local supermarkets.

Initially the four-packs will be exclusive to the tasting room at Leonard Oakes Estate Winery, before its distribution is expanded in the coming months.

“The decision to move Steampunk into this new 12-ounce bottle format is about maintaining the integrity of the product and providing more access to consumers and our partners in the restaurant/bar business,” said Jonathan Oakes, head cider maker and creator of Steampunk Cider. “The terroir in our region is one we’re very proud of. Couple that with our many cider apple varieties and we’ve been able to develop products that truly reflect our area and the craft cider industry. We’re hoping this step is just another way we can promote our region to a larger audience.”

Oakes came up with the idea of Steampunk in 2007, just before the doors of Leonard Oakes Estate Winery opened on Ridge Road in Medina. It took a few years before it was officially named “Steampunk” cider, said Alix Gilman, who does marketing for the winery.

Gilman explained the idea of Steampunk as a concept was forged out of the 1980s – when science fiction writers imagined a world that never found the gasoline engine, staying true to the Victorian era and aesthetic and steam-driven technology.

Steampunk fits with cider because at the time of the industrial revolution and the turn of the century, the cider mills that populated the East coast were steam-powered, Gilman said. Steampunk Cider is a throwback to a time when cider was a key beverage in this country. After nearly a century, cider is seeing its resurgence.

Steampunk as a concept is wildly popular as a subgenre of science fiction, and the marriage of that with the burgeoning cider industry has seen remarkable growth for the brand. In 2010, Steampunk Cider produced about 100 cases, and now Leonard Oakes produces between 6,000 to 8,000 gallons a year, Gilman said.

Prior to Covid, the annual Steampunk Festival would garner more than 1,200 attendees. It is scheduled this year on Sept. 2.

Steampunk Cider is part of the Oakes family brands that also include Leonard Oakes Estate Wintery and LynOaken Farms.