Licensing agreements for new Washington State University apple variety WA 64 will be new and separate to avoid preferential treatment, but 2 Towns Ciderhouse may hold an advantage over competitors.

“We always look at the past performance when we are looking at new proposals,” said Jeremy Tamsen, director of innovation and commercialization for WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.

2 Towns, based in Corvallis, Ore., hit a home run with its popular lineup of hard ciders using WSU’s trademarked Cosmic Crisp apple.

WA 64, which has a pink blush on a yellow background, is firm but crisp, with balanced sweetness and tartness.

It’s scheduled to hit supermarkets in 2029, and comes 10 years after WSU released Cosmic Crisp.

In 2021, 2 Towns, the largest independent cidery in the U.S., launched its Cosmic Crisp imperial cider.

Apricot Cosmic Crisp, its fifth variety and first seasonal in the series, was announced recently.

With the success of its Cosmic Crisp series, 2 Towns controls roughly a third of the entire imperial cider market in the U.S.

That style of beverage, which has a higher than typical alcohol content, is buoying the industry, said 2 Towns co-owner Aaron Sarnoff-Wood, during a Jan. 18 panel discussion at CiderCon, an industry convention held in Portland.

“Almost 100% of growth for cider is between 7-10% (ABV),” Sarnoff-Wood said.

Danelle Kronmiller, 2 Towns marketing director, said WA 64 was a compelling prospect, and the company naturally was looking at securing rights for the new apple given the success of its Cosmic Crisp partnership.

“The proof of concept has been established so it very well could be a different competitive landscape with WA 64,” she added, in an email.

Consumers want to know what quality, premium ingredients are in their beverage, so producers sometimes call out apples in cider by name on labels, Kronmiller said.

Producers could draw attention to a unique expression of the cultivar, highlight that the apples come from a small batch, or tell a unique story.

2 Towns, for example, will soon be releasing its cider dedicated to Women’s History Month, which is made with Pink Lady apples and benefits the Pink Boots Society – a nonprofit that supports women pursuing careers in fermentation.

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