Est. 1863
With a history that dates back to 1863, Yates Grist Mill opened its doors beside the rapidly flowing waters of the ‘then’ Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal. Amidst the beautiful countryside of Rochester, Michigan the memories began in full bloom.
The Clinton River cascades over the Yates dam, which supplies the headwaters to power the mill. The dam was built to create a stream that the mill uses for water power.
By 1876, the Yates family installed a cider press into the existing water-powered process and began producing delicious Michigan cider. It then became known as Yates Cider Mill. Local farmers, orchard owners and landowners would bring their apples to Yates for custom apple pressing. Over all these years, Yates has been producing the same kind of fresh 100% all natural cider that folks enjoyed way back in 1876. You can enjoy Yates Cider Mill and the beautiful surrounding parks any day during the Fall. Why not carve out a little time to enjoy making your own memories at Yates Cider Mill?
We at Yates make our cider with pride. It’s a big deal to us to use good fruit. It takes premium fruit to make premium cider. You won’t see cloudy or muddy cider here. Good fruit make a difference and you will see and taste the difference at Yates. Will it always taste the same? Nope. The taste and color of cider varies over the course of the fall season. It starts out in late August or early September with summer apples like Ginger Golds and Paula Reds. These apples are lighter in juice color and have a tart flavor. As the season progresses, more varieties ripen. That’s what makes the cider season interesting. As each week passes, different cider flavors can be blended to round-out the taste. By mid October, as many as six different varieties of apples are blended together. Try it! Many say its the best they’ve had. We hope you think so too! Yates cider is made without preservatives. We use a UV light process to treat our cider instead of pasteurization. The UV process provides a safe product that doesn’t alter the taste and color like pasteurization can. Please remember- refrigeration is still required.
