MADE BY FARMERS,
For the people.
In 1946, Gerald and Lovey Blake left the city behind to build a life on the land. That year, they packed up their family and moved onto a 159-acre plot in Armada, Michigan. Settling into a modest 3-bedroom farmhouse, they created a life together, raised 13 children, and built what would become the heart of everything Blake's is today.
Gerald and Lovey's sons carried the farm forward. Ray worked the land and built the Cider Mill that helped keep the farm alive, and in 1981, twin brothers Pete and Paul came home from Michigan State University to join him — expanding the orchard and making Blake's a Michigan tradition for generations of families.
It was Paul's son, Andrew Blake — a third-generation farmer who grew up picking apples and running the cider press alongside his family — who saw a new future for the farm. While studying economics at Michigan State, Andrew spotted an opportunity among the craft beer scene and started experimenting with hard cider recipes in his garage. Drawn back to Armada and backed by his family's blessing, he founded Blake's Hard Cider in 2013, hand-bottling the first batches — about 50 cases a day — from 280-gallon wine tanks.
Thirteen years later, we are distributing our craft cider in over 40 states across the country with a mission of expanding the cider category and exploring fruit-forward innovations of all kinds. Today, Andrew leads Blake's Hard Cider from the same farm where it all began — carrying forward what Gerald and Lovey planted eighty years ago: hard work, devotion to family, and pride in the land under their feet.