Naked Apple Hard Cider hits the shelves. . .

. . . at the local Ingles, anyway.

I understand that it is also being sold in some of the restaurants on Main Street. I bought a bottle of the blackberry gold (only flavor available at Ingles that day) a few days ago--it took three Ingles clerks to find it for me. It's in the hard cider section of their cooler, but it's a single large bottle, so don't bother looking in the six-pack area or the regular singles. Also, the clerk who finally found it for me said that the label is not very "stocking" friendly--the name is not on the front and the design gets lost in all the other bottles. But hey, it's local (Flat Rock Cider Works) so I'm buying it!

I haven't opened it yet (waiting for a very hot day), so. . . to be continued. . .

Naked Apple Hard Cider from Flat Rock Cider Works

Marini out as Flat Rock Playhouse director

From the Hendersonville Lightning:

Flat Rock Playhouse announced today that producing artistic director Vincent Marini will step down on May 31 to pursue new opportunities. Lisa K. Bryant, currently Flat Rock Playhouse associate artistic director, has been named interim artistic director. . .

The Playhouse board will conduct a national search for a new artistic director. . .

Even after he steps down, Marini has been contracted to return in July to work with the 2014 apprentice class and the professional Equity company on the Playhouse's blockbuster summer production of Miss Saigon. . .

Read it all.

Heart attack victim crashes into Flat Rock bookstore

More on Saturday's accident at the Old Post Office from the Times-News:

The heart attack [Lloyd T. Baldwin] suffered on his way back to his home on East Pinecrest Drive caused him to black out, cross the northbound lane, sideswipe a telephone pole and crash his 2005 Nissan pickup into the old Flat Rock Post Office, troopers said.

The crash caused the double-decker porch of the historic building to collapse and shattered the front windows of the Book Exchange run by the all-volunteer Ladies Aid Society of Flat Rock Inc.

“Luckily, there was no (oncoming) traffic,” said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper M.R. Hinnenkamp. “He went off the left shoulder and hit the porch supports and basically took all of them out and the porch fell.”

Volunteer Mary Terrill was reading a magazine and eating lunch at her desk inside the Book Exchange — which had no customers at the time — when “all of a sudden there was a horrendous noise and all this glass started coming toward me.”. . .

Read it all.

Not a good day in the neighborhood. . .

Whoops!

I stopped by the post office this afternoon and saw this across the street--the porch off of the Old Post Office, which is owned by Historic Flat Rock.

A cameraman from WLOS was there getting footage. He heard that a pick-up truck plowed into the front and that one person inside the Book Exchange on the first floor was taken to the hospital to get treated for broken glass. That's all I know for now.

The Old Post Office, Greenville Highway

Some familiar faces. . .

Recognize some names here?

A group of Hendersonville businessmen will unveil a new line of hard ciders pressed from locally grown apples during a downtown launch party and tasting Friday.

John Coker, Tom Davis, Jim Sparks and Jim Revis are the co-owners of Flat Rock Cider Works, the first Henderson County company to jump into the growing hard-cider market with the introduction of their Naked Apple Hard Cider brand.

The business partners have opened their 4,500-square-foot cidery in South Crossing Business Park on Spartanburg Highway in Flat Rock, where apples from the company's own 10-acre orchard and other local suppliers will be sorted, graded, pressed, fermented and bottled or kegged. . .

Coker, who worked in corporate sales for the beverage packaging industry out of his home here for 10 years, said the new company has strong leadership. Davis and Sparks, who recently sold their Highland Lake Golf Course to the village of Flat Rock for $1.15 million, offer their finance and sales acumen to the team, while Revis brings years of experience in apple and berry growing to his role in operations and procurement. . .

You can check out both styles of cider this Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at their launch party at Hannah Flanagan's Pub, 300 N. Main St. in Hendersonville. The event will also feature finger foods made with hard cider or complemented by it, along with games, prizes and giveaways.