Co-owner and cider maker, Atlas Cider in Bend; atlascider.com

Dan McCoy got the cider bug 10 years ago while backpacking through Europe with his wife, Sam.

When he returned to the U.S., the 34-year-old was surprised about the limited hard cider options.

“I couldn’t understand why it was such an underground drink here,” he said. “Especially here in the Northwest, where we have this great beer culture and some of the best berries and fruits in the world.”

A man of action, McCoy — who also teaches at Redmond’s Obsidian Middle School — enrolled in Washington State’s fermentation program in 2011 and the first seeds of the Atlas Cider Company began to sprout.

With their ciders hitting the market this spring — Atlas makes a hard apple and hard cherry, with more planned later this year — McCoy is part of a fast-growing industry that hopes to appeal to craft brew and wine fans.

“Our goal this summer is to introduce hard cider to Bend,” says McCoy, a Bend resident who gets most of his apples from the Hood River Valley and Yakima, Wash., areas. “To have a sellable product that people are stoked about, that’s the best thing.”

— Beau Eastes