Motlow Creek Ranch and Cider Company (MCRC), Inc., is located in Campobello, South Carolina, a small scenic farm with a lake, mountain views and several 100 year old heart-pine barns. The ranch takes its name from the small, picturesque creek flowing through the property.
The ranch has been producing farm fresh Hereford beef since 2004, albeit on a limited basis. We have expanded the farm operation to include a TTB approved Domestic winery focusing on Hard Apple (fermented) Cider with most of our juice coming from within state. The hard cider will be for sale in our on premise tasting room. Farm-fresh meats will be available for sale in our on-farm store and gift shop. These products are intended to be the central, distinguishing menu items for our “farm dinner” private events. Within three years we hope to expand to have an off-premise location where we’ll sell both products as well. Most likely this will be a downtown Spartanburg location.
Our setting is a 51-acre ranch. Primary assets on the property include a commercial office (approx. 4,000 sq. ft.), a climate controlled winery production area (approx. 3800 sq. ft.), hay shed, apple orchards, pastures, walking trails and a 4 acre stocked farm pond. A recent acquisition has added a 100+ year old residence with 7 outbuildings -- almost all of them featuring heart-of-pine wood siding, and collectively evoking a nostalgic agrarian aesthetic. This recent addition is expected to allow for the planned expansion of our business as described in this document. The contiguous property sits about 5 miles directly off US I-26 and less than 1 mile from SC Scenic Highway (State Highway 11).
Our farm has a newly planted apple orchard consisting of over 40 varieties of heirloom Cider apples and nearly 600 heirloom cider apple trees total. Cox Orange Pippin, Ashmead Kernel, Dabinett, Winesap, Hewes Crab Apples and Wickson Crab Apples and Perry Pear trees. We also have Old style Concord Grapes, Blueberries, Blackberries and Raspberries.
We’ll strategically supplement with apples and juice from states all across the US – to make sure we get apples from all of the major cider producing areas in the country (including the northwest, Northern Michigan, Northeast and the Western NC/VA area. For the first 3 years -- we will be sourcing raw product from apple orchards in the Mountain Rest/Long Creek area of South Carolina. Developing our own apple production in-house fits logically into our brand image of a sustainable, self-contained “artisan” ranch operation that does not need to rely on large-scale partners. We want our guests to enjoy the experience of the working farm, and that experience is enhanced by the presence of actual working orchards. We are nature conservatives. The water used to wash the apples is recycled and stored to use on watering the apple trees. Growing the “Cider apples” in the orchards here gives us the independent, artisan, “anti-corporate” image that is essential to our positioning strategy. It also helps create a sustainable distinction.