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A glass of Nine Pin cider is poured at the Nine Pin Cider Works cidery on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.

From left, Heimdall and Rachael Imbert, Nine Pin 26ers and longtime fans of the Albany cidery.

Covered outdoor space at the Nine Pin Cider Works tasting room on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, on Broadway in Albany, N.Y.

Kegs of cider are stored at the Nine Pin Cider Works cidery on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.

The Nine Pin cider menu is posted at the Nine Pin Cider Works tasting room on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Albany, N.Y. The No. 5, Black Diamond, was a Nine Pin 26er Challenge cider from this year.

Cider maker Benjamin Farrell works in the Nine Pin Cider Works cidery on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.

Cans of Nine Pin cider are stacked high at Nine Pin Cider Works on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.

A glass of Nine Pin cider is poured at the Nine Pin Cider Works tasting room on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.

Thursday marks the release of the eighth cider in the 2022 26er Challenge, Nine Pin Cider Works’ drinkable riff on an Adirondack 46er self-test. Instead of climbing 46 peaks, those who register with the Nine Pin challenge must drink a 6- or 12-ounce cider made especially for the occasion every two weeks for a year.

The first challenge kicked off in 2016 as a creative solution to a wholesale program conundrum, said Josh Whelan, director of sales and marketing at Nine Pin. Several wholesale clients would ask for something new that they could give their customers. Their distributor, Remarkable Liquids, was picking up orders every two weeks.

“In the craft industry, something we run into a lot is the constant desire from the public for something new,” Whelan said. “So we decided, let’s make a new cider every two weeks, put it in kegs for the wholesale accounts.” As an insurance that these new, additional batches of cider would be consumed, the Nine Pin team said they’d put the ciders on tap.

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Whelan remembers the conversation he had about forming the challenge with founder Alejandro del Peral while walking del Peral’s dog in Albany Rural Cemetery: For those who could prove they’ve tried the new ciders every other week, Nine Pin would give out prizes, from happy-hour pricing for life, Nine Pin swag to admission for a 26er Challenge finisher open-bar party. Depending on one's level of accomplishment (a first-time 26ers versus someone going for silver or gold, a two- or three-time finisher, respectively), there could be more prizes.

“We didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to try a cider every two weeks. Maybe if we’re lucky, maybe 20 people will do this,” Whelan said. “We ended up having 330 people finish that first year. It was that ‘Jaws’ moment – we’re going to need a bigger boat.”

After taking a year break and picking back up in 2018, the number of finishers more than doubled to 670. That year, knowing the numbers of participants would be growing, Whelan said they wanted to partner with a local organization that could also help get the word out. Having been inspired by the Adirondack 46er challenge in part, the Adirondack Mountain Club and its summit stewardship program fit that bill.

“You’re not just giving Nine Pin money, it’s going toward a good cause,” he said. More than $5,000 has been raised since then, with that total expected to rise at the end of this year’s challenge.

In 2020, about 2,100 started the challenge in January, with 1,700 having tasted all four of the special ciders released by the time Nine Pin (and many businesses) needed to shut down as the COVID pandemic struck in March.

This year, the challenge started in March, when Whelan said Nine Pin could safely figure out the logistics of accommodating hundreds more people every two weeks. Those 2020 participants who had the first four ciders of 2020 were able to count them toward this year’s total. More than 2,000 people are still eligible to become 26ers this year, so far, with 19 ciders left to go, including this week’s.

And there are no latecomers to the challenge; those who want to compete must have signed up in time for that year’s first cider’s release. Each cider is only available on tap for two weeks, and missing even one means you’re out of the challenge. “It’s a race with a starting line, and you can’t start from the middle,” Whelan said.

Latham couple Rachael Imbert and her husband, Heimdall, are committed. They started as 26ers in the original 2016 challenge and have done it ever since, having been going to Nine Pin's Albany tasting room since it opened. But their ties to the cidery are deeper than most: While they held a big wedding celebration in the Dominican Republic, where Heimdall is from, they came to Nine Pin for their U.S. officiation and to sign their marriage license. For two of the challenge years, Heimdall was the first in the door to try the very first cider, Rachael Imbert said.

Of course, a significant hurdle for Nine Pin is coming up with the biweekly flavors. Many of the ciders are infusions or blended with a base cider, which makes production flexible, Whalen said. Some flavors have burst through the ranks and have become regulars, like the winter-released Earl Grey tea-infused cider, or the Blueberry Peach Cobbler, which has been sold as a 750-ml bottle.

In addition to the punch card that must be marked every two weeks, challengers can weigh in and rank the flavors on Nine Pin’s website. That data can help guide the cidery in knowing which are popular and good enough to make it into a packaged state. (Some flavors don’t get far: Whelan recalled tossing flavor ideas around with del Peral, and a rejected one included Beet the Heat, flavored with beet juice.)

As a special education teacher in the Mayfield Central School District who likes to travel during her summers, Imbert said that has been the biggest obstacle in completing the 26er challenges through the years. But there’s a perk in addition to the big cider blowout at the end.

“We have a big group of friends that we go with. As adults, it’s so hard to find time to hang out with your friends,” she said. “There are friends we’ve developed with the 26er challenge that we see at Nine Pin, though we might not get together outside of that. Having that biweekly get-together is special.”

Hosting the 26er challenge has been a boon, Whelan said, though it has tested Nine Pin’s limits, logistically.

“It’s made us have to think outside the box on how we are going to efficiently get 2,000 people through the door (specifically for the challenge) and then the people who just come here for the tasting room, and make sure they have the best experience."

Sara Tracey is a Times Union features editor, and senior editor for both Women@Work and Upstate magazines. A Saratoga County native and alumna of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, she has worked in reporter and editor roles at newspapers in Utica and Binghamton, and most recently for the Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. Sara also holds a position on the Society for Features Journalism's board of directors. When she isn't tweeting, she's probably cooking/eating, enjoying time with her husband, family or friends, and sharing photos of her adorable niece. You can reach her at stracey@timesunion.com.