About Buskey Cider

Will Correll started experimenting with making Apple Cider in his college dorm room at Hampden-Sydney College near Farmville, Virginia. He then entered, and won, a business competition called Start Peninsula - A Micro Business Pitch Competition in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. From that competition, Will walked away with a $10k grant that was enough for him to start testing his business idea and plan, which he was eventually able to launch in the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond, Virginia.

In the meantime, Will’s future wife-to-be, Elle, was a foreign exchange student in Spain with the University of Missouri. Now that they are married, Buskey Cider stands to benefit from some of the experiences Elle brought back with her from Spain, such as an appreciation for Spanish Sherry Casks, which they have imported to use to help flavor some of their Cider inventions.

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Pivot

As in war, the best laid plans are often rendered useless upon first contact with reality. When COVID-19 became a thing last March, Buskey Cider had a gut-wrenching decision to make: close the business down, or double-down on the business. Will provides more context on just how difficult this decision was to make in our podcast interview. In the end, Will decides that in order to keep his company afloat, and to continue growing during these hard times, he must take extreme actions, some of which include foregoing his salary and delivering cider orders himself - door-to-door - all over Virginia, including Northern Virginia, from Arlington to Winchester to Fredricksburg.

It is this particular business pivot that led my wife, Cindy, to discover Busky Cider. Cindy started drinking Apple Cider as her drink of choice in 2015 when she discovered she had a gluten allergy. When COVID-19 struck, she and a few of her friends started searching online for cider businesses that delivered. Enter Buskey Cider.

Will’s business pivot appears to be working.

Ça ira, Ça ira

Benjamin Franklin reportedly said this French phrase, “Ça ira, ça ira”, when asked about the American Revolutionary War. The phrase means “It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine.” There happens to be a little-known area in Cumberland, VA (just north of Farmille, VA near where Will went to college), called ‘Ça Ira’. Cindy and I loved the area, meaning, and historical reference to Ben Franklin, so much we bought some land there (some of our dreams mentioned in Episode 1), and even got married there. A similar affinity for Ben Franklin (we assume) led Will to name his cider business ‘Buskey Cider’.

The word ‘buskey’ does not exist in modern American vernacular. However, ‘buskey’, among many other terms used during Frankin’s time, was apparently used in American Taverns to describe someone who is drunk or innebriated:

Ben Franklin’s 200+ Synonyms for “Drunk”

And so, as we weave elements of our Nation’s beginning in with the turbulent times of the present, with hopes of perservering through troubled times from strength to strength, we lean on the humor and unbridled intelligence of our founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, to lead us into a better future.

And drink some Buskey Cider while you’re at it. Tell Will and Elle ‘Dream 10X’ sent you.

Dream 10X - Ça Ira, Ça Ira!

Relevant Links

• Buskey Cider
• Start Peninsula
• Richmond Restaurant Scene Buskey Cider Shut Yo Mouf Restaurant
• Ben Franklin’s 200+ Synonyms for “Drunk”
• Richmond’s Scott’s Addition