With warm colors whirling around and the air crisp and cool, it is hard to resist the spirit of the fall season. When autumn comes, so do things like bonfires, football games and going to cider mills. As The Perspective team, we explored three different cider mills to determine which one is the best.

Our route was as follows: Plymouth Orchards, Three Cedars and ended with Parmenter’s. In the reviewing process, we kept four criteria in mind: atmosphere, taste of the cider and cinnamon-sugar donut, location and overall experience.

Plymouth Orchards dominated in the categories for location and atmosphere. Obviously, it won the location category because it is roughly a ten minute drive from the Park. By comparison, Three Cedars is roughly a 22 minute drive. The atmosphere could be described as “Instagrammable,” creating an ambience of fall while also including multiple hot spots for cute photos. When The Perspective moved to cider and donut taste testing, we noticed that the donuts were quite sweet and fluffy, with a subtle hint of lemon. Their cider was a nice mixture between sweet and tart.

Three Cedars took the cake when it came to experience. They have activites up the wazoo, such as a corn maze, “the milking cow,” a country store, pumpkin picking, bonfires, hay bale ride and much more. Tagging along with experience, atmosphere was highly regarded as being fall oriented and exciting. When it came to taste, the cider hit between too-sweet and sweet. The buttery donut had a large amount of cinnamon when reviewing cinnamon-to-sugar ratio, but the cider balanced it out.  Location faulted slightly due to the distance away from Plymouth-Canton, as it is in South Lyon; however, the experience became well worth it.

Lastly, we went to Parmenter’s–the wild card of our journey.  It turned out to be the winner of the best tasting cider and donuts. The cider was a perfect combination of sweet and sour. The donuts were light, fluffy and did not have the large quantity of sugar granules like Three Cedars, eliminating some of the mess that can come with donuts. Their donuts and cider hit the mark on all accords with flavor, quality and execution. Without a doubt, Parmenter’s is worthy of the drive up Sheldon to 8 Mile. While the cider mill is located in the heart of a neighborhood and can become daunting to navigate through, the atmosphere of this hidden gem practically screams, “fall.” The barns, porch swings and small vendors, combined with the beautiful creek and fall trees call for an amazing autumn experience.

Despite our favoring of Parmenter’s, all of these cider mills had their strengths and created an amazing overall experience. The Perspective hopes that you and your family or friends go on a fun fall adventure to any of these locations. The fall spirit, especially in Michigan, is something that can be loved and enjoyed by all. Have a happy fall!