(FORTUNE Small Business) – When ordering a bottle at Henrietta's Table, an upscale New American restaurant at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass., you can get Dom Perignon at $155 a bottle or the slightly fizzy West County Cider at $15. That's hard cider, 6% alcohol, which is shedding its rustic image and appearing at top restaurants around the country, including Alain Ducasse in New York City and Wildwood in Portland, Ore. Driving the comeback are Judith and Terry Maloney, a youthful sixtysomething couple who talk about apples as reverently as a Burgundian discusses pinot noir grapes.

In 1972 the Maloneys moved from California--where they made "copious amounts of wine for home use"--to Colrain, Mass., near the Vermont border. Once there, they planted cider-apple trees, put fermenting tanks in the cellar, and in 1984 debuted the first small batch of commercial apple brew in the U.S., West County Cider. That first year they produced 300 cases; today production is up to 2,000 cases, and the Maloneys tend to 1,400 trees that yield traditional cider apples such as Kingston Black, Redfield, Tremlett's Bitter, and Dabinett.

There are now more than 60 small commercial cideries in North America, and almost all of them sell out every year. (Unlike wine, hard cider doesn't improve with age.) Flavors and textures range from fruity to peculiarly dry, and cider goes with everything from sharp Cheddar cheese to roast chicken. West County is sold in wine shops and restaurants throughout the Northeast (the Maloneys list vendors on their website). Other noteworthy producers include Eve's Cidery in Ithaca, N.Y.; Cyderworks in Portland, Ore.; and Farnum Hill in Lebanon, N.H. (Visit fsb.com for web links.) --ALICE FEIRING