Eden, New York,was named for its fertile soil, but it has also produced a bumper crop of farmers who build things.

The grape-picking machines that dominate vineyards across the country today were invented there, by growers who saw a problem in their own fields and decided to solve it themselves. Matt Agle grew up inside that tradition, on land his family has worked for six generations, and he never really left it, even when the path away from the farm took him further than most.

He left Eden for university, and from there to Anheuser-Busch, where he spent his days learning the craft side of brewing: fermentation, carbonation, the chemistry of turning something simple into something that pours right. Then he joined the U.S. Army and served a combat tour in Afghanistan. It’s not the résumé you’d expect from a soda maker, but that’s Matt Agle for you.

The idea started bubbling in Matt Agle’s head after the sixth-generation farmer returned to Eden.

Could you make fruit soda that actually tasted like the fruit itself, using just juice? Could you make a sour cherry soda that didn’t taste like cough syrup?

Turns out the answer is yes. The proof is available in Concord grape, plum, and Niagara grape, at Agle’s Farm Stand, which has sold produce from the Agle family’s fields since 1953. A bottle of Agle’s Farmhouse Soda is $4.94, including rebate (5 cents), and tax (39 cents). They are only available Saturdays 1 p.m.-5 p.m.

Drawing on his Anheuser-Busch experience, Agle ferments fruit juice so the flavors blossom. The result is less than half a percent alcohol, officially non-alcoholic.

Farmhouse sodas are rooted in local terroir. Grapes from the Erdles in Silver Creek, and when Agle can afford them, sour Montmorency cherry juice from places like Bittner-Singer Farms in Appleton. He always has more ideas fermenting, including strawberry-apple, quince, and pawpaw, but they won’t show up on shelves until they’re just as good as their predecessors.

It took six years of small batches, failed brews, and slow adjustments in the fermentation process before the recipe finally worked the way he wanted it to.

What came out the other side is Agle’s Farmhouse Soda, brewed on the farm his family has tended for generations, using a process he built himself. It’s a small operation, run by hand, and every bottle still starts the same way, with fruit grown by fellow New York farmers.

Editor’s note: Matt Agle hired me to help with Agle’s Farmhouse Soda’s marketing and website. If you follow my coverage of Western New York foodways, you know that I would have written about Matt Agle’s invention for free. But my ethical standards require me to offer my readers transparency in such cases. 

Besides, farmhousesoda.com turned out pretty darn spiffy, if I may say so myself, with help from local web gurus NY Marketing. 

Check out the stories behind the sodas. If you’ve never seen cherries shaken from the tree, watch Jim Bittner of Bittner-Singer Orchards explain how cherry farming is like gambling. Or let Silver Creek Concord grape farmer Colin Erdle explain what it’s like to make a living tending vines planted before your daddy was born.

REVIEW: Amira’s Kitchen 

SHANGO’S LAST CALL: Jim Guarino is inviting his restaurant’s fans to come back for last call before he wraps up his 21-year career as Shango’s chef-owner. His University Heights restaurant, 3260 Main St., brought gumbo lovers, etouffee hounds and shrimp-and-grits seekers much joy. It’s open regular hours the next two weeks, 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. One last brunch Sunday Aug. 23. Then last call Saturday Aug. 29, with a party that one suspects may include generous bar specials.

Q: Where can I go within an hour or two of Buffalo to buy — or at least taste — genuinely interesting apple varieties?

I’m thinking old, unusual and/or cider-worthy cultivars: Esopus Spitzenburg, Golden Russet, Newtown Pippin, Winesap, Northern Spy, that sort of thing. I know where to find SnapDragons and Pink Ladies. I’m looking for the stuff that generally does not turn up at Wegmans or even the co-op or Elmwood Farmers Market.

I used to love going to LynOaken for exactly this reason, but I’m not sure what the situation is there after the partial shutdown. And I’d rather not go all the way to the Finger Lakes for this particular mission.

Basically: If I wanted to spend a fall afternoon driving around Western New York and come home with a bag full of apples that would make an apple nerd happy, where would you send me?

– Ren L., via email

ASK THE CRITIC

A: Pfft. Easy. LynOaken announced in March that their unique heirloom variety U-pick would be open for the 2026 picking season, starting the end of August. Here’s the tentative U-pick schedule for LynOaken’s 2026 season. You’re good to go, apple nerd.

More local food and restaurant stories compiled by Michael Chelus of Nittany Epicurean:

• Andrew gave us a recipe for Clafoutis to put local stone fruit work [Four Bites]
• Mr. Galarneau wrote about an institution in northern Chautauqua County – The Colony Seafood and Steakhouse [Four Bites]
• Brian’s Buffalo Beer Buzz told us about the medals won by New York Beer Project at the 2026 World Beer Cup, the return of the Craft Beer Fundraiser to the National Buffalo Wing Festival and more [Buffalo Beer League]
• Chris gave us the story behind Hamburg’s newest coffee shop – Nineteen Coffee [Buffalo News]
• Francesca told us what it’s like to attend a local farm dinner [Buffalo News]
• The Kitchen Studio by Chef Red Beard has reopened on Chippewa [Buffalo Rising]
• Mel put together a list of seven sandwiches every Buffalonian should eat just once including offerings from Chris NY Sandwich Co., Breadhive and more [Buffalo Rising]
• Brett wrote about the new ramen house in Hamburg – Hokkaido Ramen House and Sushi [Step Out Buffalo]
• Brett also told us about Ever Berry located in the Brisbane Building in downtown Buffalo [Step Out Buffalo]
• Jamie visited Yalleys African Restaurant [Open till Four]
• Francesca also ran down what she ate at the Erie County Fair [Buffalo News]

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