American Cider Association maintains member records, and state ABC plus TTB databases provide licensed cidery counts. A sheet that blends both, refreshed quarterly, becomes the SleekRank source. Cache duration controls how often the directory reads the sheet.

States like New York and Vermont have dedicated farm cidery licenses with in-state apple requirements. The farm_cidery_eligible column carries the license name and threshold. Per-state pages render the badge prominently for cidermakers planning eligibility for the class.

Cider definition under TTB applies federally based on ABV and carbonation. The base page covers that framing. Per-state nuance like sparkling cider tax tiers or hard cider sweetness rules lives in a state_cider_rule column that maps to a per-state block.

Yes. The common_cultivars column drives a per-state list so the page mentions the cultivars cidermakers actually press in that state. Readers searching for heirloom cider apples Vermont find a page that lists exactly the cultivars associated with the region.

Yes. A sibling page group at /cideries/{state}/{cidery}/ can render one page per ACA-member cidery, while the state page lists them through a SleekView grid. Both views read the same source, so an ACA new-member row appends to both surfaces.

Yes. Add a self_distribution column to the source. Per-state pages render the self-distribution rule alongside farm_cidery_eligible, which helps cidermakers expand into a new state by surfacing the local distribution framework alongside the license class.

Federal cider style FAQ lives on the base page. Per-state style notes go inside the per-row signature_styles list. Readers get universal FAQ schema for cider definition and per-state style detail for the local market on the same page through both layers.

Cache duration is configurable. ACA roster shifts quarterly. A seven-day cache stays close to fresh without hammering the source. After a major ACA membership update or state ABC release, clear the SleekRank items table to force a re-read once the sheet is updated.