Craft Cider

[troutman]

In the Beer Thread, Hockeyguy15 correctly recommended I start a separate Cider thread. Here it is . . .

https://www.avenuecalgary.com/restau...se-in-calgary/

Calgary’s craft beer scene has exploded in the past few years, with at least 15 new breweries opening in 2018 alone. Meanwhile, a handful of craft cideries have quietly started turning out hard apple cider in the city. SunnyCider is the first of these to officially open a brick-and-mortar establishment dedicated to cider. Located in the Franklin industrial area, the space is the business’s headquarters for production and service, acting as a cider-equivalent to a brewery’s taproom.

While about 90 per cent of its fruit (apples, pears, berries and more) come from the Okanagan, Tim says that has nothing to do with the quality of fruit in Alberta — simply the amount they can get their hands on. As for local fruit, SunnyCider has a fruit donation program that offers perks to donors and offers harvesting services to people who prefer to outsource that work.

The current flavours at SunnyCider include a dry apple cider, a not-too-tart sour cherry apple cider and a Prairie-inspired Saskatoon berry apple cider. SunnyCider has a novel service model compared to some of its taproom peers. Rather than focus solely on its own products, its guests taps outnumber the house offerings in an attempt to showcase the breadth of flavour cider has to offer. It serves cider from fellow Calgary cideries Uncommon Cider Co. and Lekker Cider, as well as producers from Quebec, British Columbia and Ireland.

https://www.sunnycider.ca/

[troutman]

Recently, I enjoyed Cider at Locust Cider & Brewing Co in Seattle:
https://www.locustcider.com/taprooms/post-alley/

We tried Honey Pear, Dark Cherry (pictured below) and Vanilla Bean.

[troutman]

Alberta's first cidery joins Calgary's community of craft brewers

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...wery-1.4649006

The Uncommon Cidery started small a couple years ago, with co-founders Brodie Thomas and Andrew Duncan pioneering the process in Calgary.

"Cider is a very weird category," said Thomas. "You kind of straddle the wine market. If you're doing real craft cider, you get fruit once a year, you ferment it during that period and that's all you have for the year. It's an exciting product. It spans the gap between ciders and craft beers."

Uncommon bottles four types of cider: a basic dry craft cider; another made with hops that's not bitter like an IPA but floral with lychee notes; a pale pink sweet-tart cider made with Alberta haskap berries; and one they launched for Canada 150 called the Great Northern Wild.

https://uncommoncider.com/

[troutman]

https://www.lekkercider.com/about

Lekker’s name is inspired from South African culture, where family heritage runs deep. Used as slang in describing that which is tasty, delicious and local - we took this philosophy and ran with it. We strive to live up to the sentiment in our cider making and lifestyles, knowing that it is the creating, sharing, exploring and giving back that goes into making the lekker times.

We do this by making cider from fresh pressed apples. We don't like apple juice concentrates because they're boring, but we do like using beer yeast, hops, other fruits, in addition to damn good apples, to craft experimental and intriguing ciders. We love things that remind us of the libations and cultures we've experienced during our world travels and we’re always striving to push the boundaries of traditional cider making while borrowing from it the things that are sure to last.

https://www.vinearts.ca/vineartsblog/2019/3/9/lekker

We look forward to opening a Calgary based tap room in the near future where we will be able to produce up to 14 different rotating ciders at a time to please all types of cider drinkers (and craft beer lovers!). We currently borrow some space off of a local brewery where we ferment and blend in our own tanks, however you can find us in several Alberta restaurants and stores, including one of our favorites; Vine Arts!

[Weitz]

Visited some cideries in Kelowna this year. Was great! Really starting to grow on me. Especially in summer time.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by troutman

Alberta's first cidery joins Calgary's community of craft brewers

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...wery-1.4649006


https://uncommoncider.com/

My roommate owns Uncommon Cider