hello, Spring!

OK, let’s be real. The beautiful photo of the apple blossoms shown above was not taken this year. Most of the trees on Salt Spring Island won’t be in full bloom until early May. At present, a few small, woody little buds on the tips of the trees’ branches are the only hint of the splendour of the apples and pears to come in the summer and fall. For now, the island still feels very much in the embrace of winter as we head into March, and the rain and even snow will probably have a few more tricks up their sleeves in the next couple of months.

Nevertheless, it’s easy to sense that the change of seasons is right around the corner. The days are already noticeably longer. In a few weeks, the first substantial waves of visitors will arrive when schools get out for spring break, and then again for the Easter weekend. In about a month the island’s famous Saturday market will start up again for the year, too. Here at the cidery, the work of cider making continues as we do our best to get inventories ready for peak season, and our staff are sneaking off for their last winter holidays before we start to settle in and prepare for busier times.

There are some lovely ciders in this season’s shipment. We have the first release of our Pear Cider from the 2025 harvest. As always, this is a true perry, meaning we haven’t added any apples. Instead, it’s made from the fantastic heritage pears we have access to here on Salt Spring Island, many of which were originally bred for perry production. The unfermentable sugars in pears lend it a gentle sweetness, even though it’s otherwise semi-dry in character. We only had a small harvest in 2024, making last year’s perry release a small one. 2025 was a big crop, however, so we’re excited to be able to have a nice plentiful batch for 2026’s releases.

We also have a first look at our Orchard Run Pét Nat made from our 2025 harvest. As the little orchard we’ve planted here at the cidery continues to grow and mature, we’ve begun making an annual estate cider from its apples. Most of the Salt Spring apples that go into our ciders come from farms and trees all around the island, since we do a lot of gleaning of unique old trees that are part of Salt Spring's rich apple producing history. We find some really fun, funky, and unique heritage cider apples as a result, but it’s often the luck of the draw as to what exactly we get from our neighbours and partner orchards. Our own orchard is something we have been able to curate more tightly, selecting some of our favourite apple varieties for cider making. These include Yarlington Mill, Orange Cox Pippin, Calville Blanc, Northern Spy, Golden Russet, Porter's Perfection, Chisel Jersey, and Foxwhelp. Since the plan is to make this an annual release, it's an invitation to taste how the cider from this little micro-terroir changes and develops with each year. The cider in this shipment is still fairly young, so you can expect a bright, somewhat sharp character that will mellow over the coming months. You might get another bottle later in the year, so you’ll also get to see how it matures and develops over time. See what you think.

Also included is a new version of the Apricot Saison, a little project we’ve been playing with since our last release of it in the March 2025 shipment. As before, we’ve used Saison yeast to give it a lively effervescence and a hint of spice. This go-round we’ve made it a hint sweeter and boozier, and we’ve also imbued it with white peppercorns to augment that subtle Saison spice just a little more. There’s likely still some cool weather coming our way, so a slightly richer cider seemed appropriate for the time of year, although it will still be a great fit for the sunnier weather ahead.

In addition, we’re giving you another look at our Grapeskin Perry, which we previously sent out in September of 2025. This is a pear cider that was co-aged on the skins of Siegerrebe grapes from our friends at Kutatás Wines here on Salt Spring. It’s had a little more time to age and develop, and its lightly floral and sweet character seem like a good fit for the warmer, brighter days of spring to come.

We’re also including a bottle each of our Dry Cider and our Elderberry/Flower for a little sample of our classics. Once again, we’re inviting you to pick the other half of the ciders in your shipment. Just click on the button at the bottom of the page to go to our special Cider Club shop where you can make your selections for this shipment.

Best wishes for a beautiful spring! Thanks for your continued patronage. Cheers!