WElcome to Summer

The sun is shining and the weather is sweet in the cidery’s little valley here on Salt Spring Island. The apple and pear blossoms have come and gone, and now the fruit is just starting to form on the island’s trees. We’ve still had a few rainy days over the past few weeks, and the grass is still green and the nights are still cool, but the cold, damp grip of winter has most certainly been released.

Around the island, things are noticeably busier: the weekly Saturday and Tuesday markets have begun, the island’s marinas are packed with boats, and the roads, ferries, and shops around the island seem to get fuller every day as the crescendo to high season continues to build. Here at the cidery, we’ve already had several super busy days in our restaurant on the weekends, and even mid-week there’s now a steady stream of visitors.

Summer is definitely the biggest season for cider drinking, too. Something about the heat, the burgeoning flowers and fruit, and being out in the sunshine makes some nice, cold cider seem like the rightest, most natural thing to have in your glass. We want to rise to the occasion, and we’ve picked out some fun and refreshing ciders to share for this shipment.

First up, we’ve made a new batch of our Strawberry Rhubarb Pie cider. This is a small-batch release that we only sell in our tasting room and in kegs for our wholesale hospitality accounts, so you won’t find it in liquor stores. It’s a blend of cider with juices pressed from organic strawberries and rhubarb, with just a hint of cinnamon and a whisper of toasted coconut. It’s a semi-sweet cider overall, but with enough tartness from the rhubarb to add some complexity and keep it refreshing. Speaking of refreshing, we’re also including this year’s release of our Red Grapefruit cider. Due to its popularity, this has now become a regular summer seasonal release. It’s a crisp, straightforward blend of apple cider and red grapefruit that is perfect for the hot weather to come.

From the cellar, we’ve got another look at last year’s Wild Apple Grape. This cider is a co-ferment of Reinette apples and Concord grapes, with grapeskin contact for several weeks. The result is a nicely dry and refreshing cider overall, and the grapes add light notes of berry, plum, and citrus to the cider’s gentle tannins. It’s almost reminiscent of an orange wine or a dry rosé, and it makes for a very refreshing summer sipper. It was naturally carbonated using the Ancestral Method, rather than force carbonating under pressure the way most beers and ciders are. As you likely already know from previous club releases, ciders carbonated in this way have a livelier yet softer effervescence. We’ve got another batch in the works that we’ll be sharing with you this fall or winter, so take a note or two if you’d like to compare vintages.

We’re also playing some old hits and sharing a few ciders that haven’t been featured in a club shipment in a while. Our Semi Dry, made from a blend of organic dessert and cider apples, is one of our mainstays. Its light sweetness and fruit forward apple flavour keep it approachable and easy drinking, but it’s dry enough to stay crisp and complex. We’ve also got a bottle of everyone’s old fave, our Hopped Apricot. It’s infused with three varieties of hops via dry-hopping, meaning the hops aren’t boiled as they are in some beers. This results in a lighter, more floral flavour from the hops, rather than something more bitter and herbaceous. These floral notes are further brought out by the addition of apricot nectar to back-sweeten the cider just a bit. It’s certainly got some beer-like qualities from the hops, but there’s enough fruitiness from the apricot and the apples to keep it light, refreshing, and very crushable in the summertime. (For all you beer nerds, we use a blend of about 45% Cascade, 45% Chinook, and 10% Mosaic hop varieties.) And finally, we’ve included a bottle of our Saskatoon Berry cider. This was originally a limited seasonal batch that has since grown into bigger and bigger releases due to its popularity. It’s a lovely one for summertime: lightly sweet, but balanced by a hint of berry tartness and that subtle and indescribable Saskatoon nuttiness. Think of it as a celebration of the native berries that will soon be ripening this summer.

As usual, the other six ciders are up to you to pick, so please follow the link below to make your selections.

Best wishes for a fantastic summer! As always, thanks for your continued patronage, and cheers!