WElcome to Fall!

Labour Day and the end of summer vacations everywhere are looming just a few days away, but the vibrant summer vibes have been going as strong as ever here on Salt Spring. On Saturdays, the market and downtown Ganges are still thronged with tourists and locals alike; the marinas are still full of boats from near and far, and the cidery’s patio and picnic area still have plenty of visitors soaking up some sun and cider. Summer always seems to finish with a bang on the island as people cram in their last getaways before school starts and the rains come, and this year is no exception.

After Labour Day, the island slows to a much more sedate pace. The Fall Fair and the Apple Fest are the last two big events before Salt Spring really starts to quiet down and get cozy. But just as we’d like to catch our breath from keeping up with the demands of summer, we have to pivot to another big job: harvesting and pressing apples and pears from here on the island. Even though it’s hard work, the harvest and press are central to our identity. The cidery started primarily as a gleaning operation, making use of the island’s unique heritage apple and pear trees. While in earlier times these trees were central to the agricultural economy of Salt Spring, in more recent decades they’d come to be forgotten, or at least underutilized. The ‘wild’ in Salt Spring Wild Cider was originally a reference to these wild, or at least feral, fruit trees, which were given new purpose and appreciation through our cider making. Even as we’ve outgrown sourcing our fruit entirely from Salt Spring, the island’s apples and pears still form the backbone of our traditional ciders and are what give them such fantastic character. We collect fruit from the humble backyard trees of friends and neighbors as well as from larger orchards, and it’s beautiful to have both the island’s terroir and its people represented by our cider. Here’s to a bountiful harvest!

We have some wonderful ciders in this shipment. Two of them are summertime ciders that weren’t quite ready to share with you in June. Our Salted Pineapple Perry returned again this year as our latest summer seasonal. It’s a pear cider base with a generous splash of pineapple juice and a little hint of sea salt just to accent the sweeter notes of the cider. It sounds a little odd if you’ve never tried it, but trust us, it’s delicious. In a similar vein, we have a small batch release that was exclusive to our tasting room this summer called Island Time. It’s an apple cider blended with pineapple, guava, lime, tequila, agave, and triple sec—kind of like a zanier, boozier cousin to the Salted Pineapple Perry. It’s named for Salt Springers’ somewhat relaxed attitude toward punctuality, and it will definitely invite you to slow down and smell the apple blossoms. Both it and the Salted Pineapple Perry are great for the last few sunny days of fall, or you can save them for a mental vacation to the tropics once things really cool off.

There are also a few ciders that look ahead to the fall. We’ve included our latest batch of Farmhouse Scrumpy as a cider that pays homage to the apple harvest. For those unfamiliar with the term, a scrumpy is a style of cider that developed in the West Country of England, one of the most storied cider regions in the world. It comes from the slang term ‘to scrump,’ which means to scavenge or steal, in this case referring to whatever apples were unclaimed at the end of the harvest. A scrumpy tends to be bolder in flavour, higher in alcohol, and funkier and less refined in general. True to this tradition, our Farmhouse Scrumpy has an array of heritage apples and a sizeable selection of bittersharps. It’s also a wild ferment, with some noticeable character from the yeast, and it weighs in at just shy of 8% ABV, which also adds to its rustic, rough-around-the-edges charm.

Our classic Bitter Orange Rosemary cider has also made it into the shipment for the first time in a year. It’s a blend of cider with orange liqueur, orange bitters, and spirits imbued with rosemary. Visitors to our tasting room love it year round, but the gingery blend of sweet citrus and savoury botanicals has always seemed especially appropriate for the fall. We’re also including our Elderberry/Flower, another of our mainstays. As the name suggests, it’s a blend of cider with elderberries and elderflowers and seems well-suited to this time of year when so many berries on the island are coming to peak ripeness and getting turned into cordials, jams, and pies. While it has some sweetness, there’s enough tartness and acidity to complement the richer foods of fall and winter.

We’re also continuing our explorations of naturally carbonated ciders, as well as blends of cider with grapes. Our Bottle-conditioned Muscat does both, as the name suggests. This cider is a co-ferment of apples and Muscat grapes, and it’s carbonated by bottle-conditioning, or letting a final fermentation occur in a sealed bottle to infuse the cider with CO2. This creates a softer, champagne-like effervescence. It’s full-bodied for a cider with a subtle Muscat sweetness and a gently spicy finish.

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 great fall! As always, thanks for your continued patronage. Cheers!