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’re including our Dry Cider, the cidery’s beloved flagship. Despite being such a mainstay, it’s been over a year since we last included some in your box, so it seems like it’s time. This cider is truly a taste of Salt Spring Island. It’s made with apples from all over the island, including classic English cider varieties and unique, funky heritage apples. It’s also a wild ferment, meaning that even the yeast that turns the pressed juice into delicious hard cider is from the microbiome of the island. Unlike a lot of North American ciders, which tend to run on the sweet side, we think this is truly dry, with great complexity and some earthy and tannic notes while still being smooth and approachable overall.

We’re also including a couple of small-batch natural ciders. There’s 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.

Keeping to the cider meets grapes theme, we’re including one last look at our 2025 Grapeskin Perry. For this cider, we pressed Salt Spring Island heritage perry pears to create a wild fermented pear cider. After aging a bit, it then sat for about a month on the skins of some Siegerrebe wine grapes that our friends at Kutatás Wines here on the island provided us. Siegerrebe is a German white wine variety that’s been planted on Vancouver Island and the Okanagan as of late, in part because its hardiness holds up well in our northern climes. Wines made from it usually have an aromatic and somewhat sweet character. The skins complement the pear beautifully, lending a hint of rose and lavender to the nose, and there’s just a whisper of tannins for a note of jasmine green tea on the palate. The pears still come through nicely and lend their usual gentle sweetness to the cider as well. After almost another year to age, this cider has matured and mellowed nicely.

As usual, the other three 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!