Welcome to Winter

With December arriving, the island has settled into a quieter and slower rhythm. The roaring river of summer tourists has shrunk down to a slow, steady trickle of visitors—couples taking a cozy weekend getaway in the off season, university students popping over during a reading break. At our lounge and restaurant, the picnic area is quiet and empty, but in our dining room and under our heated pergola, there’s still a hearty bustle of folks enjoying each others company over cider and something warm to eat.

The apple harvest is finished and the hard work of pressing fruit has also come to a close. The apple bins are stacked and stored, and big totes of freshly pressed juice sit waiting to ferment, or to be put in cold storage until the time is right to turn them into cider. This is the time of year when we pivot to making more cider for the year to come, refreshing our inventories, catching up on a few neglected projects here and there, and getting some hard-earned R&R. It’s a quieter time to be sure, but the work of cider making continues year round.

We have some great selections to share with you in this season’s shipment. We’re including a new release of our Ice Cider—our first since 2020! Ice ciders are traditionally made with apples that have frozen on the tree, but here on the wet and relatively warm West Coast, we use cryoconcentration to get the same basic result. The pressed juice is cooled to a temperature at which most of the water freezes out of solution, and a much more concentrated juice that is very rich in sugars, tannins, and flavour can be separated out. This is then fermented and left un-carbonated, resulting in a sweet, desserty cider not unlike a brandy or an ice wine. It’s delightful to sip chilled and neat by the fire on a winter’s evening, or it can be added to a cocktail. You can even splash some on some vanilla ice cream with a bit of caramel syrup for a sweet treat.

We’ve also got a couple of really special selections from the cellar that will likely be the last of their vintage, or pommage, that is. The first comes from one final case of our Barrel Aged Muscat cider that has been quietly ageing since being bottled back in 2020. To make it, heritage Salt Spring Island apples were pressed and wild fermented, then aged for a year in French oak barrels that had previously held Muscat wine. The oak notes have held up nicely, some of the acidity has since mellowed, and even though the hint of Muscat is less pronounced, it’s still a fantastic, complex cider. We’ve also got what will likely be the last bit of our Ancestral Pét Nat. It was first bottled way back in 2021, and it continues to evolve as it ages. The acidity has mellowed nicely, and there’s still some great complexity, with pronounced tannins, some subtle fruit notes, and a pleasant roundness from ageing on the lees in the bottle.

Once again, we’re again inviting you to pick 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 merry and bright holiday season! Thanks for your continued patronage. Cheers!