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 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 snow probably have a few more tricks up their sleeves for the next couple months ahead.

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 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, as we do a lot of gleaning of unique old trees that are part of Salt Spring's rich apple producing history. While we get a lot of fun, funky, and unique heritage cider apples, it can sometimes be a little more luck of the draw as to what we get from 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 bit. 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.

And, we’re also featuring our most recent batch of our Plum Cider. This is a blend of apples and a wild fermented plum wine that we release every winter, and it’s become one of our longest running seasonals. The wild fermentation of the plums makes it a bit of a challenge, and there have been several years when we thought we might have made our last batch. However, it’s become such a well-loved mainstay that we can’t help ourselves. It has a light, lovely tartness that’s balanced by a hint of jammy sweetness. It’s a wonderful cider to enjoy year round, but it seems especially well-suited to cutting through the lingering heaviness of the winter and welcoming the spring.

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 beautiful spring, thanks for your continued patronage, and cheers!