We Drove Ontario’s Cider Trail: 5 Cideries You Need to Know 🍎

Good morning, everybody. Buckle your seatbelts, bring your sunglasses, because we are going on an adventure today. We are escaping the concrete jungle of Toronto and we are heading out to Niagara to explore the Ontario Craft Cider Trail. Ontario Craft Cider Week is coming up very soon and there is a lot to explore. You can choose your own adventure in exploring Ontario craft cider and there is so much out there. So we are going to 5 different stops, all completely different cideries. We're gonna be tasting some local pours, also meeting with some local makers, and I'm taking you all along the route with me. So let's hit the road, everybody. We're at our first stop here at Ravine Vineyards, and you must be thinking, Renee, vineyard? Why are you at a winery when you're supposed to be tasting cider? Well, I have to tell you, we're gonna be tasting the Lowry Brothers cider. This is a farming family that goes back over 160 years, and while this is their winery, it is also the place Where you can try Lowry Brothers ciders. Let's go inside and taste a pear and apple cider together, and explore a little bit of the history of this amazing spot in St. David's Bench.

My name is Natalia Cassioli, and I am the cider maker for Lowry Bro Cider and Perry. and also the associate winemaker for Ravine.

So we're in Ravine Vineyard, but this is a story about the Lowry brothers.

Yes.

This is a huge farming family. I know they're on their 6th generation, but it goes back about 160 years. As you're making the cider for this, how does this final cider relate to all of that amazing history?

This is agricultural land, right? And for more than 160 years, as you said. And it is very important for the family that we keep this special property as agricultural land. There's a lot of love and authenticity that we put put in, in every can, bringing the best apples to make our cider. When we are making cider, pears, being the wine country that we always have a winemaker's twist, right? So we make our ciders in a very fresh way, very clean, so you can taste the apple.

I guess we should taste some cider.

Absolutely. Yeah, let's go. That's the best part.

Amazing.

So I know we're going to be tasting an apple cider and a pear cider, but we're starting with the apple cider.

I like to start with the apple cider because we make it in an extra dry style.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Very much get that like fresh apple vibe, but also a little bit of white flowers and chamomile in there. Very floral leaning.

Yeah.

Oh, that flavor, that flavor is lovely. It's really good. Very crisp, very bright, very leading with acidity in a nice way, and a beautifully long finish.

You can enjoy and you still have this very fresh and, uh, and nice apple flavor to it.

No, I love it. We should try the pear cider next.

Okay, let's go with the pear cider right now. So this is one of my favorites.

Now, the main difference between this is not necessarily the making, but the fact that we switched out the apples for pears.

Exactly. You still have an apple base and apple and pear juice added to the pear. But yeah.

So this is a combination apple and pear cider together.

Exactly. They come together.

This one is—

you get the pear and I really think it's really floral.

You get a lot of honeysuckle.

In a honeysuckle, yes.

And there's this gorgeous, like, pear, but leading into pear drop, which is such a delightful aroma. Yes. And even as we get onto the palate, and it is off-dry, the acidity again is so bright in its finish.

That's the winemaking twist.

Oh, I love that. Thank you so much.

Cheers.

Cheers. That was fun.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

We're on our second stop here at Ironwood Cider. Look how gorgeous this place is. It's truly a treat for the senses in every possible way. Ironwood is known for making ciders out of and heritage apples, and they do fabulous bottled ciders as well that see a lot of long aging and unique making techniques. You can also try their canned ciders, but I have to tell you, if you're a wine lover, those bottled ciders are going to get a hold on you just like they have a hold on me. So let's go on in and taste what they have being poured today.

Hi, I'm Theo Rendell. I'm the cider maker and operations manager here at Ironwood Cider. I started here in 2019.

This is your first spot in 2019?

Yeah.

Have you been here the whole time Richard's had it?

Uh, no. Richard bought the place in 2013.

Yeah.

Brought Ironwood to the forefront, and then I started here just as cellar help and doing whatever.

And, uh—

Wow, this is, this is your home, so to speak, in terms of making. So do you have like a really interesting story, especially in terms terms of one of the bottled ciders that people can try here over at Ironwood because they're so unique and they feel experimental but also very thought-provoking.

Our Ciser actually started in 2020 when I was just cellar hand. That was a culinary apple and honey fermented, co-fermented in barrel and then aged, and it's been aged on lees in bottle since 2021, we bottled it. So it has had a crazy change of being in here, being in our back warehouse, being in our barn back there, wherever stuff had to move as we're in construction and producing the products. So we made another one this year. Hopefully it gets released before 5 years, but we'll see how the product ages and turns out.

I love this concept of long aging and bringing that together with like ciders that people can really enjoy and understand immediately, but also ciders that people can See more like wine.

Yeah, we want a cider that you can do that with too.

And Ironwood really does showcase that so, so, so well.

Thank you.

On that note, I think we should try some cider.

Let me get some glasses. This is mostly Bramley apples. It is 75%, I believe, and then a mix of a few culinary in just to bump it up. But it was barrel fermented and barrel aged and then bottled, and I believe it was bottled in '22. So this one has not gone through malo, so it still has a very nice fresh, bright acidity coming from the bitter sherbs.

Wow.

If you've ever tried cider and you're a wine lover, this is exactly the place for you to be in wine country because you can have these really great ciders. Truly, the nose is so aromatic, like vanilla whipped cream, a little bit of that kind of like fresh apple as well. But also it kind of feels, ah, a little bit tropical, like a touch like starfruit and melon.

Yeah, this one is my favorite. It is such an easy drinking, just beautiful Have it with a good, like, barbecued pork chop or something.

That would, that would be delicious with this. The palate is exquisite. It just kind of goes on and on and on. There's a little bit of texture and tannin in there too that kind of grabs you. It would be amazing with a pork chop. Now we're going to the other spectrum, I hear, with the Ciser, this wonderful red bottle. What is the background behind the making of this?

So like a mead, it's honey and apple juice.

Has this like wildflower, slightly minty, not very eucalyptus anymore, more like spearmint. Which is nice. There's an apple backbone to it, but it almost feels like kind of like a Fuji meets Granny Smith type of apple. Like you get very specific with the apples with this one.

And this is culinary, so there were definitely Granny Smith in there.

There's Granny Smith apples in there? Oh my God, I called the apple. The Sizer feels like how you start the evening.

Yep.

And the Bramley feels like how you end the evening. And there's so many different worlds in between here too. Thank you so much.

No problem.

Cheers.

Cheers.

All right everybody, we are at stop number 3, and thank goodness because it is lunchtime. And we are at Bench Brewing Company. This is the home of Niagara Cider as well as Liberty Cider too, but they have a killer kitchen. They always have cider on tap, and we're going to be tasting some. But let me show you what they have for lunch because it is quite delicious. This is such a spot to include, especially if you're exploring the Ontario Cider Trail, because You will not leave on an empty stomach, and there are some delicious things to try here. So one of their most popular ciders is the Niagara Gold. So let's give it a try together. Ooh, it blends strawberry and raspberry and blueberry. It's very full.

Mm-hmm.

I could see why this is a top seller. It's absolutely delicious. There's a lot of berry notes in there. It's incredibly refreshing. It really gives that whole summer Niagara, grown here, made here vibe. One more that's really piqued my interest is this Sun Cherry. I love cherries. I like them in cider. I think it's a really great combination because of the acidity in both fruits, apples and cherries coming together. Look at this color. Oh, this is my top favorite. The palate is absolutely delicious. It kind of runs on and on, has this nice grip to it. There's a lot more going on in this one than you would expect. Perfect.

Hi, my name is Matt Giffen. I'm the founder and president of Bench Brewing Company, as well as Niagara Cider and Liberty Village Cider, and we're in Lincoln, Ontario.

This place is— has a lot going on. The ciders that you're making here, like, what's the goal behind the ciders and the story that you want to tell?

Yeah, you know, our mission statement is quality crafted sustainably. So everything we do has a sustainable focus to it. Quality has been number one for us from the very beginning. We purchased Niagara Cider and then we've just purchased Liberty Village Cider in October. So Caitlin Vanden Bosch, who is our Director of Beverage Operations, focuses really on making the best possible cider we can. And while doing that, we do it sustainably. So we're a solar-powered cidery. We're carbon neutral certified and have been since 2021. We're certified B Corp. And, you know, it's all fun to say all these things, but, you know, it's a lot of work, but we love it. It's a core value for us. And if we can do that while making great beverages and particularly cider, then we've achieved our goal.

Wow.

That's—

I honestly cannot stress enough how important it is to see companies like yourself just doing all of this because there's, like you said, there's so, so, so much work behind it. And to produce Such unique and interesting ciders along the way. With all of that in mind, you can also see it on the back of all of their cans.

Yeah, we just, we believe in, again, the craftsmanship, the craft aspect of, you know, making beer and cider is important to us. And so it's all in-house and we're really proud of it.

Amazing. I think it's time we should taste some cider.

Okay, great.

Amazing.

We have 2 ciders here to taste. We have Peach and Chardonnay. We also have the Maple Whiskey Oak Aged. This is so unique and interesting. So for the Peach and Chardonnay, which is This guy in our glass right over here.

Yes, cheers.

I'll give you a cheers. This is great because it kind of brings together all the worlds that Niagara has. This is a fruit-growing area in Ontario. We got great peaches out here. Chardonnay is like, I think, our number one planted white wine grape varietal here. I'll correct myself if I'm wrong. And then it really kind of makes this very refreshing kind of patio crusher vibe.

Patio crusher vibe is a great way to describe this. I think that's perfect.

This is so unique. Maple whiskey oak-aged cider. Again, feels very Canadian, very here.

Very here.

You know, we thought this would be a big seller in the winter only, but people like it all year round. So it's got a lot of character.

That's cool.

It's got a great nose, great color. Yeah, this is a real beauty. It's quite different.

It feels very like, I'm a bourbon lover, give me a good cider.

Yeah, that's a great way of saying it. It kind of has a warming effect, which you wouldn't think in 30-degree weather that people would like, but People really do.

It smells like maple. It has that toasty, smoky vanilla vibe that you get from oak, that the apples kind of come through and they feel a little bit more like kind of like baked apples across the board, which is nice.

That's great. Yeah, that's exactly, you know, a feeling that people, they love that, the warmth that it exudes. And baked apples, I think, is—

That's fabulous. This is my opener. This is the when we're having dinner. Perfect.

That's—

you've curated a great meal.

Thank you. Well, cheers. Thanks for having us.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming.

I'm at Fielding Estate Winery in a Muskoka chair enjoying a nice glass of premium dry cider over ice. We are at stop number 4 on this cider trail, and this is such a beautiful place. Being in Lincoln, there is a lot of beauty up here being right next to the escarpment, and we're at another winery that's making cider, which means that we are in for such a treat to see that nice classic style of Ontario making perfection in the glass, but done through the lens of cider. Now let's go inside. We're going to try a couple ciders together and I'll show you the view because this is a place you're going to want to hang out at.

I'm Curtis Fielding, president of Fielding Estate Winery and Fielding Craft Cider Company.

I know that this was basically your whole plan to create cider.

It was. It was my, yeah, it was my kind of probing to get going on this.

Yeah.

After we got the wine under control, we wanted to do this. I wanted to do cider.

Why did you want to push so hard for cider?

Too much of my money to Strongbow, so I wanted to make my own. Wait, I love it.

This is a great reason to drink Ontario craft cider.

Exactly.

So as we're— as you're looking at cider, when you're going from setting up the winery to having the cidery kind of part of it, what was your goal with like kind of what you wanted the ciders to taste like in the glass?

I didn't— I hate ciders that you drink and they're not refreshing and they're just like a sugar bomb. I don't like that. So I wanted them Not bone dry, but a little bit off dry just to smooth them out and balance it. But it's— I'm really happy with our winemaking and cider team. They did a great job on these and lots of R&D and taste testing, and it paid off.

I think we should do a little more R&D and taste testing because we have— what do we have here? We have our hard craft cider.

Yeah, this is our hard craft cider, and this is our cherry cider.

Cherry cider.

Okay.

Cherries from our friends down on Cherry, uh, over on Cherry Lane. Yeah, Jen Smith and her family.

So they're such great people. Cheers!

Cheers!

This is, this is my kind of cider. It's refreshing, it has that nice kind of like apple kick. But I like when I go to cideries that are backed by wineries. You get this nice crisp acidity, this great fresh finish, something that kind of sticks around and says maybe you should eat something while you drink me.

Yeah, one thing we wanted to make sure is that they were authentic. So these are apples grown from from our neighbors right across, right around the corner, and I walk my dog in their orchard all the time, so I see the apples almost every day. So from— but we didn't want flavoring, we didn't want it from concentrate. So yeah, they're 100% authentic. It's apples.

So it's apples. And thank you so much for expanding the winery.

I'm Heidi Fielding. I'm the Director of Sales and Marketing here at Fielding Winery.

So we're going to taste these ciders a little bit more technically. As a sommelier, I like to dive into the A little bit more. And for the premium dry cider, what's the making that happens behind it?

Okay, so Richie starts with apple selection. So he goes to our growers around the corner and he works with them on the different apple compositions. And sometimes it's apples that you're not going to bite into. It's like, it's like when you make wine, you're not going to use, you know, Cabernet.

Or you're not going to use Concord.

You're not going to use Concord and you're not going to use eating grapes.

So he's using heritage apples more so.

Yeah, he's using a combination. So I think I think he's going through and he's looking for what's going to hold up nicely, what has good acidity, what's going to give it like a good like backbone and structure. And yeah, it changes from year to year, but we do use a combination— some Honeycrisp, some Spy, some— oh, so many different.

You know what, and you can really kind of smell that because when you get heritage apples in there, it almost feels very wine-like. And I keep having to catch myself from saying the word wine even though I have a cider in my hand because You get this kind of like funky, like a little bit more earthen, but also wildflower.

Yeah.

And the appley notes are there. Over ice, you kind of get that very fresh feeling, but by itself, it's an incredible—

So pretty. It opens up really nice. You get a little bit of a honey note.

Very aromatic.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

You can really see the texture on the palate too, that, that wine characteristic of pulling it out across the palate a lot more. Really giving it a lot of extra intensity. Oh, for sure.

And like Richie, our winemaker, and Curtis as well, they both love cider. So it was like, as Kurt mentioned, like the very natural next step. And it's been such a joy for us to have ciders here because our guests will come, they can enjoy wine, but then in their flight as well, they will have a cider often. And so you're getting that nice comparison for them because they get it too, right? So, and it's made exactly the same way, which is The best part of the tour. Candy dandy.

I know cider and wine are made exactly the same, and I want to kind of talk about the cherry cider a little bit more. So this is fun. This is a rosé cider, but it's done— it's basically a cherry cider.

Yes.

Correct? It has apples and cherries in it. So it has a nice crispness that you get from the apples and a little bit of tartness that you get from the cherries.

I also love how this is a cider that kind of brings this whole neighborhood together. Cherry Lane, if you've been out in Niagara, is not very far. I know we're talking about the Cider Trail, but if you stop by there, it's really Lovely too. Um, but you get this fresh cherry, like this Bing cherry mixed with kind of this little bit of brioche vibe as well, and like apple pie.

Exactly. And it's like very Niagara, as you said.

It's so Niagara. The palate on this, I could talk about it for, for days. These are absolutely delightful.

Thank you. Cheers.

Wouldn't you like to have a glass of cider with this great view in the background? This is why I love coming to Fielding. Not only are they making things that are delicious, you also get a great place to sip them from. Now we're on to our last stop of the day, stop number 5. It's a little bit of a drive, so I'll see you there. We're at our 5th and final stop, everybody. We're at West Avenue. If there is one cider house that has defined Ontario craft cider making, it is West Avenue Cider. They've been started here since 2012, and they've really put on the map what it means to make cider in Ontario. They use only heritage apples, they do a lot of unique making processes, and they do a lot of single orchard as well. So we're going to taste some ciders with them and explore this really influential cider house. Hello, there's a dog!

Hi!

Hey, nice to see you! Nice to see you too! Okay, we're doing a secret visit to West Avenue, but when you come here, they're open Wednesday to Sunday.

So my name is Amy Robson and I'm the co-owner of West Avenue Cider, and we are in Freelton, Ontario, which is just 10 minutes outside of Hamilton.

How do you find that people are like receiving the ciders when they come here? Because you guys do only heritage apples, which is very, very unique. We've tasted a lot of culinary and heritage blends Today, but it's just heritage apples here. What's like the general thing that people say when they have West Avenue Ciders?

They can't believe what they're tasting, and they can't believe that it is so complex and interesting. Again, I think they were somewhere along the line, cider got a bad name of just sweet, syrupy, sugary drink. And so when they're here, they're really able to taste their way through all of the flavors that we have. We usually have 20 between 12 and 15 ciders on our menu for everyone to try. And, um, yeah, it's just a joy for everyone to sort of discover, you know, new things for their, for their palates.

My name is Chris Howarth. I'm the co-owner of West Avenue Cider in Frielton, and I am the gardener, the orchardist, the cider maker, and, uh, chief taster.

And speaking of being a chief taster, we're going to be tasting some cider together and What are we going to start off with? We're going to start off with the Legacy?

Yeah, Legacy. This is one of my favorites, all-time favorites. Um, this guy's wild yeast or house yeast fermented heritage apple, so it's, uh, Golden Russet, Northern Spy, and then a whole bunch of English cider apples, but it's probably like 1/3 Northern Spy, 1/3 Golden Russet, and it spends its first 6 months in stainless steel, then it 1 year in oak barrel, and then we go into the bottle with a bit of yeast, a little bit of sugar, and it's made champagne method and then fully disgorged. And it's supposed to be like a champagne.

You know what, I really do get that, because when you explore this cider— I keep wanting to say wine— because you get all of these really great kind of like toasted apple piey kind of notes, but also this little bit of funk in there, like kind of that hay vibe that you can get, especially from higher houses of Champagne. And on the palate, it truly sings. Like, it has this great texture, pithiness, a little bit of tannin in there too. You can really see all the making that went into it.

Okay, next up we got Oracle. This is a 2023. This is a wine and cider hybrid, so it's— the cider comes from here, the wines come from Niagara. We always use Ontario produce, Ontario grapes, fruit, and our ciders But we get a lot of people coming in here, they're like, they're not sure about cider. I don't like cider. But we're like, okay, well, try this wine-cider hybrid. So to get people in the door, we make hoppy ciders, we make wine-cider hybrids. So this goes over really well with like—

I can tell why it would.

Like, it's really fruity.

But this is fruity, but it's kind of like a treat. It's like a bakery right near you started making some Bramble berry Danishy things, and it kind of Looney Tune smell in the air pops you over to here.

Aha, right. Yes, definitely big on the fruit. Okay, here we got our Fire and Ice cider. This is a 2020. So a little bit about ice cider. So ice cider is made a little bit differently to ice wine. Ice cider is made in cryoconcentrated, so you freeze Cider when it's like -30 outside. You freeze like a vat of cider, and then when it thaws, you're left with a giant ice cube and this thick, viscous, highly aromatic apple concentrate. And that's what we ferment.

Wow.

And then we don't ferment the ice. The ice goes, and then we ferment that. But also, this is a blend. So what we've done is fire cider, which is big in Quebec— nobody else makes it in Ontario— so fire cider You take a maple syrup evaporator and you put in apple juice and you reduce it down to a concentrate. So it's more of a cooked flavor.

Yeah.

And then you mix— we mix half of that with the fresh syrupy concentrated iced cider, and then we ferment the 2 together. So it's a little bit smoky.

Wow, this is really cool.

Yeah, a little bit smoky, a little bit— but definitely toffee caramel.

Toffee caramel, a little bit of coffee tones, and it's truly so expressive and aromatic on the nose. But the palate is not overly sweet. It leads with its acidity, and it has this great finish.

Yeah.

Absolutely delicious and something so specific to West Avenue.

Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Cheers.

Cheers. So Amy was just telling me that this is their lounge behind me. It packs up every weekend, so if you would like to come, come early, stay late, enjoy lots of cider. There's a lot to try and explore here. And behind me, just over there, are their orchards. So there's a lot to explore here at West Avenue Cider, and they are so good at really showcasing all that Ontario craft cider can be. All right everybody, we're back in Toronto, but that was such a fun day, wasn't it? We've been to 5 different stops on the Ontario Craft Cider Trail, but that is not the only stops you can go to. It's truly a choose-your-own-adventure, and there's also places to visit in Prince Edward County, Georgian Bay, and more spots in Niagara we didn't get a chance to go to together. So check the caption down below for all the information that you need, and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. Let me know if you're going to be exploring more with Ontario Craft Cider Week coming up soon and your thoughts on Ontario craft cider. See you all next time. Cheers, everybody!

Cheers!