Local cider makers are making the most of our apple-growing heritage
by Marc Huminilowycz ❧ photography by Kristie & Brenden Woods
The vineyards and wineries of Southern Georgian Bay have staked their claims in Ontario’s wine market, and now it’s cider’s turn to bask in the limelight. With the popularity of hard cider increasing rapidly in Ontario, it’s no wonder that local entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the region’s abundant apple harvest to produce fine ciders of every variety.
Early apple farmers in Southern Georgian Bay reserved some of their annual harvest to create cider of the alcoholic variety to lift their spirits over the long and cold winters. Today, hard cider is the fastest growing alcoholic beverage category in Ontario and across North America, with several local entrepreneurs fermenting the sweet nectar from our abundant and varied apple harvest to create and successfully market unique varieties of artisanal hard ciders.
Perhaps the most successful hard cider venture in the region is the Thornbury Village Cidery, prominently situated in a large, renovated building on King Street that once housed the handling facilities for Mitchell’s Apple Juice. The largest craft cidery in Ontario, owned by Provincial Beverages of Canada, produces Thornbury Premium Cider, billed as “a truly original, champagne-style Canadian cider that tastes like a traditional English cider.”
“I’m proud to say that our cider is made mostly from local Georgian Bay apples whenever possible,” says Thornbury Cidery marketing manager Bryan Watts, adding the high volume of production occasionally necessitates importing apple juice from other parts of the province. “We make our cider with universal appeal in mind, to be enjoyed by all types of people with a wide range of taste buds.”
Thornbury Premium Cider is available in 500 LCBO outlets across the province. The product is also sold in China, Japan, Taiwan and the Caribbean, with plans to distribute in other Canadian provinces and the U.S. in the near future.
With sales of its product burgeoning over the past few years, Thornbury Village Cidery is currently undergoing a major expansion within its premises to increase capacity. “Making better use of the existing structure in order to continue focusing on small batches, we’re adding more tanks for fermenting and aging, with a larger cold room in the basement and new space for packaging the product on the premises,” says Watts.
For years the cidery has wanted to open its doors to the public for tours and tastings, but has been prohibited from doing so by Ontario’s winery laws (under which hard cider falls), which mandate that public tasting premises must be surrounded by a minimum of five acres of fruit crops. “We’re in the middle of 7,500 acres of apple orchards, and fresh juice is trucked from Golden Town Apple Products just down the road from us, but we can’t open to the public,” laments Watts. As part of the Ontario Craft Cider Association, Thornbury Cidery is working with other Ontario hard cider producers to lobby the government for a change in this legislation.
A pair of local vineyards is also staking a claim to the growing hard cider market. Coffin Ridge Boutique Winery, which produces a variety of award-winning cool climate wines, last year launched its first hard cider in cans – Forbidden Artisanal Hard Cider – now selling well in 135 LCBO outlets across Ontario. Made mostly from local Northern Spy apples, the beverage’s character is, in the words of Coffin Ridge general manager Mike Todd, “an acidic, drier style of cider that pairs well with food.”
“When we launched our cider last June, we couldn’t keep up with the demand and had to quickly upgrade our production capacity,” says Todd. “Traditionally, hard cider imports have held market share in Ontario, but that’s changing quickly to local ciders – a good story for Georgian Bay apple farmers. We support our apple industry, paying our producers a premium for their juice apples.” The winery’s goal is to have its Forbidden Cider in 200 LCBO stores by the end of this summer.
In addition to its hard cider, Coffin Ridge also produces two pear wines: Sparkling Pear, which it describes as “bubbly, fresh pear in a glass” and Winey Pear, a medium-dry still wine with “clean, diverse pear flavours in a medium-bodied wine,” to be released this summer. Both of these wines are made from local pears.
For James McIntosh, an employee of Coffin Ridge and former Meaford councillor, making hard cider has been a life-long dream. “I started thinking about making my own cider in 1994, when I was only 14 years old,” he says. McIntosh produces his own Duxbury Cider at Coffin Ridge, selling his product through the winery as well as in several dining and drinking establishments in Southern Georgian Bay and Toronto.
Describing his cider as “French style done the English way with North American apples,” McIntosh hopes to begin bottling Duxbury Cider this summer for direct sales though Coffin Ridge. He also makes a dry-hopped cider called Tilted Barn, made with local organic hops. McIntosh’s long-term goal is to open his own cidery and sell his product through the LCBO.
Apples have a long history in Southern Georgian Bay. Early pioneer settlers who came here in the 1800s quickly recognized that the moderating effects of Georgian Bay and the Niagara Escarpment created ideal conditions for growing incredible fruit. According to local archives, the first apple orchards were planted here in 1846. By 1930, more than 16,000 acres of orchards were producing “Georgian Bay Apples” that became famous throughout North America.
Today, Southern Georgian Bay’s 70 commercial apple growers produce about 25 per cent of Ontario’s apple crop, with total yields as high as three million bushels per year – fertile ground not only for the sale of fresh apples, but also for other apple products such as juice, sweet cider, scrumptious apple pies and, increasingly, hard cider. “Making apple products is very much a culture here in Southern Georgian Bay,” says Robert Ketchin, co-owner of Georgian Hills Vineyards, one of the region’s premier producers of cool climate grapes and wines. Ketchin, whose partner in the winery is local apple grower John Ardiel, says cider-making is a natural extension for the vineyard.
“We’re in the cider business because we can,” he says. “Cider is an added value coming out of our vineyard, appealing to a local market that enjoys local products.” Georgian Hills’ signature Dry Cider is made from “100 per cent local apples” – mostly Ida Red and other selected varieties exclusive to the Beaver Valley. “It’s a drier style cider, containing 11 to 12 grams of residual sugars – a developed cider that appeals to the more mature cider drinker.” The product is currently available in 750 ml bottles at the winery, but Georgian Hills is considering smaller bottles and cans next year.
Georgian Hills also produces a unique pear cider, created by the vineyard’s winemaker Lindsay Puddicombe and her brother, Brock (a cider maker in the Niagara region). Its sparkling Perry, made from local Bartlett pears and Niagara Bosc pears, offers the same dryness as the vineyard’s Dry Cider. Ketchin describes the beverage as “light and refreshing – a Beaver Valley Prosecco.”
Georgian Hills also recently embarked on a product that is relatively new to Ontario but well established in Quebec – apple ice wine. Ida Red Frozen to the Core is created through a process called “cyroconcentration”: pressed apple juice is left in tanks to freeze outdoors in the winter. As sweet sugars drop to the bottom of the tank, they are drawn off continually. The resulting nectar is fermented to create a sweet amber beverage with intense apple flavours and hints of spice and honey. At the time of this writing, Frozen to the Core has been accepted for shipment by the LCBO, beginning in August.
In the Beaver Valley, Southern Georgian Bay’s premier apple-growing area, one local family is slowly and carefully making a name for itself in the hard cider arena. Beaver Valley Orchard and Cidery crafts its artisanal cider in small batches from select varieties of heritage apples from its own orchard and from neighbouring apple growers. Co-owner John Mott describes his cider as “very dry (fermented to dryness) and tart with no added sugar.” He adds, “Half the apples we use are Russet, which have been historically used in North America to make hard cider. They’re high in natural sugars, with a low level of tannins that imparts additional character not found in other apples.”
In addition to its signature product, the cidery also offers several unique cider varieties: bumbleberry (made with local apples, blackberries, rhubarb, raspberries and blueberries), apple cider infused with organic ginger, pear and cranberry ciders. Beaver Valley Cider is currently available for purchase in 750 mL and 500 mL bottles only at the orchard premises, and by the glass at selected Toronto pubs. The cidery offers tours at no charge, and tastings paired with locally-sourced cheeses throughout the summer and fall from Thursday to Sunday.
Our local cider-makers are receiving support from communities near and far. This summer, the Collingwood Craft Beer and Cider Festival, organized by the Downtown Collingwood Business Improvement Area, made its debut. The inaugural event will showcase some of Ontario’s best small-batch breweries and cideries, along with food trucks, local restaurants, educational seminars and a line-up of local musical talent.
For its part, Grey County has plans to spotlight the region’s cider heritage and its current hard cider entrepreneurs. A map of cider, beer and wine producers in the county is scheduled to be launched this summer. Grey Roots Museum and Archives is planning to open an exhibit titled “Saints & Sinners: A Spirited History of Grey County” in January 2016.
South of our region, the Ontario Craft Cider Association celebrates Ontario Cider Week in Toronto. Ciders from Coffin Ridge Winery, Thornbury Village Cidery, Beaver Valley Orchard and Cidery and the Duxbury Cider Company will be represented at this event.
Like the early pioneers who discovered fertile ground for apple growing in Southern Georgian Bay, local entrepreneurs are re-discovering the ancient craft of cider-making, creating desirable “value-added” apple products that builds a healthy local business segment while supporting the region’s time-honoured apple industry. ❧
