Golden Hour

Golden Hour

By Haley Banwart

Sip, Gather and Savor the Season at Fishback & Stephenson Cider House

Crisp air. Clear skies. Bursts of brilliant foliage. Fall reminds us that with each season of change, opportunity follows.

Clint Stephenson, Hopi James (pictured), Cole Fishback and Annalisa Thompson opened their award-winning cidery and burger restaurant in 2014.

That’s the mentality Fishback & Stephenson Cider House friends and co-founders – Clint Stephenson, Hopi James, Cole Fishback and Annalisa Thompson – have embraced since opening their award-winning cidery and burger restaurant in 2014.

Today, the stunning timber-framed taproom sits on a hill overlooking 33 acres of rolling land outside of Fairfield. The eatery was first established in town after the coowners completely gutted and renovated a former barbershop to turn their vision of a pub-styled restaurant into a reality.

Started with Cider

Inspiration for the cider house stemmed from a love of hard cider and a passion for bringing people together through shared culinary experiences.

“Our partner Clint started an orchard in remembrance of a friend who played an influential role in his upbringing and used it as a community space for others to plant memorial trees,” explains Fishback & Stephenson Co-Founder Hopi James. “The four of us spent a summer traveling in Europe, and our interest in hard cider grew to the point where we began experimenting with making our own.”

To start, the friends handpicked apples from the area and used an old-fashioned, hand-crank press to brew small batches in Clint’s kitchen.

As they perfected the craft, the homemade spirits became popular among friends at gatherings and dinner parties – so much so – the foursome decided to open a burger shack featuring their locally crafted cider.

A Unique Partnership

While the hard cider initially took center stage, it wasn’t the only must-have on the menu. Before the grand opening, the co-founders had also developed a unique partnership with Tony Adrian, a local farmer, to serve mouthwatering, high-quality hamburgers.

“Clint and I grew up together and have been friends since elementary school,” Adrian says. “We kept in touch through the years, and when he moved back to town and later opened the Cidery with Hopi, Cole and Annalisa, he approached me with the idea to buy and serve beef sourced from our family farm.”

“At first, I was skeptical of how we would make the arrangement work, but I knew it would be a good thing to do for the community, and I wanted to help a buddy out.”

Clint and Tony decided to grind cuts from the whole cow to create a tasty, premium product. The pair also found a creative way to reuse a by-product from the cider production.

“I had heard of Wisconsin producers feeding cranberry mash to their cattle,” Adrian explains. “So I analyzed the content of the cider residue for protein and energy values and determined I could feed it as a ration to my cows and calves.” “It’s been pretty humbling to be part of something that brings the community together and see it all come full circle.”

Award-Winners

Within a year of opening, the Cider House took top honors in the state when their signature hand-formed patties made with locally raised beef were named Iowa’s Best Burger in 2015.

As the business grew, the dynamic team expanded the restaurant’s seating and temporarily put cidermaking on hold as they juggled roles as waiters and waitresses, cooks and bartenders, and managers and marketers.

The ultimate goal, however, was to construct a full-scale cidery on a scenic plot located just outside of Fairfield. As Clint, Hopi, Cole and Annalisa's hard cider began to gain recognition among distributors, the friends decided to close the restaurant and build their dream taproom.

Designed with a tasting room and event facilities, the timber-framed taproom was completed in the summer of 2018. The timber was logged from Livingston Timber in Jefferson County and milled in the cidery’s parking lot.

The focus on pressing, fermenting, aging and packaging hard cider from the American Midwest paid off.

Fishback & Stephenson won Iowa Producer of the Year in 2020 and 2021 in the New York International Cider Competition, taking home awards for their Iowa Strangler Aronia berry cider, pink watermeloninspired First Crush, and green apple original, Coyote Verde.

Embracing Change

Although the cider makers never intended to reopen their restaurant, COVID-19 disrupted their plans when it caused an aluminum shortage and halted Fishback & Stephenson’s canning production.

“We started selling cider growlers to-go and pivoted back to a full-time restaurant,” shares James. “Luckily, we kept the original Cider House menu and learned to make do with a kitchen that wasn’t originally outfitted for full food service.”

Today, Fishback & Stephenson continues to sell their famous burgers and a curated menu of farm-to-table fare along with a wide selection of ciders, cider cocktails and Iowa craft beers.

It’s an atmosphere James describes as both classy and casual – a gathering place where guests can feel just as at home in their heels as their Carhartt’s – making it the perfect destination to sit back, relax and soak in the golden autumn glow.