What's Brewing Spring 2020

BC's Cider Association • BC CIDER WEEK • History of Cider • Sea Cider's Kristen Needham • CAMRA Vancouver • Think Beer, DRINK BEER

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THE CIDER ISSUE VOL.30 ISSUE 1

Illustration: Montevarious

SPRING 2020 CIDER: BEER'S BEST FRIEND

THE JOURNAL OF BC'S CRAFT BEER MOVEMENT

Our Spring issue contains a 24-page craft cider section. This is probably the most ever said about BC cider in one publication. It's about time!

CONTENTS COMMUNITY 07

THE HOPLINE: UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR

09

A VIEW FROM THE CELLAR: THE DEATH OF CAMRA VANCOUVER?

11

COMMUNITY REPORTS: CAMRA VICTORIA & SOUTH OKANAGAN

CIDER SPOTLIGHT 13

EVENT PREVIEW: BC’S BIGGEST CIDER CELEBRATION

14

COVER: MERRIDALE CIDER: A STORY OF APPLES AND PASSION

20

MEET MERRIDALE'S DISTILLER: RICK PIPES

21

EVENT PREVIEW: A WEEK OF CIDER

22

WHAT'S BREWING TASTING PANEL: CIDER VS. CIDER II

27

SPOTLIGHT: BC FARM CRAFTED CIDER ASSOCIATION

29

ULLAGE & SPILLAGE: A BRIEF, OPINIONATED, HISTORY OF CIDER

31

WOMEN AND CIDER: KRISTEN NEEDHAM OF SEA CIDER

33

AN IN-CIDER'S VIEW: LOST AND FOUND...AND LOST AGAIN

35

HOMEBREW HAPPENIN'S: SUPER CIDER ME

REGIONAL REPORTS 38

OKANAGAN: KICKIN' IT OLD SCHOOL AFTER 25 YEARS

40

NORTHERN BC: CELEBRATING THE CULTURE OF CRAFT

BEER INSIGHTS

What's Brewing Produced by Line49 Design Group Inc. 300-1275 West 6th Avenue Vancouver BC V6H 1A6 info@whatsbrewing.ca www.whatsbrewing.ca Social: @whatsbrewingbc Editorial Group Editor & Publisher: Dave Smith Co-Editor: Paul Morris Associate Production Editor: Navin Autar Copy Editors: Wendy Barron, Ivana Smith Contact: editor@whatsbrewing.ca Hopline & Newsroom Associate Editor, Events: Edward Kaye Contact: events@whatsbrewing.ca Associate Editor, Newsroom: Navin Autar Contact: newsroom@whatsbrewing.ca Contributors: Mike Ansley, Adam Arthur, Warren Boyer, Adam Chatburn, Ted Child, Lundy Dale, Ed Kaye, Kim Lawton, Stewart 'Scottie' McLellan, Jeff Nairn, Paul Pyne, J. Random, Brian K. Smith, Carnell Turton, Abby Wiseman, Malcolm Yates Chief Photographer: Brian K. Smith Illustrator: Emile Compion @montevarious Web & Admin: Navin Autar, Ligia Margaritescu, Susan Jones

42

OUT & ABOUT: TAPPING INTO THE 2020s

45

HOMEBREW HAPPENIN'S: NEXT TEN YEARS IN HOMEBREWING

Advertising & Corporate Sales sales@whatsbrewing.ca

46

BOOKS IN REVIEW: DRINK BEER, THINK BEER

© 2020 What's Brewing

COMMUNITY CALENDAR | events

COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS Many thanks to these supporters who help bring What's Brewing to you!

Find a printed copy at whatsbrewing.ca/find

BC CRAFT CALENDAR with Ed Kaye

UPCOMING EXBEERIENCES FOR SPRING 2020!

F

rom March 6 to 14, Victoria Beer Week returns for its 7th year, celebrating Victoria’s craft beer culture with 14 events spread over 9 days, including some favourites from past years along with some bold new twists. www.victoriabeerweek.com Meanwhile, on the Mainland, Coquitlam Craft Beer Festival returns for its 5th year on March 7. The festival features over 50 craft breweries, cider houses and distilleries, with over 90% of the vendors from BC. www.coquitlambeerfestival.com On Saturday, March 21, the CAMRA BC and CAMRA Vancouver AGM will be held at Andina Brewing Co. in Yeast Van. Volunteers are needed in order to keep a CAMRA executive in Vancouver. See details on page 10. www.camrabc.ca On April 17th and 18th Okanagan Fest of Ale celebrates its 25th anniversary in Penticton. This year they plan to treat over 5000 attendees to over 300 quality craft beers, ciders, and cask ales in their unique indoor/outdoor venue. Enjoy great food, live entertainment, and more! www.festofale.ca Sticking with the Okanagan, May 9 brings the Great Okanagan Beer Festival to Kelowna, with more than 60 craft breweries pouring over 120 beers and ciders for 3,500+ festival-goers.

There will also be a number of satellite events around the city in the days leading up to the main fest. www.gobf.ca On May 16, the Fort Langley Beer & Food Festival returns with 30+ craft breweries, 10+ local food vendors, wineries, cideries, and live music. www.fortlangley.beer On Sunday May 24th, the 4th Annual BC Cider Festival takes place in the heart of North Van's new Shipyards brewery district. The typically-sold-out indoor event is to be complemented by an outdoor event open to the public. www.bcciderfest.ca Cider Fest is part of BC Cider Week, taking place May 21 – May 31 at various locations around the province. www.bcciderweek.com From May 29 to Jun 7, Vancouver Craft Beer Week will take over the city with a series of fun events, culminating in a huge festival at Concord Park from June 5–7. This year, they will have four separate sessions, and no tokens. Rejoice! www.vancouvercraftbeerweek.com For the latest in Craft Beer News, Events & Opinion, follow or subscribe to the Hopline e-news. New issue every Thurs! @whatsbrewingbc | #hopline | www.hopline.ca

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THE DEATH OF CAMRA VANCOUVER? ... and my part in its downfall

I

>> ADAM CHATBURN t seems that I start my articles with “Back when I was CAMRA BC Vancouver branch President…” far too often.

CAMRA Vancouver came into being in 2003 thanks to branch founders Lundy Dale and Paul Morris. When I became President in 2013, craft beer was still not yet on everyone’s lips; we were the first wave of local evangels out to convert you.

The organization I inherited was one of the most motivated and dynamic groups of people I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. Executive members Monica Frost and Amanda Barry should be singled out for their energy in managing our communications and events, respectively. They’re both big wheels in the craft beer community, and I am lucky to call them friends.

Around that time there were only three or four beer events in the Lower Mainland each year (incredible to think now!), so CAMRA Vancouver stepped in and added more in the form of session cask festivals, CiderWise festival, movie nights, bus trips, and many, many education seminars. We had a booth at as many events as we could in order to recruit and show folks the myriad benefits of membership during the burgeoning craft beer revolution.

CAMRA YVR launched a campaign encouraging breweries to

fill any growler (not just their branded bottles). They promoted Beers on the Beach, the “ever-popular” #FUSS (Fess Up to Serving Sizes) initiative, participated in a provincial government liquor review, and helped convince Vancouver city to allow the beer lounges that have allowed the Greater Vancouver Regional District to become the craft beer capital of Canada.

CAMRA Vancouver was regularly asked to get involved in various industry-based campaigns, but we declined unless there was a genuine consumer issue at the core.

We decided to stop taking money from industry to avoid conflict with our consumer advocacy policies. I felt that every precious volunteer moment working on any corporate agenda was a moment not spent on a consumer issue.

After two years, I stepped down to focus on launching 12 Kings Pub and younger people inherited the organization. I did A nice, clean-cut Adam Chatmy best to be available to the new exec- burn in his presidential days utive. My main advice was to make sure any campaign was consumer-focused and not get caught up in industry stuff; after all, that’s what the BC Craft Brewers Guild is for, and they do an excellent job of it.

Continued on page 10 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 9

A VIEW FROM THE CELLAR | opinion

Over the next few years, changes were made that I felt were mistakes, but that was the point; they were ideas we wouldn’t have had. The newer executive worked hard but events became less frequent and membership numbers started dropping.

In 2014, Powell River launched an excellent beer festival that I didn’t miss until 2019, but the branch itself seems to have been mothballed (judging by lack of response to my messages).

Some other branches continued to do well. Victoria continues to chug along as it has for the last three decades, with their “it’s complicated” relationship to the Great Canadian Beer Festival and the Victoria Beer Society.

CAMRA South Okanagan, run by the inimitable Kim Lawton (another contributor to this fine mag), presents interesting events and posts regularly on social media, helping grow the great brewery scene in the Penticton area.

Other non-profit societies in BC have been hit by complications over the last couple of years. Firstly, the Societies Act of 2016 changed a few things, but there was plenty of time and help for transition. Then PayPal started locking out accounts to societies, a complex and frustrating issue that continues to this day.

A couple of CAMRA branches have managed to keep active [see the reports following this story]. But the Vancouver branch has apparently vanished. The social media accounts seem very quiet, occasionally sharing random posts, but nothing original or actually about CAMRA YVR. The website is mostly years out of date.

Messages are not returned. However, it seems that CAMRA is accepting Vancouver membership dues again. Maybe some folks just want to keep their liquor store discounts.

How has an organization that had close to 1,500 paid members in the Lower Mainland at one point now become largely defunct?

Well, volunteers can be difficult to recruit, and no volunteers means no work gets done. Loss of focus means that members don’t feel engaged. No new campaigns or activities mean that the public profile drops and there’s even less desire to get involved.

Also, chasing new, younger membership may have alienated some older members. David Perry, former Vancouver branch president, sagely notes, “There was a massive generational and cultural gap which was exposed when craft beer went mainstream. We faced the difficult task of trying to engage a younger demographic (who took the availability of local beer for granted) while still keeping the older beer community happy and engaged. In the end, the drive into our thirties, and all the realities that came with it, became the priority.”

“All volunteer-run organizations find it challenging to attract and retain people willing to do the work,” points out longtime CAMRA Victoria President and current CAMRA BC Secretary Glen Stusek. “This may be due in no small measure to the growth in craft beer overall and the proliferation of events happening all the time all over the province, with Vancouver being no exception.”

Has CAMRA YVR become a victim of its own success? Perhaps there’s no need for CAMRA in the 2020s? Craft beer is now mainstream, and a generation of drinkers is now growing up without any idea that CAMRA helped lay the groundwork for this.

Thanks for everything you’ve done, CAMRA Vancouver. You were a positive experience for me, and you brought many people together to share and enjoy craft beer. Hopefully you have some kind of future, but only if there’s an upswing in activity and presence. Otherwise, you will be missed.

Adam Chatburn is former president of CAMRA Vancouver. Follow him at @real_cask on Instagram and @realcask on Twitter. He doesn’t post very much but when he does it’s awesome.

PUBLIC NOTICE Are you a fan of craft beer who lives in the BC Lower Mainland?

CAMRA Vancouver has one last chance to maintain its own executive, and needs new leadership to step up right now. Find out more by contacting secretary@camrabc.ca, and attend the CAMRA BC/CAMRA Vancouver AGM on Saturday, March 21st.

CAMRA BC & CAMRA VANCOUVER AGM Saturday, March 21st 2:00 - 4:00 PM Andina Brewing Co. 1507 Powell St, Vancouver, BC (Back Room) - Walk-ins welcome - Membership renewals and registrations available - CAMRA BC Annual Reports - CAMRA BC & CAMRA Vancouver elections - Discussion re: the future of CAMRA Vancouver 10 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

CAMRA BC | community

GET TO KNOW CAMRA BC! When Adam Chatburn began work on this issue's column, he reached out to all CAMRA BC branches for their input. What's Brewing received the following reports that we're pleased to share with you.

It turns out that the organization that gave birth to What's Brewing is still actively working in craft beer education and events for certain BC communities. Let's find out what two of CAMRA's branches are up to lately from their respective presidents.

Meet CAMRA South Okanagan

The South Okanagan is a pretty great place for craft beer lovers.

As our craft beer scene here grows, we are seeing more breweries, more events, more educational opportunities in craft beer, more interest in homebrewing and a general level of excitement about all things craft beer. CAMRA South Okanagan is a key part of helping meet these interests.

In 2019, CAMRA SO held a number of craft beer and homebrewing-related events. We began with our second annual road trip, by bus to the Central Okanagan to visit 5 breweries and a cidery.

In February, we held a special tasting event at Bad Tattoo Brewing, with many vintages of barrel-aged beers. In March, we held a bring-a-friend cask event at The Station Public House.

Meet CAMRA Victoria

April marked the 24th annual Okanagan Fest of Ale, where CAMRA SO had a booth and a special celebration for the winners of our 2018 CAMRA SO Home Brewing Competition.

CAMRA Victoria is alive, kicking and holding steady in the Capital Region. In 2019, the membership elected a strong regional team with me as their president and Troy Alexander as Vice-President. Under our leadership, CAMRA Victoria has maintained its membership. We had a large presence at events such as Victoria Beer Week, Hopoxia, Fresh to Death and the Great Canadian Beer Festival, where we sold our famous Pretzel Necklaces.

During 2019, we held two very cool CAMRA member exclusive events in conjunction with JAK'S Liquor Stores, where guests had the opportunity to try a number of rare and exclusive beers as the specialists at JAK'S provided education on each of them.

Both events sold out within hours of tickets going on sale.

During 2019, monthly, our members enjoyed exclusive events which included behind-the-scenes tours of several Victoria breweries, as well as education sessions like Resurrection of Lost Beer Styles with Howl Brewing, and Identifying Off Flavors.

CAMRA Victoria’s primary focus this past year has been on education. Along with Victoria Beer Society, we sponsored a series of Beer School Events during Victoria Beer Week on various topics ranging from The Science of Beer to Beer Cocktails. We also partnered with the Royal BC Museum to host a Happy Hour at the Museum event, which showcased the past, present and future of brewing in Victoria.

At the end of 2018, Victoria lost one of our greatest Beer Historians, Greg Evans. In early 2019, CAMRA Victoria was approached and asked if we would like to have the collection that Greg had accumulated regarding the history of beer in Victoria and BC. We started to inventory the collection that Greg had amassed over the years. We would like to see the items made available to the public in digital form and then archived in Royal BC Museum.

2019 hasn’t been without its struggles. We did attempt at one point to do another Beer on the Beach protest, but attendance was low due to timing. This may no longer be an issue that people feel strongly about.

2020 is a very important year for CAMRA Victoria. We will be celebrating our 30th Anniversary and we hope to have some very special events. The focus for the year will be increasing our membership, continuing our partnerships with the local beer community, completing our project with the Greg Evans collection, education and tuning in on what advocacy issues we can address at the local level, while still having fun exploring beer.

Cayla Stiles-Clark President, Victoria Branch Campaign for Real Ale Society of BC pres@camra.ca www.camra.ca https://www.facebook.com/CAMRA.Victoria

In June we celebrated the grand opening of Slackwater Brewing with a sold-out event at their new brewery. There were some first tastes of Neighbourhood Brewing beers too.

In the fall, focus turned to our signature CAMRA SO Home Brewing Competition. The sold-out 4th annual event was a great educational opportunity, as homebrewers and craft beer lovers united over 18 different homebrewed beers before casting their votes for the People's Choice Winners. In addition, a panel of commercial brewers judged the beers and awarded a Judges' Choice Award. The homebrewing team that crafted this winning beer will again have the opportunity to brew a commercial batch of this beer sometime in 2020.

We added some new educational sessions in 2019. Our homebrewers liaison Michelle Gowing heads up our education. She started an initiative where guests meet up once a month to share and learn about a specific beer style.

We are currently working on plans and events for this year. We held our annual general meeting on Feb. 23rd and elected a group of excited volunteers to our executive team and events committee that I am honoured to again lead as President. Next up is a road trip on March 14th up to visit the breweries of Kelowna.

As you can see, things are going well in CAMRA SO. We have a number of great partners that offer special benefits to our members. We have a good relationship with our local media and often get pre-event media coverage as well as event coverage, which has helped increase awareness of what we are doing. For those interested in learning more about CAMRA SO, we invite you to visit our website or Facebook page.

Kim Lawton President, South Okanagan Branch Campaign for Real Ale Society of BC pres@camraso.ca www.camraso.ca https://www.facebook.com/CAMRASO S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 11

BC CIDER FESTIVAL

2020 MAY 24TH

AT THE SHIPYARDS NORTH VANCOUVER The fourth annual BC Cider Festival comes to North Vancouver on May 24th. Missed your chance to buy a ticket? This year we've expanded with a family friendly public space. Join us for music, food, family activities, and of course, cider!

AT THE SHIPYARDS NORTH VANCOUVER BCCIDERFEST.CA

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

EVENT PREVIEW | cider

A TIME TO CELEBRATE

BEER'S BEST FRIEND : CIDER SHAWN PISIO ON BC CIDER FESTIVAL Q: This is the fourth annual BC Cider Festival. How is planning coming along for this year’s event? Tell us a bit about how things have evolved since Year One. A: Planning is already well under way and going great. Each year planning starts early, as we continue to grow. While the format itself hasn’t really changed too much over the years, the attendance definitely has. The first year, we were in the Heritage Hall on Main St with only about 250 people. We quickly outgrew that location, and moved to the Pipe Shop in North Vancouver, where we have been each year since.

[Note: Festival capacity has been increased closer to 1000 for this year]

B

BC Cider Festival, in the classic Pipe Shop building

oasting fruitful pastoral areas in its Interior, Island and Fraser Valley regions, British Columbia has long been known as a province that produces, and enjoys consuming, wines and ciders. In particular, BC stands out from most of Canada in terms of its long-standing interest in refreshment beverages, a category to which cider is frequently related.

This highlights the fact that cider is the “bridge” beverage that you can categorize alongside wine, or alongside refreshment beverages. But if you judge by the taps at your local pub, or the booths at your local beer festival, there may be no more prevalent pairing for cider than its status alongside beer.

Since beer and cider have long stood hand in hand, What’s Brewing follows and supports BC cider as a natural complement to our coverage of BC craft beer. Part of that coverage includes BC Cider Week, a celebration that debuted in Fall 2016 then moved to the spring a couple of years ago. See A Week Of Cider on p. 21.

The flagship event of Cider Week is the BC Cider Festival, almost certainly the brightest spot on the annual BC cider event calendar.

This year's event is slated for May 24th at the Pipe Shop in North Vancouver’s Shipyards district, an area familiar to Lower Mainland beer fans due to its officially-granted status as one of BC’s hotter craft brewing hubs.

Early entry tickets went on sale December 11th and sold out quickly. As of press time, there were a few standard General Admission tickets available. But even after the ticketed indoor event sells out, there still will be an opportunity for anyone interested to attend in the way of a brand-new outdoor component in the Pipe Shop's courtyard, right outside the doors of the main event.

To find out more, What’s Brewing reached out to organizer Shawn Pisio, who reports that the Cider Fest team has been planning this year’s event since November. Let’s learn about some of the changes involved.

Q: It looks like you have about 35 cideries represented so far.

Can you tell us about a few vendors that are new since last year?

A: The cider industry has definitely been growing. Some of the new producers this year are Upside Cidery and Double Cross Cidery from Kelowna, Taves Estate Cidery from Abbotsford and Creek & Gully from Naramata.

Shawn Pisio

Q: The ticketed indoor main event will no doubt sell out. But this year, you’ve added an outdoor component in the courtyard outside of the Pipe Shop, with a beer garden-like “Cider Orchard” sampling area.

Who are a few of the cideries that will supply beverages to the Orchard?

A: Yes, we will be adding a family friendly farmer’s market portion to the event that will take place at the Shipyards, which will be open to the public. We are hoping to have a rotating offering of something from nearly every cidery that is pouring in the ticked portion of the event.

Q: The outdoor Cider Festival will be free of charge to enter. It will feature food trucks, live music and educational demonstrations.

One of those demos will apparently be ‘apple milling’.

Can you tell us what that is?

A: Apple milling is the process of crushing and pressing apples to get the juice for making cider. We are planning to have some hands-on demonstrations for kids and adults, including a roller mill for crushing the apples, and a press for extracting the juice.

Continued on page 20 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 13

COVER | CIDER SPOTLIGHT

MERRIDALE : A STORY OF APPLES AND PASSION

A

>> WORDS & PICTURES: BRIAN K. SMITH

t Cobble Hill in southern Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley is the apple farm that’s home to the granddaddy of BC Craft Cider: Merridale Cidery and Distillery.

Original owner Al Piggott operated an orchard cidery there beginning as far back as the early 1980s with a staff of just two and a half, including himself.

In 1990, through a provincial government special order in council, the farm was one of the first within BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve to be awarded an ‘Estate Winery’ licence. Since there were no specific regulations for cideries, Merridale was directed to follow the same rules and regulations as wineries…with the caveat that they were not allowed to sell their ciders to BC’s VQA Wine stores. From then on, Merridale blazed a trail as BC’s first modern orchard cidery.

In 1999, Al Piggott moved on and Merridale’s current co-owners, Janet Docherty and Rick Pipes, stepped into the cider business.

They toyed beforehand with whether to purchase Merridale or forget about it and go off to Spain for a romantic one-month sailing trip. The cidery won and became a 20-plus-year love affair.

Planting the Seeds Janet and Rick had a vision of what they wanted for Merridale and knew there were many changes needed to make their dream a reality. Challenges both bureaucratic and political soon presented themselves. When asked to recall things that might have been in 14 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

their way, Janet responded, “What wasn’t in the way! Everything was in the way.” Undaunted, Janet and Rick methodically and tenaciously worked through various regulatory obstacles in order to stay focussed on their plan.

Rick shares, “In the early 2000s, no one could get a cider license without going to the provincial cabinet for a land-based winery license. As the fruit wineries made inroads, the craft cider business tagged along.”

There are two types of cider production in BC. Merridale falls under the umbrella of land-based/agricultural wineries and cideries.

Those without orchards are ‘Commercial’, meaning that they purchase their juice or apples in bulk, then manufacture their product and take it to market.

“Being land-based, we must bring the clients to us,” Rick mentions. “We do sell our ciders to private liquor stores and supply kegs to some craft brewpubs. But our manufacturing cost is too high for wholesale to government liquor stores.” Janet confirms, “That’s what we chose – to be a craft, to be agriculture-based; that’s our brand.”

In the early days, Merridale’s only competition was ‘commercial’ soda-pop style cider. So, they referred to their products as “Artisanal Cider.” Then they incorporated the word “Cidery” in their name. As far as Janet knows, they were the first around to refer to their cider business that way (as opposed to, say, “Cider Maker”). “People would say, ‘Cidery? Is that even a word?’,” she recalls.

“Then everyone started using the word cidery—pretty cool.”

WHAT'S BREWING BIOGRAPHY | cover

There seem to be many firsts for Janet and Rick. In the mid-2000s, they were the first craft cider company to reach out to BC craft beer enthusiasts by joining beer advocacy society CAMRA Victoria (the same group that founded the publication you’re reading) as corporate members. But long before that, Merridale was a founding vendor at the 1994 Great Canadian Beer Festival— the first year the CAMRA-founded event used that name—and they’ve been there every year since. They were the de facto nonbeer option at GCBF for two decades before other cideries were brought on board.

Jason Child is Janet’s son and Merridale’s General Manager. He confirms that “The first cidery was us, and then Sea Cider” [officially opened in 2007 on Vancouver Island; see the Women in Cider feature in this issue]. Since Merridale’s founding, southern Vancouver Island and the Okanagan have become centres for craftbased cideries. But Rick says he’d be surprised if any orchard cidery that started in Washington, Oregon, or BC in the last fifteen years hadn’t visited Merridale first. “They do tours, talk to our staff—we give them some insight, then they follow their passion,” he shares.

Progress in government licensing was slow, but two decades later there are over 30 estate cideries in BC. A lot of this can be attributed to Rick and Janet’s persistent efforts.

Growing Their Skills At the time Merridale changed hands, the orchard was a mix of English and French cider apples. That has not changed, partially because government indicated they didn’t want the orchard in competition with growers of eating apples. “Why would we want to?,” Rick contends. “We are making cider from cider apples. Some are not too bad to eat, but some are challenging. We’ve never seen that as a limitation; it’s our niche.” Merridale has close to 20 varieties in their orchard.

That orchard is in a perfect spot: lots of sun, good water and drainage, and less frost on its hill than in the lower Cowichan Valley. There are two wells on the property, both running through fractured granite 280 feet deep, which adds a little calcium carbonate to their water. When they took over the farm, the orchard had been terraced and an irrigation system was in place, but it needed a serious overhaul.

The two new owners also decided to overhaul Merridale’s approach to profiling their ciders. For this, they contacted Britain’s Peter Mitchell, a food and beverage consultant, biochemist and microbiologist, and a leader in the world of cider whose courses have been taken by more than 80% of all craft cideries. Rick approached Peter early on and retained him to consult for Merridale. Janet and Rick took his courses at the University of Washington in 2001 then fine-tuned the ciders they produced over the next five years.

Around 2006, they travelled to England for a one-week course with Mitchell as instructor. During that time, they met third-and fourth-generation English cider makers. One farm had a 200-year history and was still using a horse mill to grind their apples.

Janet recalls, “We were given the opportunity to understand the terroir of apples—a concept that doesn’t exist here, even now.

There were hundreds and hundreds of acres of cider apples. We got the opportunity to try them in different places and see how important the climate and soil is.” After that experience, they decided that they would always create blends (as opposed to varietals made from a single apple), because to them, blends offer more creativity.

Family fun in the orchard A side benefit of the trip was the chance to try fruit-based spirits, especially apple brandy. After tastings in the UK and northern France, they decided this was something they also wanted to do.

Only one problem: more legislative change was required before Rick Pipes could become the expert distiller that we’ll get to know later in this issue.

The Terroir of BC Cider Orchard cideries don’t typically rely completely on their own fruit. Merridale, for instance, has contract growers on Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan, recently having added 10,000 trees on a property in Keremeos. A homebrewer myself, I asked if they sell their apples so people can make their own cider. Janet and Rick agreed that they never have and never would. They have very special apples, and they need all the apples they can get.

Proud Islander Rick admits that cideries in the Okanagan are more numerous but contends that this has more to do with fruit supply than local terroir advantages. “We have growers in the Okanagan with the same apples,” he explains. “But if I gave you a varietal cider made from a Dabinett grown here and one from the Okanagan, you wouldn’t think they were the same fruit.”

Rick believes that local climate and conditions on the Island are better for overall flavour development for the varieties of apples they use. He points out that the Okanagan’s growing season is quicker and warmer, and that fruit ripens faster there. He asserts that the South Island climate allows for polyphenols and tannins to develop differently, resulting in more complex juices to use for true English ciders. Those juices are blended to create Merridale’s eight different cider labels.

“Our Scrumpy is pretty much Cowichan,” Janet says. “Not just pretty much,” Rick objects, adding, “Traditional is also pretty heavy Cowichan focussed.”

During my stay at the orchard, I sampled—okay, drank—most of the ciders available. Scrumpy and Cyser were my favourites. I even tried them blended. Very organic, earthy flavours. You could taste the land they were grown on. Jason told me that this was due to the tannins.

Building the Craft Cider Business Merridale’s General Manager Jason also happens to serve as the current President of the BC Farm Crafted Cider Association (see “Cultivating BC’s Taste for Craft Cider” in this issue). The Association is doing its best to educate people about farm-crafted cider.

Continued on page 16 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 15

WHAT'S BREWING BIOGRAPHY | cover Continued from page 15

“When people go into the liquor store and see a huge price difference between the two, they go ‘Why?’,” he shares. “Why can I get a six-pack of this, and it’s the same price as a bottle of yours?”

“We have grown the apples, then pressed and fermented them with lots of love and time,” he shares. He compares that against “Some apple juice that is fermented to 12% ABV then cut back with water, sugar and colour. We are not saying these products are wrong or bad; they are just different.”

One of the important parts of the business, whether it be craft beer or cider, is getting your beverages on tap in the local pubs.

Some have been very supportive; Merridale now occupies four taps at St. Augustine’s beer bar in Vancouver, which has brought on other cideries too.

More taps are being devoted to cider as more people drink it. Recent data shows that craft cideries in North America are going through a rapid expansion, similar to craft breweries during the past decade. With this new surge of interest of craft cider, what would Rick and Janet tell people jumping into the business?

“Grow good fruit to start with, then involve quality processes, heart, and passion along the way,” Rick opines. “One of the first things Peter Mitchell said to us was, ‘Don’t make cider you like; make cider your customers like.’ That’s the best advice of all.”

Janet adds, “Recognize that this is a business. You have to have tenacity. If you’re in for the long run, work should be about having fun, and about passion. Life is long, so you’d better enjoy the work.”

The picturesque Eatery building Other factors to deal with in running a craft cidery today include rising land prices and taxes. Merridale’s entire property used to be classified as farmland, at a preferred tax rate. But about seven or eight years ago, the provincial government decided that having a processing facility meant the cidery should be taxed as an industrial building. Rick points out that a dairy farmer’s barn is also used for processing milk, yet dairy farms don’t get taxed that way.

Crushing It: How the cider is crafted The process of cider making begins early in the fall with the harvest of apples. Assorted ground apples are collected, after local bears and deer help themselves to a fair amount of the windfall.

Jeff laments, “They’ll go under, over or through any fence, even electric or barbed wire. We’ve got lots of food for them, so we have just accepted we are going to lose some apples. It’s a race.

The worst is when they just take a bite.”

The clean apples are crushed, pressed and kept in a vat to see what happens. Jason comments, “The first pressing is a bit of a smorgasbord. All of our bins are numbered, so there are different apples from different parts of the orchard, and we know what they are and how we can blend them.” All juice is ‘first press’; it goes into the tanks, yeast is added, then they wait and babysit the tanks. Generally, the ciders are fully matured after one year.

Cider Maker Jeff Phillips Cider Maker Jeff Phillips started as a hobbyist brewer over 15 years ago, making IPAs to enjoy in his back yard. About seven years ago, a general labour position opened up at Merridale. Having an interest in fermenting things to drink, he applied for it.

At first, he just weeded, raked leaves, and gathered apples, but after a while he started training with Rick and Merridale’s master blender Laurent Lafuente. He proved quick to pick up everything needed to work in the cidery.

Jeff has noticed a lot of growth in seven years—more volume, especially in draught. Having weddings, festival events and the restaurant has tripled the business on the farm. Asked how much cider they produce a year, Jeff responded, “Let’s just say a lot”.

More growth equals more employees and more responsibility.

Janet notes that “The biggest challenge is HR; there is a lack of people to hire.”

Some of Merridale’s ciders come in plastic bottles, and others in glass. Cider in glass bottles and cans retains its flavour profile when pasteurization is done at a lower temperature for an extended time. Plastic bottles, on the other hand, can expand under pressure, making them better for the unpasteurized ciders that react to the environment and generate more gas when stored in warm places.

Running the cidery is a full-time, year-round job. In the winter, batches of product are created from the previous year’s ciders by blending for each particular brand. The staff stockpile and package products to be ready for the next summer. In the spring, trees are pruned, and the orchard tidied up. During the summer there are many events and a lot of people visit the farm, so it’s important to get the cider out the door as quickly as possible.

Matching flavour from year to year, given the change in weather and variable summer temperatures, is tricky. “Generally, we adjust our blending,” Jeff explains. “You might have to go 30% higher or lower on the tannins to match the previous year. We take pride in the product being a little different each year.”

Continued on page 18

16 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

r e d ci

If you want apples, you need to shake the trees.

Featuring craft ciders made from heirloom cider apples grown, fermented and packaged on our family owned orchard.

Open year round

Visit wardscider.com

Ward Rd. Kelowna, BC

WHAT'S BREWING BIOGRAPHY | cover Continued from page 16

Getting into the Hospitality Business Rick and Janet realized early on that no one knew what craft cider should taste like, so it should be promoted by pairing with food, much like wine. In 2003, Merridale’s original eight-by-ten-foot tasting room was replaced by a new building housing a full Eatery, complete with bakery. The idea was to build a quality restaurant for a slightly educated palate. Not to be missed in Merridale’s Eatery are their prosciutto, pear, and fig pizza, and the Merridale Burger.

Merridale has also built a reputation as the perfect wedding venue. They’ve perfected the art over the years, adding full reception services and even a bus to return guests to Victoria. (They offer this bus service during cider and spirit festivals, too.) In 2019 Merridale hosted 50 weddings, with all the event planning done by their own team. They even have the perfect accommodations for the bride and groom to use: two yurts that overlook a pond.

Jason at the future Victoria Distillery & Brewhouse site room facilities. The building plan was designed to attain the top Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Designation.

The design of the tasting lounge will give guests the opportunity to feel right in the middle of a brewery and distillery. There will even be a catwalk around the perimeter of the second floor to let patrons see the core of the operations. But these ideas take a lot of time to become a reality at city hall. “We tend to do things first,” Janet laughs. “That’s Merridale–doing it the hard way.”

“We will be the first timber-frame open distillery in BC,” Rick adds. “That’s what’s taking so much time. Tearing through a maze and hiring consultants to convince the city that we are right.

We think it’s important and worth the time to make sure we get it right.”

The yurts at Merridale Rick explains, “A yurt is a Mongolian tent. Our yurts are made to withstand wind, rain, and snow. They are insulated, but they still are a tent.” The first one went up on the property in 2004, taking about four days to assemble. They were built in Oregon, with Rick modifying the plan to add bamboo floors. Guests can contact Merridale to book their yurts during the warmer months.

In the colder months, to keep their property active year-round, they host special events such as Christmas at the Farm with light displays and long-table dinners. Another popular event is Getting Into The Spirits, an interactive holiday workshop. Guests learn how to make cocktails in the tasting barn and how to prepare a charcuterie board—all the things needed to be the best host.

Merridale Comes to the City On the horizon for Merridale in 2020 is a completely new project: a brewpub and whisky distillery in Victoria’s Dockside Green.

Merridale in the City will be the first “green” distillery in North America, heated by its own industrial activity. The distillery will capture and reuse as much energy and water as possible, because brewing and distilling require a lot of both. Water in the distillery condensers will be recycled, cooled, and reused. Plans are to redistribute energy back to the whole Dockside Green community through a district energy plant.

The green aspect is a mindset and philosophy. State of-the-art energy and rainwater recovery systems will be at the heart of the new facility. Almost all distilleries dump their water and flush their heat, but Merridale’s greywater will be used for the wash18 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

Once the building is up, they will need to start brewing as quickly as possible. Having good friends in the beer community is always a great help. For Merridale, that friend is Matt Phillips. With one of the most successful craft breweries in BC, he is able to help with design and direct skilled brewers their way. Vancouver’s Brassneck Brewing represents the feel they’re aiming for, so they’re seeking brewers who want to do small batch with creativity.

Merridale Cidery & Distillery in Cobble Hill will remain all fruitbased [see next story], while Merridale Distillery & Brewhouse in Victoria will be all grain-based—meaning whisky distilled from their beer. That side of the new establishment will need more than three years to be ready to serve distilled grain-based spirits.

Meanwhile, their fruit-based spirits will be on tap alongside their beers and ciders.

I ask about the vision for five or ten years down the road. Will Janet and Rick retire? Rick replies that he doesn’t golf or fish. Jason adds, “My mom doesn’t want to step out—she still wants to do marketing, deal with tourism boards, etc. There are so many things that she enjoys. I am taking on more and more; the Victoria project is so big.”

“Janet and I both come from a business background. We have seen a lot, so we are not caught up in the romance of it,” Rick shares “It’s all about pride and passion. My father said, ‘Be proud of everything you do each day; each day, try to be one percent better than you were the day before’. If you follow that, you will eventually be in a good spot.”

Brian K. Smith, MPA is an accredited member of the BC Association of Travel Writers, Chief Photographer for What's Brewing and contributor to various publications.

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

WHAT'S BREWING BIOGRAPHY | cover

MERRIDALE'S DISTILLER,

RICK PIPES

M

erridale co-owner Rick Pipes first learned about distillation when he and Janet travelled to Europe to study cider making [see previous story]. After that, he took a five-day distilling course at Michigan University. It was enough for him to learn the science of it. “The most important part about turning out a good finished product is putting in a good product”, Rick comments. “Good inputs—easier to get good outputs.”

The base ingredient for Merridale‘s distilling is mostly cider. “We have done cherry, grape, quince, peach, pear, plum; you name a fruit. I have also done a barrel of whisky. You make wine or cider and then boil it.” They do 200 litres in a batch, which boils down into 11-13 litres of usable product at 70% ABV, before dilution.

Merridale’s still is a wood-fired beauty made in Germany by Mueller. The pot is copper, and atop the pot is an onion, or ball, that’s used for making brandies from Merridale’s ciders. In the centre is a reflux column—basically for second distillation—and then the condenser. All of the copper in it is ‘active copper’, helping to bind sulfur and clean up things that cause off-flavours. “We don‘t add any sulfates to our cider, but sulfur can occur naturally in fermentation”, Rick explains. “The copper helps to give a softer, smoother product at the end of the distillation.”

“The science is pretty simple: different liquids have different boiling temperatures”, Pipes continues. “The heat is your accelerator; the cold is your brake. So, all you are doing is feathering acceleration and braking to control the separation of the components.”

“The longer the chain, the higher the boiling temperature. Methanol is a single carbon alcohol; it boils first, around 63°C. Ethanol, a two-carbon, boils at 73°C, and isopropanol and butanol come off above 80°C and 90°C. The first thing you are going to get is the heads: methanol—that is not good for you.” That’s why, Rick says, “If you drink too much of your friend’s moonshine, you get headaches and go blind.”

Sounds like a good thing to avoid. So, is it dangerous to be tasting during distilling? “I have tasted a lot of methanol”, Rick admits.

“Probably at some point, I am going to go senile and wish I didn‘t drink so much of it. It‘s in the air anyways. It‘s not dangerous—if you drink low-quality wine, it has methanol in it—overall just a little rough.”

Rick continues, “Ethanol is the ‘hearts’; a good, pure vodka, distilled to 95% ABV then diluted down to drinking strength of 40%.

After that, there are the ‘tails’: isopropanol, butanol and a whole bunch of what are called fusel oils. The tails are not all bad or all good; the distiller needs to decide.”

As a student in Rick‘s distillery, I think I am starting to understand the science. But Rick adds, “Although the science of distillation is not that complex, the art of distilling takes years to become skilled at and is a craft which can be improved perpetually.”

For instance, he continues, “In our pear brandy there is a very oily component to the skins of the pears. That oily texture gives it a very nice mouthfeel and flavour. So we go quite deeply into the hearts on our pear brandy. On the apples there isn‘t any oily component, so we cut our hearts fairly tight. That‘s where the art comes in.”

Where does Rick get the inspiration for his different styles? “I am a believer in distilling and amalgamating ideas”, he reports. “I see something in the wine or food world and put it in my memory.”

Merridale has a seven year old apple brandy, an eight year old pear brandy, a ten year grape brandy and a twelve year cherry brandy. These are probably the longest-aged examples in North America. “You can find ten year old grape brandies all over Europe because they have got history”, Rick compares. “We don‘t.

So we decided not to release our brandies until the three-year mark. Now, we use our early entry as an advantage. I think it has paid off.”

Continued on page 20 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 19

MEET THE DISTILLER Contd from page 19

The results from Rick‘s inspiration and creativity have won multiple prestigious awards at competitions held by the American Distilling Institute and Artisan Distillers Canada. This, despite the fact that Rick‘s spirits are 47% ABV, which judges can find “hot”.

Rick in the distillery

Looking ahead, Merridale’s upcoming Distillery & Brewhouse in Victoria will create whiskies from grain. The tasting room will allow guests to sample beers made from the same wash the whisky will be made from, so guests can taste the source.

Rick reveals that there is a way to speed up the process of aging whiskies, by using a controlled-environment barrel room which mimics the four seasons. Each season will only be a month long, so one year will be the equivalent of three years of aging. Since whisky must stay in the barrel for a minimum of three years, Merridale’s product should have characteristics of a nine-year-old whisky when ready.

Follow their progress at merridale.ca/distillery. In the meanwhile, I must say I will be checking my local specialty stores to find his amazing craft brandy. - Brian K. Smith

20 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

BC CIDER FEST Contd from page 13

Q: One of the great things about Cider Fest is that attendees get to meet the actual producers and orchardists. Will you have some industry people participating in the outdoor portion as well?

A: Yes, it’s definitely an important part of the event, and we want to continue that to the public event as well. We are planning to have some experts on grafting and apple varieties.

Q: What are you looking forward to most at this year’s Cider Fest?

A: The chance to taste all the new season’s ciders in one place.

The quality of cider in the province has exploded over the last few years, and each year I’m excited to see how the cider makers have continued to raise the bar.

BC Cider Fest 2020

Sunday May 24th, 2-6 pm @ Pipe Shop, North Vancouver The 4th Annual BC Cider Festival takes place in the heart of North Van's new Shipyards brewery district. Whether you’re attending indoors, outdoors, or both, it’s the place to be for craft beverage lovers. www.bcciderfest.ca

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

BC CIDER WEEK: PROJECTED SCHEDULE Thu May 21 Cider 101 @ Everything Wine (North Vancouver) Cider Dinner at Wards (Okanagan, TBC)

Fri May 22 Tap Takeover @ Craft Fair (Nanaimo) Tap Takeover @ O’Hare’s (Richmond)

Sat May 23 Tap Takeover @ Craft Fair (Nanaimo)

A Week Of Cider BC Cider Week 2020

May 21, 2020 – May 31: Various Locations Celebrate BC’s rich and delicious local, craft cider scene with a week long series of events that will take place around the province. Including a bevy of beverage bashes from Vancouver Island to the Okanagan. Festivals, tap takeovers, special dinners and so much more. www.bcciderweek.com

Representing Cider in the Pacific Northwest Curious who is involved in presenting Cider Week? The Northwest Cider Association is the group behind not only BC Cider Week, but Washington Cider Week and similar events in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. For a great list of Cascadian cider makers, check out their interactive Northwest Cidery Map.

Sun May 24 BC Cider Fest (The Pipe Shop, North Vancouver) Cider Social @ Sea Cider (Saanich)

Wed May 27 Cider 101 @ Marquis Wine Cellar (Vancouver)

Thu May 28 Brewing Cider @ Field House Chilliwack Cider Event @ Scenic Road (Kelowna)

Fri May 29 Bacon & Cider Fest (Kelowna)

Sat May 30 Okanagan Cider Fest @ Upside (Kelowna) Snake Bite Festival (Tod Creek) Stay tuned to Facebook or the BC Cider Week website for updates! www.bcciderweek.com | www.facebook.com/bcciderweek

S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 21

Cider vs. Cider II It's a fruit frenzy, as JAK'S selects a stunning sextet of varied, interesting BC craft ciders for our Spring session

presents...

Photo: Lundy Dale

Apples: the forbidden fruit, the fruit of love and folklore. The original parents of our modern-day apples come from Kazakhstan in central Asia.

When we bite into a sweet, crisp Golden Delicious, we are biting into a ball that's very complicated more than 57,000 genes (we poor humans only have 30,000).

The many types of table apple that we enjoy for a snack number over 150 in variety. But there is a small, separate group numbering just over 20 varieties which we call cider apples, used solely for making that special nectar of the gods. For the origins of cider making, folklore takes us back more than 2,000 years to the Celtic fringe of Eu-

rope. It was mentioned by the Romans circa 55 BC when they arrived in the British Isles and noted the locals were drinking a fermented drink made from the fruit of crab apple trees.

See A Brief, Opinionated, History of Cider in this issue to learn more about cider's long tradition.

- Brian K. Smith

What's Brewing welcomes our new Tasting Panel sponsor!

JAK'S BEER • WINE • SPIRITS

Find your location at www.jaks.com:

Since 1981, we’ve worked to provide a community-first experience in our stores across British Columbia.

Vancouver, Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby, Maple Ridge, Coquitlam, Richmond, Campbell River, Penticton and Willams Lake!

MEET THIS ISSUE'S TASTING PANEL

WARREN

LUNDY

PAUL

• Warren Boyer of Fraser Mills Fermentation: BJCP Certified home and commercial brewer, and past President of CAMRA Vancouver.

• Lundy Dale: Founder, BC Craft Beer Month, Pink Pints Vancouver, CAMRA Vancouver. Past President, CAMRA BC. • Paul Pyne of Drink Smarter: Certified Cicerone® & beer tutor

CARNELL

ABBY

ADAM

• Carnell Turton of Breward Inlet: if the beer isn’t good he’ll say it • Abby Wiseman of Small Batch Magazine reviews food & drink around Vancouver.

• Adam Chatburn: home and commercial brewer, cellarman, WB columnist and past President of CAMRA Vancouver

What They Reviewed Products evaluated this round included: ABV

Vanilla Plum

6.8%

Dominion Cider

Winter Cider

6.5%

Sparkling Sagardo

6.5%

The BX Press Nomad Cider

Salt Spring Wild Cider Pineapple Amaro Soma Cidery

Windfall Cider

Oaked Apple Cider

6.6% 6.1%

Hail Mary 7.0%

Flavour & Palate

Appearance & Enjoyment

For this group as a whole. For individual scores, turn to next page.

Pie chart tip: legend starts from 45 degree mark (3 o’clock) then works clockwise

Sweetness Very Dry

Very Sweet

Fruitiness Not Overly Fruity

Very Juicy & Fruity

Conclusions Adjusting for cider Rating cider rather than beer means deviating from our regular criteria. This time round, instead of, say, Hoppy vs Malty, we’ve keyed in on Dry vs Sweet.

Tartness Not Noticeable

Very Tart / Sharp

And the winner is...

Three of our contestants essentially tied for high score, with Salt Spring Pineapple Amaro and Windfall Hail Mary sharing top honors by a hair.

WB SPRING TASTING PANEL RESULTS. MAXIMUM SCORE = 30

SELECTED PANEL SCORES SHOWN. SUMMAR

BX Press Vanilla Plum 2.8/3

19 16 23 25 22

2.2/3

21.0/30

2.4/4

7.0/10

20 23 22 27 20 Warren

6.6/10

2.0/3

Sweet with plum and vanilla.

17 23 21 19 17

Vanilla was too subtle. Plum and apple worked well together.

Crisp and slightly sweet. Vanilla and plum shine to give a unique finish. Light and refreshing.

Nice fruity flavours pair well with a subtle vanilla.

BXpress does a great job and any trip to Vernon should include a visit to their renovated space. I like this cider. Maybe a little sweeter than necessary but the plum brings a nice stone fruit roundness to it. The vanilla is fairly subtle but it keeps that plum dessert flavour going.

Salt Spring Pineapple Amaro 2.7/3

Dominion Winter Cider

2.2/3

2.8/4

22.7/30 7.2/10

2.3/3

Clove and cinnamon upfro it. Spice is a bit overpoweri

Tastes like liquid apple pie light and I would like to ha Very much a winter cider Apple tartness is mild and

Unusual and tasty. Definite

Heavy Spice dominates. M which I generally come to a this is where you should go

Soma Oaked Apple Cide

7.8/10

2.3/3

2.3/3

Balanced with an earthy funk

22 22 27 25

Unusual combination of flavours. Pineapple is very subtle and the Amaro is very intense. It does cut down what otherwise would be a sweet cider.

Lots of aroma notes; pineapple, wood. Mild bitterness to offset sweetness.

Like a delicious Juicy NEIPA with a more delicate crisp body... my kind of cider.

Salt Spring Wild have been doing a great job. I'm not super knowledgeable about Italian digestifs, so I wasn't sure what to look for. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable pineapple cider which could easily become my summer jam. If you find yourself on Salt Spring Island this summer, do yourself a favour and go visit Mike and Gerda.

Lundy

Paul

Carnell

Abby

24 Adam

Balanced. Sweet fruity ap ance it out. Finishes slight

Light and dry, with a mi on the tongue.

A cider that is well balanc good balance, very enjoya Really rich and delicious.

Loved this cider! It remin Central City Imperial wit find it a little sweet (in con can). Even if you're not a

RY IS AVERAGE OF ALL PANELISTS' SCORES

r 2.2/4

18.2/30 5.8/10

5.8/10

ont, balanced apple flavour hiding beneath ing.

e. The spices are a tad heavy, citrus is very ave had more carbonation with spicy notes of Clove and Cinnamon. fruity.

ely a specialty and good in small doses.

My palate had trouble finding the apple, a cider for. However, if you are after spices o.

er 2.8/4

22.5/30 7.5/10

SEE WWW.WHATSBREWING.CA/TASTING-PANEL FOR FULL SET OF SCORES

Nomad Sparkling Sagardo 2.3/3

19 23 20 18 25

2.8/3

pple with tartness and astringency to baltly tart. I like it.

24 23 21 19

ced by a sweet apple and a subtle oak. Very able.

Almost surprised it’s in a can.

nded me of a session version of the excellent th smooth oak finish, vanilla and honey. I ntrast to the "dry as kindling" claims on the big oak fan I highly suggest you try this.

2.5/4

6.2/10

25 Appearance

6.8/10

Light in body and flavour. Starts balanced and finishes tart and dry.

Tart green apple, dry with low sweetness and tartness.

Light and fairly dry. Nice tartness with mild funky/yeasty finish.

Light on body and not especially apple forward.

I love funky ciders, especially Spanish cidres like Isastegi and Byhur.

This homage to that style is one of the best in Canada. Perhaps a little overcarbed but appropriate for the North American palate.

Windfall Hail Mary

7.5/10

ild sweetness. Vanilla and oak notes linger

2.0/3

19.8/30

2.0/3

22.7/30 2.8/4

7.2/10

7.8/10

Dry with champagne-like bubbles and a tart berry bite. Clean and delicious.

Bright and crisp with a sharp tartness in the edge. Apple and Melon fruitiness A dry berry apple blend that looks quite pretty and tastes fairly delicious.

It was fine. Nothing amazing and I didn’t really get the rosé part.

Jeff and Nathaly of Windfall have struck gold with their excellent ciders and community work in East Van. This is one of my favourites, a perfect pink blush with a touch of berry sweetness to back up the light cider. Very crushable! Don't snooze on Windfall.

Nose

Body & Palate

Flavour

Overall

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

W

INDUSTRY INSIGHT | interview

Cultivating BC’s Taste for Craft Cider

hen it comes to the cider scene in BC, those who operate apple orchards tend to stick together. Based primarily in the province’s pastoral belts (on the Island, in the Okanagan and the Fraser Valley), these small operators make cider, at least in part, from their own fruit.

Founded in 2016, the BC Farm Crafted Cider Association acts as a voice for these land-based cider producers.

In 2018, along with other liquor industry groups, the BCFCCA prepared a set of recommendations for the Mark Hicken Technical Advisory Panel reporting to the BC Government Deputy Ministers’ Committee on Liquor Policy Reform. Suggestions included a Cidermaker Quality Alliance (CQA) and other methods of distinguishing between their artisanal ciders and those old-school sugary ciders in 2L bottles that many of us grew up with.

In 2019, BCFCCA took a big step forward with the launch of BC Cider Way, an ale trail-like program breaking BC cider tourism into four distinct regions. Like the pioneering BC Ale Trail, the campaign seems to be unique in North America in that it’s multi-regional rather than contained by just one Destination Marketing Organization.

Light research shows that there are other tourism Trails that involve cider such as Nova Scotia’s Good Cheer Trail, or apples such as Ontario’s Apple Pie Trail (with a cidery list). But Cider Way seems to stand alone as a large, cidery-only initiative.

Jason Child, General Manager of Merridale Cidery & Distillery, is the current President of the BCFCCA. Naturally, as the original pioneer fighting to establish a viable orchard cidery business, Merridale holds a certain status in the BC craft cider community.

Each Fall, Merridale presents a sold-out Cider Harvest Festival with many Association members participating. Let’s have a word with the young man who’s leading Merridale and the BCFCCA.

BCFCCA President Jason Child at BC Cider Festival 2018

The Association launched a tourism marketing initiative named BC Cider Way last year. How are consumers and industry taking to the idea?

We have been receiving a lot of buzz about BC Cider Way. It has definitely been a bit of an industry rallying point and has attracted new members to the BCFCCA. I think it gives craft lovers a tangible way to differentiate between land-based craft cideries and ‘commercial’ operations.

BCFCCA’s website was converted over to use the Cider Way brand and even its domain name. How much explaining do you have to do, e.g., what is Cider Way vs.

BCFCCA? The transition has been very smooth, and the two brands have really blended seamlessly.

Q&A WITH JASON CHILD OF BCFCCA

How much inspiration was taken from the way BC Ale Trail was organized? Did you reach out to the beer people for insights?

You’ve mentioned that the BC Farm Crafted Cider Association has 32 members. That represents the majority of cideries in BC. How much growth has there been since BCFCCA was founded?

The BC Ale Trail was definitely an inspiration. I am a huge fan of how the Trail rolled out and how well it aligns with Destination BC’s vision. So naturally, we made sure the BC Cider Way followed suit and leveraged their learning.

I believe we started with around 16 members. We’ve grown very quickly [doubled!] in our first three years. The Association is still in its infancy.

Are there other cider trails in North America that inspired it?

Any idea how many total jobs the BCFCCA or BC cider industry represent?

As far as I know, we’re the first region in North America that offers this level of depth. However, there are several great cider routes and trails in England and France.

That’s a great question, and tough to answer as we haven’t surveyed our members for that type of information. Many BC cideries are family-owned with only a few other employees, if any.

What we do know is that the industry and its associated employment impact is growing every year, and that impact extends into neighbouring farms that grow apples for our members, as well as other local tradespeople and craftsmen.

Are you receiving support for your marketing efforts through the BuyBC cost-shared funding program?

How critical is that support for the association’s financial sustainability?

Yes, BuyBC’s support was critical in helping us get BC Cider Way off the ground; it would not have been possible without their Continued on page 28 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 27

INDUSTRY INSIGHT | interview Continued from page 27

help. We are so grateful for their financial support, and also for how patient and knowledgeable their team was throughout the project.

In what way does the BCFCCA help set and maintain quality standards for cider producers?

We do this by implementing strict eligibility standards for our members. Specifically, in order to qualify to be a member of the BCFCCA, a cidery must:

Certain Northwest cities like Portland have had a number of successful urban cideries in the past. Do you feel that there is room for urban cideries in the BC cider landscape?

There is. However, BC urban cideries must have ‘commercial’ licences because they don’t grow their own apples. So, being landbased cideries who farm-craft our ciders from our own apples, and purchase all of our apples from BC producers (stimulating the local economy), we work very differently from them.

1.

Be 100% independently BC-owned

A number of your members are also members of the Northwest Cider Association. As an organization, does the BCFCCA communicate or work with the NCA at all?

2.

Make their cider with at least 95% juice content, not from concentrate

Yes, we do work well together. Typically, our members will also join the Northwest Cider Association if they sell, or plan on selling, their products in the US.

3.

Not dilute their cider with water

4.

Make their cider in small batches

5.

Slow ferment their cider

6.

Make their cider on the same farm where the apples are grown

In terms of consumer education, are you able to overcome the legacy perception of cider as sugary, mass-marketed ‘alco-pop’?

That’s our goal, and we’ve got more converts every week! We’re also working on teaching consumers the difference between a mass-produced, Chaptalized water-added cider and the farmbased, 100% fruit, slow fermented cider that our members craft.

The Northwest Cider Association organizes BC Cider Week, to be held May 21-31 in 2020. What role do you think the Week plays in the annual BC cider calendar?

Do you think it benefits BCFCCA members?

Yes, it’s great for all cideries. We work well with them on events like these.

What is next for BCFCCA? What would you like the Association to accomplish?

More consumer awareness of the difference between farm-crafted and big company cider! The biggest part of it was launching the Cider Way. It’s starting to help.

- Dave Smith, with files from Brian K. Smith

New boutique cidery opening this spring on April 5th!

Goats‘n Cider...

Come love on‘em! barnyard series | estate series Located at Taves Family Farms 333 Gladwin Rd, Abbotsford, BC tavesestatecidery.com

28 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

ULLAGE & SPILLAGE | opinion

A BRIEF, OPINIONATED,

HISTORY OF CIDER

A

>> J. RANDOM

bout ten million years ago, Earth’s warming climate changed much of its densecanopied forest into savanna, mixed grassland and woodland. With trees spaced a lot farther apart, early hominids were forced to live a terrestrial life.

According to genetic research out of Santa Fe College Florida, at about the time our ancestors came down from the trees, they developed a taste—or at least tolerance—for the alcohol that naturally develops in rotting fruit.

With fruiting trees becoming scarce, they couldn’t afford to be picky about their food. Perhaps the toothless over-forty elders ended up with the rotting fruit, passing knowledge of the fun effects to the next generation. These evolving hunter-gatherers might have fermented a beverage from collected fruit well before agriculture and the multi-step process required for ale. As humans spread across the planet, they would have adapted to use local fruits.

For the civilizations that grew up around the Mediterranean, wild grapes were the obvious choice since they were easy to harvest and crush. Other fruit were occasionally used—including apples, according to Pliny’s Natural History. Further north in Europe was too cold for grapevines, but crabapples were abundant.

Crabapples are pretty much inedible, owing to their acid and tannin content.

Crushed and fermented, with their sugar converted to alcohol, the mouth-puckering results would have been undrinkable.

These nasty little apples were almost certainly blended with honey that contributed wild yeasts and a sweet counterpoint to the apples’ bitterness. (Mead fermented from wild honey is another competitor for the title of earliest alcoholic drink; if it came to primitive humans versus African bees, my money would be on the bees).

The precursor to modern cider could not have been made before the Romans in-

troduced the much less acidic cultivated apple to Northern Europe and the British Isles. These varieties were derived from species native to Kazakhstan, crossed with European wild apples. The acidity and tannins have been further bred out of eating apples, but cider apples still have these desirable traits and might have changed relatively little since Roman times.

ID) and instructions to “run along, sonny.” Strongbow was 4.5% ABV and draft beer around 3%, but nobody seemed to be aware of this, including me. Going one-for-one with my beer-drinking, older-looking, bigger mates got me into all sorts of trouble. Graduating from cider to Double Diamond pale ale as I approached

Several sources claim Julius Caesar recorded cider making in Britain during his two voyages of reconnaissance before the Roman conquest, though there’s no reference to it in Caesar’s descriptions of Britain in his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars. Nevertheless, Britain still seems the best bet as the original home of cider making. It can’t be a coincidence that the two other regions of Europe that lay claim to be the birthplace of cider—northwest Spain’s Britonia and northwest France’s Bretagne—are the two continental refuges of the Celts driven out of Britain by the Saxons. Cider remained in favour among the Celts driven into the western and northern hills of Britain. Ale and beer came to dominate the lowlands of Saxon England. After 1066, the Celtic tradition of cider making may have been reinforced by the substantial proportion of Bretons in the Norman army of occupation.

As with beer, cider production became increasingly consolidated in the UK during the industrial revolution. Smaller cideries survived in southwest Britain and Wales. The big cideries proceeded to dumb down cider in the same way mega-breweries were dumbing down keg beer. They used a blend of eating apples with, they claimed, some cider apples, but mass-market cider retained little of the character of old-fashioned West Country scrumpy.

By the early 1970s, Bulmer’s was as common as Guinness in British pubs (because neither had tied-houses and their products did not compete with those of the mega-breweries). As an underage drinker, I could often get served a cider when asking for beer would have gotten me a close visual inspection (no one carried

Where the Britons gathered

legal drinking age probably saved my liver.

My next graduation, to real ale, was well underway before the opportunity to backslide came by. After several days on a field course at a former stately home in the wilds of Somerset, several of us were dying for a beer. Staff revealed the existence of a pub half an hour’s walk by road or “a moile by the parth ower the fields m’dear”. A country mile and much later, five muddy and bedraggled students trooped into the Notley Arms in MonksilContinued on page 30 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 29

ULLAGE & SPILLAGE | opinion Continued from page 29

ver and the place went quiet. The entire room heard me ask for five pints of bitter and the barman’s prompt reply “no beer ‘ere”.

I wasn’t sure if we were getting refused service or they had run out. He followed up with “this is a zoider ‘ouse.” (For more on the cider-only pubs of Britain, refer to Britain's Best Pubs For Cider Lovers, a 2016 article in The Telegraph.)

Two varieties of scrumpy were on tap, from 4.5-gallon polyethylene cubes set on the bar (polypins). They had labels suggesting some form of legitimate operation so we did as the Romans do. One was delicious, the other a little too funky for my liking.

No idea of the alcohol content, but that night I met the scrumpy pisky, the mythical being who creeps in with a big mallet while you sleep. That monumental hangover kept me off any kind of cider for years after.

The former "zoider ‘ouse": Notley Arms Inn, Somerset UK

Seriously. Dry.

West Country people have always turned to the sea to earn a living, whether by smuggling, wrecking, piracy (think classic pirate accent) or more legitimate means. Those who chose, or were forced, to emigrate from those regions or from Brittany, took apples with them to the colonies. In Canada, they established their orchards in the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec. Cider was a major part of agricultural production and more prevalent than beer until German and Nordic immigrants colonised the prairies to grow grain.

Cider came late to British Columbia. Apple trees planted around the Hudson’s Bay forts in the early 1800s likely supplied a few home cider makers. The first orchards were established on Vancouver Island in the mid 1800s and in the Okanagan in the late 1800s. The first commercial cidery was established by Growers on the Saanich Peninsula in 1928. We had to wait until 1990 for Merridale Cidery. The subsequent growth of craft cider has really built on the success of craft beer.

Much of the cider being produced today uses eating and dessert apples, but it is worth tracking down those producers using the true cider varieties to get the real taste of scrumpy. And, if you are not careful, a visit from the scrumpy pisky.

windfallcider.ca @windfallcider

30 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

J. Random is a former VP of CAMRA Vancouver, beer fan for 4 decades and occasional homebrewer. Has been penning the Ullage & Spillage column for What's Brewing since 2003.

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

WOMEN OF CIDER | profile

WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE? Prior to Sea Cider, I was an International development consultant focused on economic development and environmental management. I worked in places such as Ethiopia, Ukraine, Nepal, and South Africa.

CIDER IS A POPULAR DRINK AMONG WOMEN, BUT IT APPEARS THE MAJORITY OF CIDER MASTERS ARE MEN. IS THAT TRUE IN BC? IS THAT CHANGING? The good news is that women are gaining ground in cidermaking, and women in BC are leading the way in North America. Not only are more and more women leading cidermaking, but more and more women are entering leadership positions in cider industry associations.

SEA CIDER HAS EXPANDED BEYOND THE CORE AND LIMITED RELEASES AND HAVE CREATED SOME SPECIAL SERIES. WHAT ROLE DID YOU PLAY IN THESE? I tend to be the one that comes up with product ideas, which then get debated by everyone. Not every idea goes to market.

When we come up with a new product, all our teams are involved—sales, marketing and operations—to fine tune the concept and turn it into a reality.

A CONVERSATION WITH KRISTEN NEEDHAM OWNER, FOUNDER & CIDER MAKER - SEA CIDER

A

>> LUNDY DALE

s the craft beer industry continues to grow, so too has the cider industry. In 2020, there are over 50 cideries in BC and growth seems to be continuing.

Breweries have taken notice and have jumped onto the wagon by creating their own line of cider to complement their beer line; Central City Brewers and Distillers, Whistler Brewing, Tree Brewing and Persephone Brewing are just four of the larger examples.

There are differences and similarities between the craft cider and beer industries.

We don’t see collaborations occurring between cideries, but there are many specialty ciders: barrel aged, with fruit,

berries, herbs and even hops added. Cider festivals are becoming more popular, along with cider cocktails and food pairings.

Now 13 years old, Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse not only has their orchard of organic and heritage apples, they now have a barrel-aged series as well as cider liqueurs. Introducing Kristen Needham, the woman behind Sea Cider!

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE POSITION? WHAT ROLES DO YOU PLAY? I am the founder, owner, general manager and cider master. I embarked on this adventure 20 years ago and have worn every hat in the business, from tree pruner and apple picker to yeast whisperer and lab technician.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU INTO THE INDUSTRY? I inherited an apple orchard and fell in love with cider culture as a boarding school student in Wales, where I lived as a teenager.

HOW WERE YOU TRAINED? By the pros! The renowned Peter Mitchell was my instructor and mentor. Now I am trying to share some of what I learned; I am a founding member of the Cider Institute of North America, which is building certification programs in cidermaking.

HOW DID YOU DISCOVER YOUR PASSION FOR CIDER? After many sips, and many cidermaking trials, beginning in my kitchen decades ago. I think what piqued my interest in particular was the fascinating history of cider apple cultivars and some of the eccentric characters, from royalty to rogues, who discovered new varieties over time.

Continued on page 32 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 31

WOMEN OF CIDER | profile Continued from page 31

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB AND THE INDUSTRY? I love the alchemy of turning apples into cider - there is magic that happens in the space between the art and science of cidermaking.

I love the camaraderie of the industry, and the fact that I can call up cidermakers across the continent and share ideas. I love the connection to the land that my work involves—every day I get to spend time in the orchard. And I cherish the people at Sea Cider who work very hard to create exceptional cider experiences for our customers.

SINCE SEA CIDER OPENED THE NUMBER OF CIDERIES IN BC HAS EXPLODED. HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF FROM OTHERS? We were fortunate to have opened our doors before growth in the industry really took off. But since inception, Sea Cider’s focus has been on award-winning craft cider that showcases the nuances of different varietals, fruits and cidermaking techniques. We think that cider is best when shared with friends and family and have strived to change the way people think about cider, as a craft beverage connected to the land and agrarian history in many parts of the world.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CIDER OF YOUR CIDERY AND WHY? My ciders are like my children; there isn’t a favourite. Having said that, on any given day I would probably choose to drink a cider that pairs with what I’m craving for dinner. Last night it was Pippins with Pad Thai.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CIDER OUTSIDE OF YOUR CIDERY AND WHY? I think BC cidermakers are producing excellent cider, and winning awards in competitions with the best in the world. But two favourites outside of BC stand out for me: the ciders of Tom Oliver in Herefordshire who, as a cidermaking pioneer, explores both

32 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

traditional and innovative styles, and the ciders of Eve’s Cidery in upstate New York, where Autumn Stoscheck has elevated orchardbased cidermaking to an art form, with careful attention to orchard practices that express themselves in her ciders.

FAVOURITE FEMALE /ROLE MODEL IN THE CIDER OR ALCOHOL INDUSTRY AND WHY? There are many women in the industry whom I admire. But right now, Brighid O’Keane comes to mind, especially at a time when women are beginning to make headway into positions of leadership and influence in the industry. Brighid is strong as both a strategic thinker and a tactician. As the executive director of the Cider Institute of North America, she has worked tirelessly to build the organization from scratch to what is now one of the most influential cider organizations in the world.

ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR WOMEN WANTING TO GET INTO THE INDUSTRY? Don’t be afraid to reach out to folks in the industry and ask questions. Also, there is no one “right” path. Take stock of your own strengths and find help where you need it to fill in the gaps.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE? GOALS FOR YOURSELF OR SEA CIDER? I am extremely proud of the awards we have received for our ciders, including some “best in show” awards and mentions in “best ciders in the world” publications. But I think I am most proud of the amazing group of people I get to work with every day. My goal for Sea Cider is to stay on the path of crafting exceptional cider with an exceptional group of people.

Lundy Dale Lundy is a founder of CAMRA BC's Vancouver chapter, Barley's Angels' Pink Pints Chapter and BC Craft Beer Month, Past President of CAMRA BC, and a recipient of the BC Beer Awards Legend award.

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

AN IN-CIDER'S VIEW | cider history

LOST AND FOUND...AND LOST AGAIN

I

>> JEFF NAIRN

wrote this article in a Kelowna hotel as tens of thousands of nearby apple trees sat in the cold and snowy Okanagan winter, awaiting a pruning by attentive orchardists. Amongst those trees were some of the most popular varieties grown in BC: Gala, Spartan, Honeycrisp, and Ambrosia. But the apple story in BC doesn’t begin and end in the fruit belts of the Island and Okanagan.

Over the past 50 years, there’s been an upstart apple-growing trade much closer to my Vancouver base: the Fraser Valley, home to a small but wily group of orchardists.

In the 1980s, the Fraser Valley apple industry was set to be re-established by a variety called Jonagold. This apple came from the Eastern US and consumers seemed to like it. Close to 1,500 acres were planted throughout the region, and they grew well for the first ten years. Then anthracnose canker hit. The affected trees were replanted, but in the ensuing years most of the farmers moved away from apples and into blueberries, currants, and other easier-to-tend crops. There are now only a handful of commercial orchards in the Valley.

For a cider maker, finding ideal cider apples can be one’s biggest challenge. Getting commercial varieties from big apple packers is simple. But finding interesting apple varieties—like those grown for years by Jim Rahe of Annie’s Orchard in Langley—is more like detective work. Now, due to a combination of climate, pests, and the passage of three decades, cider makers can no longer turn to Annie’s, and the Fraser Valley has lost a revered orchard.

The Birth of Annie’s Orchard Jim and Mary Anne Rahe met and married early, while Jim was studying biochemistry at Purdue University in Indiana and Mary Anne was a nurse in town. After World War Two, teaching jobs were plentiful and graduates were scarce. Jim found a job at Simon Fraser University in 1969, and they started a family in Coquitlam. But suburban life wasn’t for Mary Anne; she was raised on a farm and enjoyed that lifestyle. Luckily, they found a small orchard of 30 trees and relocated to Langley in 1979.

Jim had always been fascinated by growing apples and the small orchard quickly caught his attention. Annie’s Orchard was established, growing and selling apples to the public from a roadside stand. The original 30 trees became an orchard of over 2,000 with some 300 heritage varietals.

Three hundred is a small fraction of global apple varietals, but it was too much for one orchard. The general public was overwhelmed by choice, so much of the Rahes’ efforts went to waste.

They pared the original 300 down to a more manageable 50 varieties, chosen for unique qualities and for the time of year they ripened. The Rahes wanted a steady stream of apples flowing from the orchard to the sales stand.

Soon, word spread around the Lower Mainland. The Brits talked up the Cox’s Orange Pippins, the Dutch spread the word about the Belle de Boskoop, and soon enough they had a busy little

operation. It didn’t generate that much money; just enough to keep Jim interested. At the peak of the orchard, Jim was selling a big chunk of his apples to the UBC Apple Festival. If you tried a Northern Spy there a bunch of years ago, it was probably one of Jim’s apples.

Over the 30 years of its operation, Annie’s Orchard kept growing those amazing apples and introducing them to a hungry Lower Mainland. Jim’s operation also provided stock for other growers who wanted to diversify their crops. A heritage apple from somewhere else in the province probably started in Jim’s orchard.

The Pursuit of Suitable Fruit: Why Annie’s Orchard Mattered The greatest similarities between beer and cider lie in the fermentation and aging processes. Where brewers and cider makers truly diverge is in the procurement of our base ingredient: malted grain for beer versus apples for cider. Seeing a pallet of malt arrive at a brewery anytime year-round makes me envious. Craft cider makers have just one season to procure their fruit – the fall.

Finding your apples is another story. The grocery-store apples we know and love are a very manicured apple. They’re a commercial crop, bred to yield huge numbers per acre. Macintosh, Spartan, Gala, and Honey Crisp are all grown much the same way: in rows, like grape vines. Orchards that might have had 400 trees per acre can now crowd 2,200 trees into the same area.

Continued on page 34 S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 33

AN IN-CIDER'S VIEW | cider history Continued from page 33

Heritage orchards like Jim’s are different; they are planted with metres, rather than centimeters, between trunks. They don’t fruit massively, nor even every year in some cases. Yields are a third to a tenth that of the commercial varieties. And they can be the most beautifully delicious apples. Have you enjoyed a Belle de Boskoop? A Winesap? A Cox’s Orange Pippin? They’re complex apples. They also make pretty darned good cider.

The End of an Era The tiny crab apples that grow in Jim and Mary Anne’s front yard are a marvel of condensed tannins, like little tannin bombs. But time has caught up with the little orchard in Langley. They closed their doors permanently in 2019.

One reason Jim is ending his apple growing career is the marine climate in the Lower Mainland. The winter isn’t cold enough to kill off apple maggot (a worm that burrows into the fruit, leaving both itself and a tell-tale trail). Maggoty apples aren’t a problem for cider makers because the fruit’s appearance isn’t an issue… but packing houses and consumers won’t buy them.

On the other hand, the Lower Mainland winter is wet enough to propagate anthracnose canker, a fungus whose spores get into the bark of the apple tree. These spores drip down from the crown of the tree, infecting the entire bark system and effectively stopping the tree from fruiting. This canker is one reason Jim’s crop has dropped from 60,000 pounds per year to the current 15,000. He has to keep culling the infected trees—hard work for older hands.

Over the years since I first met Jim, he’s sold me the first Northern Spy and Orange Pippin apples that I pressed for test batches of single varietal ciders. He’s also introduced me to the beauty and

34 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

complexity of the heritage apples he grows. The flavour in my first bite of the amazing Dutch Belle de Boskoop apple was so intense I almost crashed my car.

For their part, Jim and Mary Anne Rahe share the same favourite apple: the Gravenstein. They have been an inspiration to Lower Mainland apple lovers, and we wish them well in their apple retirement.

Jeff Nairn is the co-founder of Windfall Cider, a craft cider producer based in East Vancouver. His column tackles items fermented, not brewed, focussing on issues related to BC's burgeoning craft cider industry.

CIDER SPOTLIGHT

HOMEBREW HAPPENIN'S | recipe

SUPER CIDER ME! A guest Homebrew Happenin's recipe column by Adam Chatburn

I

may be known for British style ales, but my real love lies in making cider. It’s a very different process but, luckily, much easier than making beer. Whenever anyone asks me about getting into brewing, I suggest they try cider first. It’s quick, easy, cheap, and shows the basic steps of sanitising and fermenting. If you have the equipment for beer, you basically have the equipment for cider, so let’s get started.

1. Get some juice. If you want to use some fancy organic cloudy stuff, go for it, but believe it or not, some of the best stuff to use is those cartons of Sun-Rype apple juice from the supermarket. It usually costs around a dolllar per litre and it works really well. Doesn’t matter if it’s from concentrate or not. Get a case or two when it goes on sale.

If you want to press your own apples, get some campden tablets to kill off any nasties in that juice. Wait a day or two, top up with Sun-Rype if you like. Regular juice with no additions should make cider between 6-7% ABV. 2. Sanitize a fermentation vessel. This can be a bucket from Home Depot, a carboy, or even a one-gallon juice jug.

3. Half-fill the container with juice.

4. Add fermentable sugar. This can be anything glucosebased: white or brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, dextrose, golden syrup, whatever you like! Each pound of sugar added to a 20-litre batch will give you about an extra 1% alcohol. Don’t exceed one pound of sugar per gallon of juice, or the yeast won’t be happy. It will make the juice very sweet but the yeast will rip through all that sugar so it will be very dry and boozy at the end. Tip: Dissolve the sugar into some juice in a pan over low heat first.

We don’t want undissolved sugar in the fermenter.

5. Add nutrients. Cider has very little protein, so the yeast needs a little help. DAP works well, but any kind of yeast nutrient will help. It’s pretty cheap to buy at your local homebrew store. This stage isn’t essential but will help. One teaspoon of nutrient in 5 gallons is good.

6. Top up with more juice. Keep a couple of cartons for later.

7. Do not add any other flavours at this point. Adding herbs and things can affect the yeast and you’ll often get weird/yucky things happening.

8. Add yeast. Pretty much any yeast will do the job but choosing the right one will make a big difference. “Champagne” yeast (EC-1111) will work very well but there are some great cider yeasts available. I like working with Mangrove Jacks M02 but anything that has a low sulphur profile will do.

9. Give it a good swirl to mix it up, this blends everything and adds oxygen for the yeast. Take a gravity reading now if you want to know the ABV later.

10. Cover loosely or use an airlock. Move the cider somewhere quite warm (25–30C if possible) for a few hours to kick off fermentation. Once it starts to bubble, move it somewhere a little cooler (15–20C).

We don’t have to be exact; cider is very forgiving.

11. After 24 hours of bubbling, add another teaspoon of nutrient and mix well.

12. Keep the airlock clean and full of water.

Check each day for activity and spills.

13. Over the next few weeks, you may notice a slight sulphury, musty smell. This will evaporate over time.

14. When it starts to drop clear and bubbling slows (usually around the two-week mark), try to move it somewhere cool for a week. Check your finishing gravity to get an ABV reading; it should be close to 1.000.

15. Taste it! At this point, you might feel a little deflated because there’s not a lot of apple flavour left and the residual sweetness is low (depending on the yeast you use), giving it a thin, watery taste. If possible, take the cider off the yeast cake. You can dump another batch of juice directly on to the yeast cake; if you do it within a few hours, the chance of infection is quite low. Add nutrient as usual to the new juice and you’ll have another batch ready in a few weeks.

16. Backsweetening is where we add flavour back into the cider, using fresh juice or concentrate. Add the two remaining cartons of juice. You can also add any sugar, stevia, a flavoured syrup (pear works well). Just be careful of the sugar-free syrups; they can curdle with the alcohol. If you add sugar or fresh juice, the yeast in suspension will start re-fermenting. This can be useful for bottle conditioning your cider.

17. Add your herbs and other flavours. You can do this to taste and do many different versions from the same base.

18. Bottle your cider. I find 2-litre PET bottles work well.

Add a cup of fresh juice, then top up with cider, seal and put somewhere warm for 48 hours, then transfer somewhere very cold until it drops clear.

That’s it! This makes a great base for a punch or summer sangria. Cider can be stored for a few weeks and will often improve at first but may start to deteriorate after about 3 weeks unless you’re keeping it cold. Enjoy your cider!

Adam Chatburn is former president of CAMRA Vancouver. Follow him at @real_cask on Instagram and @realcask on Twitter. He doesn’t post very much but when he does it’s awesome.

S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 35

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36 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

SERVING THE CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY

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BEERS, BEACHES & BREWERIES | regional report

OKANAGAN

CRAFT BEER CAPITAL TO HOST 25TH ANNUAL BEER FEST

P

>> KIM LAWTON

enticton is bubbling over with excitement after Lonely Planet named us Canada’s Craft Beer Capital. Geoff Nudelman’s recent article for the travel guide giant talks about the history and growth of the local craft beer scene and calls Penticton “one of Canada's best kept secrets when it comes to great craft brews.”

Whether you are a regular visitor to Penticton or it’s on your bucket list to visit, there are lots of reasons to plan a trip here.

The Okanagan Fest of Ale, one of BC’s longest running beer festivals, is celebrating 25 incredible years this year. The milestone anniversary Okanagan Fest of Ale is “Kickin’ it Old School” and taking things back to 1996 in what promises to be the biggest craft beer celebration the Okanagan has ever seen.

Fest of Ale will bring together a record-breaking 90+ breweries and cideries from all over the province on April 17 & 18. The festival is expanding for this milestone year and will occupy both the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and the South Okanagan Events Centre. There will be more delicious food options, more local live music, and more entertainment than ever.

Visit the Okanagan Fest of Ale website for some great Sip & Stay Get Away packages. Plan to spend a few days here; there are lots of other craft beer–themed events in town that week.

To prep for Fest of Ale, head to Slackwater Brewing on Wednesday, April 15 for beer trivia night and battle it out over a few beers.

Joe Wiebe, the Thirsty Writer and author of Craft Beer Revolution: The Insider’s Guide to B.C. Breweries, will host a seminar called “25 Years of Beer” at Bad Tattoo Brewing on April 16. Joe will took a look back at how the craft beer industry has grown and changed since the mid-1990s. He will present an award-winning beer from each five-year period, along with something new that might win awards in the near future.

Also on April 16, Highway 97 Brewing hosts their 2nd Annual Fest of Ale Brewers Welcome Tailgate Party with beer, BBQ, and a social. Brewery teams and the public are all invited. On the same night, Slackwater will feature the Graham Brown Band Live.

After Fest of Ale, the fun continues with Murderers Row - Quick Draw on April 18 at The Station Public House at the Penticton Ramada. There will be 12 casks and live music. Tickets always sell out fast for this event, so buy your tickets early. You can also take in the Fest of Ale after-party on April 18 at Slackwater, featuring live music with Stephen Clarke. Extend the weekend with free live music at Cannery Brewing on Sunday, April 19.

Kim's tip: Enter the Penticton Beer Run at a 10% discount using the promo code WHATSBREW. Photo: Gord Goble

If you can’t make it to Fest of Ale, check out some new beers from Penticton’s breweries. Bad Tattoo will launch a Watermelon Gose in April. Highway 97’s Bandito Lager & Lime will be back this spring, as will their popular Red IPA. Watch for the limited release Ceres Mango Milkshake IPA made by the women of Cannery Brewing as a fundraiser beer; partial proceeds support the Pink Boots Society.

Oh, and now is the perfect time to register for the 4th Annual Penticton Beer Run coming up on June 13. Run or walk this 10-kilometre fun run with multiple stops to enjoy beer from eight local breweries and five eateries. The stunning route showcases some amazing views along a historical railway bed overlooking the valley, through vineyards, past the river channel, and along the lakeshore. Visit PentictonBeerRun.ca and enter code WHATSBREW for a 10% discount when you register by April 30. I’ll see you at the finish line with a cold craft beer in hand. Until then, cheers.

Kim Lawton is a craft beer fan, a long-time supporter of the craft beer movement, President of CAMRA South Okanagan and the Marketing Director at Cannery Brewing in Penticton.

Kim can be reached via Twitter @DogLegMarketing

CRAFT BEER, FISHING, AND COMMUNITY.

Plan to join us in Penticton for the biggest party yet and help us say cheers to 25 years!

On your way to or from Penticton, plan to visit Firehall Brewery in Oliver and check out their new menu featuring locally sourced food cooked with their beer. Firehall will also host a number of musicians at the brewery this spring, including a music night on April 15, which would be a great way to kick off Fest of Ale. 38 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

We're Open and Brewing! Visit us at 760 Vaughan Ave, Kelowna, BC

NORTHERN NOTES | regional report

NORTHERN BC

CELEBRATING THE CULTURE OF CRAFT

I

>> ADAM ARTHUR t certainly has been a very interesting winter so far in Prince George—one of the mildest I can recall. And it’s been an interesting time in the craft beer scene, in town and in Northern BC as a whole.

The 6th Annual Kiwanis AleFest returned on January 24 and 25, 2020 and it was excellent—the best yet. Cheers to all the organizers, volunteers, craft brewers, restaurants, sponsors and attendees that made it a success. This year, partial proceeds supported Northern BC children through Ronald McDonald Houses of BC. The tasting session on January 24 was amazing. The addition of a craft cider booth and some new food vendors was particularly exciting. AleFest is now on the radar of the BC Ale Trail folks; a new Ale Trail booth featured Crannog Ales, Fernie Brewing, Kettle River Brewing and Slackwater Brewing. Sherwood Mountain Brewhouse returned after a year’s absence.

I participated during AleFest setup and all three events at the Two Rivers Gallery. The highlight was my first-ever Brewmaster’s dinner; the food and beer pairings were just amazing! The dinner and the Kiwanis AleFest Crawl (formerly Cask Beer Experience Weekend) featured breweries and restaurants that had not participated before. Red Collar Brewing joined the AleFest Crawl, the first non-Northern BC craft brewery to participate; and Mighty Peace Brewing Co. was part of the Brewmaster’s dinner on January 25.

Cheers to all of the brewers and their excellent beers. Kiwanis AleFest is Prince George’s premier flagship craft beer festival and I highly recommend it.

Prince George’s craft beer community lost some of its biggest supporters when Copper Pig BBQ House, Kask Taproom & Eatery, and Cowboy Ranch all closed in 2019. These establishments offered some of the best northern BC craft beer selections in town, supported Kiwanis AleFest, and hosted their own special events.

These fine craft-beer-focused establishments played big roles in the Northern BC and Prince George craft beer revolution over the past decade. Their closing feels like a big setback.

But there’s much to celebrate and rejuvenation is around the corner. The Post & Row Local Taphouse in Dawson Creek will be opening up this year, and they will be big champions of craft beer. In Prince George, the craft beer selections at the Cornerstone Kitchen & Lounge, Grand Trunk Tavern and other establishments and liquor stores have improved. Nancy O’s, one of PG’s best craft (bottled) beer focused restaurants, has draft beer on tap for the first time ever.

Northern BC’s craft breweries are brewing amazing beers and continue to impress me. Some recent favourites include The Riddle Red Ale from Mighty Peace Brewing and Old Man Winter Ale from Smithers Brewing. The Kiwanis AleFest Crawl also featured a delicious cask called Evergreen Citrus, which was Smithers’ Flagship Pale Ale with handpicked Spruce tips and Citra hops. I’m also always happy with the craft beers from Three Ranges Brewing, CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery and Trench Brewing and Distilling.

40 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

Kiwanis AleFest Brewmaster's Dinner

What A Decade It’s Been The past decade in the craft beer world was quite exciting in Prince George, the North and BC as a whole. We may never see anything like it again. With the threat of macro scale ready-todrink alcoholic beverages including hard seltzers, and with the macros pushing into the craft beer space and further blurring the lines, it’s time for the craft beer community to be more united and collaborative than ever. The founding of the Canadian Craft Brewers Association and the Independent Craft Seal of Authenticity were significant moves.

I fully converted to craft beer around late 2009 and early 2010. I’ve tried many delicious craft beers from BC, Canada, and beyond.

As the decade progressed, I met many people and made great friends in the craft beer community. Being a part of the craft beer community is quite an amazing thing.

The next decade will be an exciting one. I look forward to seeing what it will offer the world of craft.

Adam Arthur is a craft beer fan since 2010 who’s glad to represent Northern BC and the city of Prince George. He supports Independent craft breweries in (and outside of) BC.

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S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 41

CRAFT BEER FUTURE

OUT & ABOUT | column

TAPPING INTO THE 2020s:

T

Looking forward to a new decade of BC craft beer >> SCOTTIE MCLELLAN

he Globe and Mail’s Report On Business section for Saturday, January 25th ran an in-depth story on the Canadian craft beer industry. It was entitled TROUBLE BREWING, with this subtext:

New craft breweries are opening at an unprecedented rate. But these upstarts face a crammed market, falling consumption and competition from multinational players. Is the industry headed for a spill?

The gist of the piece was an overview of how craft breweries keep opening nationwide, and how the market is going to handle the effects of this. It is worth reading.

People ask me all the time: how can breweries possibly keep creating new tastes in beer? At some point, won’t the scene get saturated and flatten out?

This doesn’t seem to be happening yet—rather the opposite, with more and more brewers coming on stream everywhere.

The Globe and Mail’s Report On Business, Saturday, January 25th

Another question that gets tossed around is, “Isn’t it true that lots of people want to open a brewery to make a quick buck during these popular times of craft beer?”

After three decades of being part of this beer movement, I must say I feel satisfied to have had a voice in our small part of the scene. I am overjoyed and excited about the bright future of craft beer in BC.

The answer is that most people don’t do it to get rich. Craft brewers opening new establishments do their due diligence. They see a future and are driven by it. People who have a passion for beer usually have the drive to open their own business and showcase their company’s flair and style in brewing.

Sometimes certain styles are in favour and it seems like every brewery is making one. And why not? If this is what’s being demanded, craft brewers will answer their customers’ needs. Breweries have been creative in product and package design, and this gives the consumer a big buzz of anticipation. Everything seems fluid in the beer business and consumers just love it. The more new energy and growth in the business, the more consumers will get to revel in choice.

I’ve been in the movement since the beginning, and what worked then still works now: local breweries and brewpubs supported by their neighbourhood customers. Fresh local beer supported by local communities is the winning formula, as evidenced by new openings provincewide. If the enthusiasm of the current brewing scene is any guide, we have a long bright future for good beer in our province.

What’s Brewing has come along on this journey, supporting everything happening in the beer movement from the beginning.

We have written about the future of good beer, promoting good things related to beer including where to buy it, where to enjoy it, and who makes, sells, and serves it. We are always grateful for the many new additions to the craft brewing community, and we wish the best to everyone in this exciting industry and movement.

Scottie McLellan is a craft beer industry veteran and longtime supporter of BC’s Craft Beer Movement. He has written for What's Brewing for three decades.

42 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

203-5301 Chaster Rd Duncan BC 250-597-0045 TASTING ROOM, FLIGHTS, PINTS, GROWLER FILLS, CROWLERS, SWAG AND GOURMET FOOD TRUCKS

CanneryBrewing.com

S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 43

WE'RE OPEN IN OUR NEW LOCATION!

Same great prices and service, even better selection of grain, hops and yeast!

Did we mention that real soon now you’ll be able to buy a beer while you’re here?

And that there will always be at least two pro brewers around to answer questions—and sometimes as many as four or five? That’s because we’re also going to become (very soon!) Port Moody’s next Craft brewery, Fraser Mills Fermentation Co (FMFC). Our focus is going to be on making authentic, delicious beer, cider, mead, and wine. And if you like that beer you tried in the tasting room, why not pick up our recipe and ingredients and make it at home!

You’ll find us at 3044 St Johns Street (2 Buildings east of our former location) Want to know more and check on our progress?

Give us a Facebook like @frasermillsfc check out frasermillsfermentation.com or give us a call 604 461 8891

44 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

CRAFT BEER FUTURE

HOMEBREW HAPPENIN'S | column

THE NEXT 10 YEARS in homebrewing

H

>> WARREN BOYER

omebrewing changed a lot between 2010 and 2020.

There are more providers of commercial yeast, and new blends and varieties that we definitely did not see a decade ago. Kveik can be purchased commercially from several sources. Escarpment Laboratories and Omega Yeast Labs each have several varieties of live liquid kveik available.

White Labs offers Opshaug and Lallemand has a dry Voss kveik available. “Wild” and sour cultures are widely available now, as are blends. I believe we’ll see amazing things happening with yeast and genetics—I have heard rumour of a lager yeast that doesn’t produce sulphur compounds. The next ten years may be even more exciting than the last ten.

In the past decade we have witnessed the rise of the East Coast Hazy IPA as well as some other new styles. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines were updated to include some of those new styles and reorganize classic styles. The IPA category saw the additions of Belgian, Black, Brown, Red, Rye, and White subcategories. We have also seen unrecognized styles created, such as brut IPA, some crazy experimentation, such as glitter beer, cereal beer, and pastry stouts.

Homebrewers have embraced sours and funky beers. Milk the Funk Facebook group has twenty-six thousand members and is an amazing source of information for brewers working with wee beasties that aren’t yeast and using alternative techniques for brewing. Many yeast suppliers are providing yeast blends for making funky beers. Imperial Yeast sells a blend of two Brettanomyces strains, Lactobacillus, and a low attenuating Belgian saison yeast called Sour Batch Kidz. It can be used for lambics, farmhouse ales, Flanders reds and any other beer you wanna get funky with.

Bootleg Biology sells kits to help you capture wild yeast as well as providing some unusual strains.

The past decade has seen some myths disproved. Brulosophy exBEERiments began in 2014 and have performed over 280 experiments to help answer some age-old questions about technique and ingredients. One of my favourites was their comparison of two identical batches of beer, one with major hot side aeration, and the other without. For years, brewers have been careful to minimize hot side aeration, but this particular experiment shows no discernible difference in the finished product.

The twenty-tens also brought us a better selection of equipment and tools. The simple carboy has evolved a much larger mouth, making them easier to clean and sanitize. And PET makes a safer and lighter fermentation vessel than glass. Look for FerMonster, Big Mouth Bubbler, or Speidel’s Garfass.

Wireless digital hydrometers are a thing now, with units like Tilt and Beerbug. These units monitor gravity continuously for a real-time report on fermentation status.

All-in-one brewing systems like the Grainfather and Robobrew have entered into the market and become quite popular.

We are Northwest Hop Farms—a full-service hop farm and hop distribution company based in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

From our family farm in Chilliwack, we harvest, package, and ship hops to 17 countries worldwide. In addition to our own hops, we partner up with the best farmers in B.C., U.S.A., and around the world, to offer over 180 varieties of quality hops to the brewing industry.

Our mission is to raise the profile of our many partner farmers in the area, as well as to promote the resurgence of hop farming in British Columbia. We are incredibly passionate about hops and the craft brewing industry and we are excited to share our passion with you!

NORTHWEST HOP FARMS Chilliwack, B.C. 604-845-7974 • sales@northwesthopfarms.com www.northwesthopfarms.com

We have had new hops enter the homebrew market. Cashmere, Sabro, Equinox, Mandarina Bavaria, Azacco, Hopsteiner Lemondrop, and many more new varieties have been introduced in the past decade. Some hop farmers are working on new crosses that could become the hot new variety in a few years, while others are concentrating on blending existing varieties to create the flavour profile the brewer wants. I predict we will see more hop blends like Falconers Flight or the Pink Boots Blend.

Cryo hops have made a major impact on hazy IPAs since being introduced a few years ago. The by-product of manufacturing Cryo hops is referred to as de-bittered hops and can be used in low-IBU beers.

We will see some big changes in the yeast world this coming decade and I am sure some new styles will emerge. I am excited to see what the next decade brings and how it affects homebrewing.

If it’s anything like the past decade, it will be transformative. Now go brew a brand-new style of beer.

Warren Boyer of Fraser Mills Fermentation is an award winning homebrewer, Certified Beer Judge, former President of CAMRA Vancouver, and occasional Professional Brewer.

E: homebrewboy@shaw.ca

S P R I N G 2020 WHAT'S BREWING 45

IN REVIEW | books

drink beer, think beer

By John Holl

T

>> TED CHILD he heyday of introductory beer books is likely behind us.

Certainly, there will always be a place for “Beer 101”, but experienced beer readers will eventually thirst for more depth in their reading, just as they do with their drinks.

For a beer book with satisfying depth, look no further than Drink Beer, Think Beer: Getting to the Bottom of Every Pint (Basic Books, 2018). Written by John Holl, former editor of All About Beer magazine and current editor of Craft Beer and Brewing magazine, this informative overview will appeal to new enthusiasts and invested beer lovers alike. It’s for readers who like not only to drink fermented grain juice but also to think, talk, and even argue about it.

Holl skips pretty quickly through thousands of years of brewing history to focus on the recent past. He looks at the issues you hear talked about in your local tap room rather than giving a history lesson. In his discussion about water and its importance in beer, he points out the importance of water chemistry in the development of certain beer styles and then addresses the emerging issue of water scarcity and how it could affect beer.

An increasingly unavoidable issue in beer writing: how much cheerleading is appropriate? Certainly most beer writers, such as the contributors to What’s Brewing, do it out of a profound love of the subject. Beer has been ghettoized culturally for so long that it’s a joy to exclaim its greatness in a public way. However, beer and the industry that creates it are not perfect, and there are a lot of issues to discuss. Holl tackles some of those issues as only someone who knows the industry inside and out can do.

This book is thought-provoking and readers might disagree with some of the author’s assertions, arguments, or conclusions. I certainly did, for instance with his ambiguous language. Early on, Holl states, “[a] prevailing hypothesis a few years back held that cider would become the new beer. Some producers even began hopping their cider to appeal to beer drinkers. But the big cider boom has yet to materialize and cider will likely stay on the margins.” It’s clear that Holl hasn’t seen the shelves of BC liquor stores lately. We are undoubtedly in the midst of a cider renaissance, and hopped ciders are playing an important part.

I also disagree with Holl’s assertion that “good beer is good beer.”

I feel strongly about this, and have been critical of it in past issues of WB. Every time a beer journalist writes those words, an angel dies in heaven and the CEOs of AB InBev cackle in their Masonic lodge-like boardroom (no offense to you Freemasons). It’s the kind of thinking that had our fathers drinking the same pale lagers for generations. And when you think about it, it doesn’t hold water. What if the “good beer” has a sexist, misogynistic label, something Holl is rightly critical of? Is it still “good beer”? There are a thousand other examples of a good tasting beer that isn’t necessarily the one you should spend your money on.

46 WHAT'S BREWING S P R I N G 2020

Let’s be clear, however, that although I disagree with Holl on some points, this in no way invalidates this book. We all have unexamined beliefs or ideas, things we decided were true because we experienced it once or a thought occurred to us while a few pints in. But sometimes these unexamined ideas need a second look, and a writer like Holl can help you do that.

You might not agree with Holl about everything in this close look at some of the more important issues of the increasingly redefined beer industry. But if you identify as a beer nerd and are at all interested in or concerned about the current state of beer then you must read this book.

Ted Child is a Recognized BJCP Beer Judge and award-winning homebrewer. He is also What's Brewing's in-house book reviewer. Look for his assessments of the latest beer books and publications in each issue

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