Commercial Cider Tips from the Pros
Feb16

Commercial Cider Tips from the Pros

During CiderCon, a panel of four professional cidermakers gathered for an exclusive discussion on commercial cider. The Q&A panel consisted of Eleanor Leger (Eden Specialty Ciders), Brent Miles (Sly Clyde Ciderworks), Marcus Robert (Tieton Cider Works), and Tim Godfrey (Golden State Cider). Each shared guidance on finance, production, marketing, and more. Here are some highlights and additional tips on launching a new commercial...

Read More
New Milestones for Cider
Feb14

New Milestones for Cider

If you haven’t heard by now, cider has grown faster than beer, wine, or spirits last year. According to the Nielsen reports, cider is up 8.4% in off-premise sales, and 11% in social media awareness. So it’s no surprise that the ninth annual CiderCon, which took place in Chicago last week, was the largest attended conference in three years with over 1,000 attendees! Some highlights of the 40+ CiderCon presentations and local events...

Read More
CiderCon 2019
Feb01

CiderCon 2019

More than 900 attendees from across the United States, Canada and Europe and a cider industry trade show with over 100 vendors will meet in downtown Chicago for CiderCon 2019 next week,  February 5 – 8 at the Hilton Chicago Hotel. CiderCon, which invites the cider community to gather, share ideas, collaborate and learn, happens to take place during Chicago Cider Week.  A series of cider-based entertainment and education events will...

Read More
Extreme Beer Fest
Jan28

Extreme Beer Fest

This week, I’m heading to BeerAdvocate’s Extreme Beer Fest® (EBF) at Seaport World Trade Center in Boston February 1–2. There are three sessions for EBF: Friday, February 1 (6-9:30pm), Saturday, February 2 (12-3:30pm) and (6-9:30pm). Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, the 16th annual EBF will span two days and three sessions, feature over 400 beers from more than 120 independently owned breweries, and welcome...

Read More
Cider Association Unveils Certified Pommelier Exam
Jan26

Cider Association Unveils Certified Pommelier Exam

The United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) unveiled the second level of the Certified Cider Professional (CCP) program, Certified Pommelier™. Until recently, the CCP program only had one level, geared toward cider servers. Next month USACM administers the exam for the second level of the CCP program for the first time. It will be offered in Chicago during their annual trade conference, CiderCon. Those who pass the...

Read More