It’s amazing to think through the last six months – yes, March was six months ago. The 24-hour news cycle changed as lockdown after lockdown was announced, then it was hourly, and scary.
From our Spring 2020 magazine, aka The Cider Issue: Windfall Cider’s Jeff Nairn describes the legendary career of a former cider apple grower: Jim Rahe of Langley’s Annie’s Orchard.
Our journey started over two years ago when we took a serious leap from home cider production to a fully-fledged cidery, using apples from city trees. For the past three summers we’ve cycled up and down alleyways, mapping apple trees.
We’ve had a full year of beer and cider events under our belts. From panicked purchases of festival equipment to interesting encounters with patrons, it’s been a nutty but all-round solid learning experience for us.
Regardless of where a cidery in BC sits on the production spectrum, their product is lumped in with the Refreshment (RTD) category. All cider products—foreign or domestic, mass-produced cider-flavoured cocktails or locally produced, truly 100% BC products— are classified this way. They’re all lumped in with alcoholic sodas, Caesar cocktails, and wine spritzers.
A quick visit to your favourite liquor store reveals the confusion around cider: is it proper craft cider or not? It’s unfortunate that cider drinkers have to rifle through the alco-pop selection to get to their favourite craft cider. Even more unfortunate is that cider is still categorized among these Ready To Drink (RTD) beverages by the taxation overlords of our alcohol distribution and sales monopoly in the province.
That's All There Was!
That's All There Was!