Cider gaining popularity in Ontario

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First there was wine, then craft beer. Now, Ontario is making a name for itself when it comes to cider.

This is Ontario Cider Week, a chance to celebrate local craft ciders. And that’s exactly what they are doing at the Brux House in Hamilton.

It’s a beverage that’s becoming more and more popular, and a boost in consumer demand for cider means a boost for local agriculture. The cider industry is exploding here in Ontario.

“It is really an innovative style with a great range of varieties and we are just starting to discover that now” says Mark Horsley from the Brux House. They currently have 10 different ciders on tap to celebrate Cider Week. ”They are doing great thing with these yeast strains making it funky and sour they are dry hopping it with hops you use in beer to give these bight fruity aromatics… they are also infusing things.”

And as more customers discover it, more cideries are popping up. In 2008 there was just one, now there are 22

One of those cider producers is Chris Howarth from West Avenue Cider… he’s planting 15-hundred apple trees on his farm. “There’s so many cider makers coming out so it’s hard to get the russets that I need…hence I am planting my own orchard.”
And since Ontario Craft Cider is made from 100 percent local apples it’ll mean good things for farmers as the industry grows

At Niagara College they are making their first ever commercial cider. They used 6 different kinds of local apples. Half the juice was fermented in French oak barrels the other half in stainless steel tanks.

“We need to be able to supply the industry with young people to enter a growing field” says Niagara College Winemaker Gavin Robertson. “Theres better quality, more balanced ciders coming on the market. More serious ciders – less sugars a little more complexity made from better apples.”

And customers are noticing.. Sales of cider grew by almost 300 percent at the LCBO in the last 5 years. But when it comes to craft ciders they’re left high and dry, because Ontario regulations are putting them at a competitive disadvantage

“We are licensed as wineries even though we are competing as craft beers… but we don’t receive the same benefits because we are not grapes” says Thomas Wilson from the Ontario Craft Cider Association.

Right now almost 80 percent of the cider sold in LCBO stores is imported, but as the industry here grows local producers hope that’ll change. The Ontario Craft Cider Association projects sales of Ontario cider will reach $35 million a year by 20-18, with cideries buying 10 percent of all apples grown in the province.