Cider Alert!!! Cider Alert!!! For all of you that ask me about Cider Citizen Cider in VT is a must try...
We all know my true love is beer but being an open-minded person I love to experiment and continue my quest to find a cider I could have more than one of.
Quest is now complete!
That morning was off to a great start as I fulfilled my other quest for a case of Heady Topper after 2 hours in line and now the day was about to get better...
What better place to explore on a hot sunny day then Citizen Cider in Burlington VT with over 9 ciders on tap and since it was a Thursday it was also Hot Dog & a Cider Can day for $5!!!
Vermont is a great area, like us in Ontario, for fresh apples and that is what goes into these unique variety of ciders 100% locally sourced apples.
Justin, Bryan and Kris founded Citizen Cider in 2010 and by the end of 2013, a location had been selected and they broke ground early in 2014 on the new location at 316 Pine St in Burlington, VT.
“We’re Citizen Cider because we wanted to create ciders for the people.”
As we stepped inside we were greeted by Lars and he pleasantly pulled up a stool with us at the tasting room bar and joined us for lunch, some cider and some great conversation.
The tasting room is a beauty spot to sit with opening garage doors on a nice day and a stage that rocks out with bands on certain nights. The rustic long wood picnic type tables allowed for great conversation flow and chance to chat with new friends.
We were presented with a flight of 9 different ciders, since we had tried none, and what a unique experience to taste all of them back to back and truly start to discover there is a difference in cider and my pallet was actually pleased by a few!
From the Dirty Mayor, with a Ginger Nip & Wit’s Up, which is fermented with Belgian Wit yeast all the way to the Lake Hopper, a dry hopped cider it was a variety of flavor and gave me a new respect for cider.
Check out there full cider list here
As we sipped our way through the cider rainbow & ate a local McKenzie Hot Dog <3 we had some great conversation about Vermont, how Citizen Cider got to where it is and the interesting other “job” that Lars has.
Side bar: Lars owns a company called Silo Skis and a badass Westfalia i'd die for! He makes handcrafted ski’s that are fully custom to you, meaning yours don't exist yet.
Their fully solar powered workshop is in Richmond just outside of Burlington VT and as Lars mentions "Each pair of skis start with a conversation, where we get to know you and you get to know us. We'll talk about where you ski, how you ski, how your body type influences your skiing and the sticks upon which you shred. We'll talk about materials and graphics; timelines; price; music; food; scotch."
I left a huge part of my heart out west in the mountains of Whistler and this was so cool to me to discover what he was up to.
Back to Cider....
My hands-down favorite was the Lake Hopper which is a dry hopped cider with 100% local Cascade hops... my mouth is still watering and I snagged a 4-pack of this. We also grabbed a 750ml bottle of their Barrel-Aged Cider where their finest cider blends age together in American oak barrels before being bottled. This punches in at 6.9%!
So the verdict of this lovely stop on our trip was that Cider too can spark community, good conversation & friendship in a refreshing way.
So add CitizenCider to your Must Do list while in Vermont or area as you will not be disappointed.... oh and if your heading back to Toronto / Hamilton area pick me up a 4 pack of their Lake Hopper as I will be forever in debt to you ;)
Cheers,
Tiffany
PS. Yes there are a couple Cider Companies in Ontario I don't mind but to be honest they could all take a page out of Citizen Ciders Book and get a little creative and start to re evolve this Cider world to one even us beer lovers enjoy!
