Local Sonoma County Hard Cider Brands-
What could be better than receiving a bottle of locally crafted Sonoma County hard cider as a gift?
Getting an assortment of different local ciders to sample! With so many amazing local craft hard ciders there’s no need to look further than the fruits of these Sonoma County neighbors’ labors for a gift to please the passionate artisan food/drink lover in your life.
Ethic Cider
Ethic makes hard apple ciders using fruit sourced from their own heirloom orchard and neighboring West Sonoma County orchards.
All of the fruit they use in their ciders is 100% organic and dry farmed. You can buy Ethic’s dry cider and off-dry hard ciders on their website or pick them up from them directly, in Petaluma.
There’s a three-bottle minimum purchase to ship and they apply a 20% discount to orders of 12 or more bottles.
Gravitude Cider
90% Gravenstein apples with 10% Jonathan and Rhode Island Greening apples. This is a favorite with local wine industry folks who are typically dry white wine drinkers.
Golden Rule Cider
85% Golden Delicious with 15% Jonathan, Rhode Island Greening & Gravenstein apples. Comes in 500 ml bottles. Winner of 2018 Good Food Award.
Scarlett (Limited Release) Cider
90% Gravenstein apples with 10% Jonathan and Rhode Island Greening apples fermented with wild blackberries and raspberries from local organic farms. This cider comes in 750 ml bottles and would be a perfect toasting cider thanks to the festive color. Though pink-it is not sweet! A must-try.
Devoto Orchards/Golden State Cider Co.
Formerly two separate brands, family-owned Devoto Orchards cider and Golden State cider merged in 2017. All of the cider produced by this hard cider brand now come in cans (rather than in glass bottles like their Devoto ciders came in previously). Kegs are also available.
You can purchase their four core dry and off-dry ciders-Mighty Dry, Mighty Hops, Bay Brut and Gingergrass directly from them on their website.
For their special seasonal offerings (such as their ‘Save the Gravenstein’ dry cider) or more limited Harvest Series ciders you can purchase from local retailers or enjoy at a variety of local bars/restaurants.
To find out where these are currently available, get in contact with Golden State.
Tilted Shed Ciders
You can stop by Tilted Shed’s taproom (and production facility) any Saturday between the hours of 12-5pm to purchase their craft hard ciders directly or you can order online.
Tilted Shed ciders are hard ciders for the true cider geek in your life. With renditions such as their Basque style sidra Tilted Shed ciders tend to bring a bit more funk than the other cideries on this list.
Holiday Season Events
Tilted Shed’s Sebastapol apple farm will be a part of the Holiday Along the Farm Trails program (running from Thanksgiving through January). They will also be co-hosting ‘shop and sip’ event along with their artisan producer neighbors at The Artisan Alley in Windsor in early to mid December.
Dutton Estate Winery
Dutton Estate winery makes two ciders. Though currently, there is only available for sale and that is their Hard Apple Cider made with a blend of Dutton farmed Gravenstein and Golden Delicious Apples. They also make a special Fuji apple cider (which is sold out for at least a few months a year-so try to get some before Fall is possible).
You can stop by in person at the winery to taste and buy their cider or wines or order online on their website.
Horse and Plow Winery
Horse and Plow winery makes a line of spectacular ciders which they are almost as well known for now as their wines!
Their ciders can be purchased (and some are available to sample) on site in their tasting barn or ordered online through their website.
My particular favorite ciders at Horse and Plow currently is the Hops and Honey Cider. It is not sweet, but fermented with honey and yeast at bottling which results in an in-bottle fermentation (like Champagne) and therefore a dry, sparkling cider. It’s absolutely lovely!
Why not put together a mixed case of Horse and Plow ciders and wines to please both the cider and wine lovers at your holiday table?
Other Gift Ideas for Hard Cider Lovers:
Libby Craft Brews Classic Cider Glasses
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