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Okanagan-Taste

Celebrate cider this month

Get ready for 10 days of COVID-friendly B.C. cider celebrations from May 20-30.

While tB.C. Cider Week has been scaled back, the show must go on.

The purpose of this 10-day festival, which was founded in 2016, is to connect cider fans with cider-makers across the province. Taste a new cider, visit a cider taproom or buy a supply of cider online.

Here in the Okanagan, you can take part in the Okanagan Cider Trail Challenge at six cideries. Fill up your trail card and receive 25% off any purchase.

Cards are available at these participating cideries, and if you do collect all six stamps, you’ll get the discount:

  • BX Press Cidery and Orchard, Vernon; try the Ginny, gin botanical cider
  • Upside Cidery, Kelowna; try the Bourbon Barrel aged Peach cider
  • Scenic Road Cider, Kelowna; try the Mama Beary, berry-infused cider
  • Truck 59 Cider House, West Kelowna; try the Baptism by Firetruck, a collaboration with The Hatch winery
  • Millionaires’ Row Cider Co., Summerland; try the Makin’ a Mint, mint and lemon-flavoured cider
  • Nomad Cider, Summerland; try the Pinot Noir barrel cider

Cider has come a long way since you snuck a bottle – probably a rather sweet one – from the fridge in your parents’ basement. If you haven’t revisited it since your youth, your more sophisticated adult taste buds might be pleasantly surprised at options from dry, to hoppy, traditional and maybe even a bit experimental.

Ciders are a great option for celebrations if you need a break from sparkling wine, as you’ll find more of them in larger format, stylish bottles, not just small bottles and cans, so you can still have a bit of a flourish with a pour.

They’re also generally very food friendly pair with dishes that may not always work with wine. Apple pie and cider? Perfection. A brunch of waffles and fruit salad? Almost any cider is a great choice.

While we have months to go before the next holiday turkey dinner, a selection of ciders at Thanksgiving should definitely be on your sips to try list.

And of course, this barbecue season have a few ciders on standby in the fridge or cooler along with your favourite local craft beers.

Bonus? If you head to a local cidery, you’ll probably be surrounded by beautiful orchards of apple and/or pear trees for some excellent outdoor insta-worthy photos. Just ask if you can explore before you cozy up to a tree for a #ciderselfie.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.



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About the Author

A creative thinker with more than two decades of experience in communications, Allison is an early adopter of social and digital media, bringing years of work in traditional media to the new frontier of digital engagement marketing through her company, All She Wrote.

She is the winner of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association's 2011 and 2012 awards for Social Media Initiative, an International LERN award for marketing, and the 2014 Penticton Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Hospitality/Tourism.

Allison has amassed a following on multiple social networks of more than 30,000, frequently writes and about social media, food and libations as well as travel and events, and through her networks, she led a successful bid to bring the Wine Bloggers Conference to Penticton in June 2013, one of the largest social media wine events in the world, generating 31 million social media impressions, $1 million in earned media, and an estimated ongoing economic impact of $2 million.

In 2014, she held the first Canadian Wine Tourism Summit to spark conversation about the potential for wine tourism in Canada as a year-round economic driver.

Allison contributes epicurean content to several publications, has been a judge for several wine and food competitions, and has earned her advanced certificate from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

In her spare time, she has deep, meaningful conversations with her cats.

She can be reached at [email protected]



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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