New draft cider house opening in Toronto! with an ORCHARD!

Like many places in North America, draft cider in Ontario, Canada has seen a real boost in sales and love recently. A popular traditional beverage for many years in England, draft cider is really only becoming popular in the USA and Canada more recently (although our ancestors drank it in place of water, more or less). Super sweet bottled commercial varieties like Magner's are now being augmented by drier varieties from companies like Angry Orchard (owned by Samuel Adams, the beer brewer in Boston, MA), Woodchuck, and a number of beer makers eager to get in on the cider boom (like Stella Artois which recently introduced its Cidre to rave reviews).

But draft cider is a whole different thing: designed to appeal to foodies and people who like to eat out at bespoke taverns and breweries. Toronto's new Brickworks Ciderhouse will be capitalizing on this growing trend. But what is REALLY exciting is that existing laws require any such establishment (with a retail store) to have five acres of orchard fruit trees in production attached to the property. It will take five years for trees to become productive, so the Brickworks Ciderhouse is currently producing its cider at a local cider. But the CEO Chris Noll is optimistic that an orchard will happen: ""We are currently working with the city to try and make this a reality," he says. "Just Imagine, apple picking in downtown Toronto."

Just imagine! Maybe more cities will follow suit!!! (Albany, NY, are you listening? Maybe Nine Pin Cider can plant some trees along the Hudson...)