Cideries come to the Point

By Meg Olson

Brewster’s Fine Foods is presenting a dinner and tasting highlighting the finest of farmhouse ciders from four farms in three different countries.

“It’s pretty spectacular,” said Bruce Wright, co-owner of JK’s Scrumpy Cider and a new arrival in Point Roberts, describing the lineup of eight hard ciders. “It should be a wonderful night.”

While cider is enjoying a renaissance, Wright pointed out that more and more cider is made from concentrate. “Eighty percent of the juice consumed here is concentrate from China,” he said. “The U.S. is losing a tremendous number of orchards.”

All of the ciders that will be featured at the Tuesday, March 17 cider pairing dinner come from independent orchards and are produced on the farm, Wright said. JK’s Scrumpy Cider comes from Almar Farm in Michigan, and the dinner will present two of the company’s ciders. “We make everything on the farm. We bottle on the farm. We’ve done it right,” he said. JK’s Scrumpy Ciders contain only apple juice and yeast and are organic. For more information, go to organicscrumpy.com.

Three ciders come from Thistly Cross Ciders in Scotland. “They sell my cider in Scotland and I bring their cider here,” Wright said. Thistly Cross artist turned cider maker Peter Stuart will attend the dinner and join Wright in sharing what’s special about single-orchard farmhouse ciders. (thistlycrosscider.co.uk)

The Sheppy family of Somerset in the United Kingdom has been growing apples and making cider for 200 years. The dinner will feature two ciders from Sheppy’s Cider. “Somerset is one of the classic regions in the world for cider,” Wright said. (sheppyscider.com)

Brewster’s owner Sandra Procter said she is building a menu around the ciders that will include Delice de Bourgogne-stuffed warm figs, cider pork, curry ginger chicken, pear arugula salad and butternut squash soup. “The food will pair very nicely with the cider,” she said.

For the finale, Wright said they will serve ice cider from Eden Orchards in Vermont. The dessert cider is made by setting totes of juice out in winter and allowing the freezing weather to intensify the juice as water freezes out of it. The resulting concentrate is then fermented and bottled. “The taste is unbelievable,” Wright said. (edenicecider.com)

To make reservations for the March 17 event, call Brewster’s Fine Foods at 945-4545.