4 Cideries to Try for Idaho Wine and Cider Month
Photos Courtesy of Kimberlee Miller
Raise your glass to local!
Story by Lex Nelson
In case you still need another excuse to sit down with a cold glass of hard cider, we have one for you! June is Idaho Wine and Cider Month, so it’s an ideal time to sip on something delicious and support a local business at the same time. Here are four Idaho cideries to seek out before the month is through.
Meriwether Cider (Garden City)
Meriwether is a family-run hard cider mecca with two locations: a Chinden Boulevard flagship in Garden City and a downtown Boise ciderhouse on 9th Street. Meriwether recently brought back its famous Grilled Cheese and Cider Nights in collaboration with the food truck Crisp, and regularly hosts specials and events. (Keep an eye on their Facebook page for upcoming offerings.) To celebrate with Meriwether, order a hard cider slushy on the Garden City patio or pick up a bottle of the latest cider in its collaboration series: Apricot Sage, featuring Purple Sage Farms’ signature herb. It’s a perfect balance of sweet and tart, with lingering notes of stone fruit and cinnamon.
Stack Rock Cidery (Caldwell)
Peaceful Belly Farm in Caldwell was forced to close its wine and cider tasting room/farm-to-table restaurant, Vine and Branch Ranch, last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But this month, it’s turning things around! The rebranded “Cider House and Farm Cafe” will open Friday, June 25, in the same space. There, diners will find the farm’s signature Stack Rock Cidery drinks on tap along with bites from former The Modern chef Nate Whitley. Peacefully Belly owners Josie and Clay Erskine ferment their cider on site, and offer six varieties ranging from Back Country Wild-Fermented to River Trip.
Cedar Draw Cider (Buhl)
The three-year-old “tree-to-table nanocidery” Cedar Draw Cider is located off Highway 30 in Buhl, and offers four small-batch ciders made with locally sourced ingredients, including fruit from the on-site farm. Its 2019 Summer Freckle, Le Fleur, Spice Queen, and War Worthy ciders are available in the tasting room on Thursdays from 5-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 3-9 p.m., or at select locations around the state. We taste-tested a bottle of War Worthy, an Idaho-grown quince cider purchased from the Meridian Boise Co-op location. It was light and effervescent with an addictive zing.
Cider Sisters Cider (Boise)
The mysterious and elusive Cider Sisters brand is the brainchild of self-proclaimed “cider purists, always seeking the Lost Carboy, that carrier of dreams and good taste.” The cidery’s 2019 Lost Carboy is the latest version of its signature dry sparkling cider, named for a batch that disappeared (read the legend here). To find a bottle for Idaho Wine and Cider Month, head to one Cider Sisters’ select locations — including Bar Gernika and the North End Boise Co-op — before the limited supply runs out.
