CEDAR DRAW CIDER
How It's Made
Read below and learn about how to make fresh cider and sodas from our Cider Maker Emily!
Emily
CIDER MAKER AND OWNER
In 2016 Emily was looking for a way to utilize all the Italian plums growing on their property when she had an idea to ferment their juice into a tasty beverage. She began experimenting with cider fermentation and the idea for Cedar Draw Cider was born.
As an oncology nurse for 20 years, Emily was looking for an outlet for her creativity and a way to provide a farm to table experience for people. She completed a cidermaking course in 2018 and sold her first keg in May of 2019. Her husband John, who let Emily pursue this crazy dream, no questions asked, soon jumped on board taking care of tasting room sales and distribution.
What Emily loves most about cidermaking is the endless variety of ciders she can create. "I enjoy experimenting with new flavors using different yeasts, local in season fruit, and sometimes a mead (fermented honey wine) or two, and rotating them through our tap room."
The people who visit never get bored as the lineup is always changing!
Emily uses fresh-picked apples, plums and pears from our orchard, in addition to NW fresh-pressed apple juice and other locally picked fruit to create our rotation of ciders. She then adds carefully selected yeast and sometimes other fruit to begin the 2-3 week fermentation process. Some of the ciders, like a wine, need to be aged for several months, while others can be drank right away. For the best selection of our ciders come visit our tasting room.
We have two hand-crafted sodas: strawberry cream and root beer. The strawberry cream is made with real strawberry concentrate and no artificial flavors or additives. The secret to our outrageously good root beer is our goal to make it taste like a root beer barrel! It’s strong, lightly carbonated, and sweet (but not too sweet). It makes the most delicious floats, especially with Cloverleaf Creamery (also from Buhl) ice cream, which we serve soda and cider floats in the summertime with.
