by Andrew Morrison | I’m pretty stoked for this. Sunday Cider has been a couple of years in the making, but now the official launch is here. Back in 2013, right after Clinton McDougall and Dane Brown opened Bestie (their well designed love letter to sausages and beer in Chinatown), they started working on another project every Sunday, the one day the popular restaurant was closed. Together with long-time friend Patrick Connelly (creative director at Make), they began to tinker at making their own cider. Hence the name: Sunday Cider.

Official verbiage:

Sunday isn’t your traditional French or English style cider. We make craft cider from 100% BC apples with the same curiosity that fuels the Pacific Northwest craft beer scene (yes, we love beer too). We’re now making nano-sized batches at a small production space in East Vancouver. Our first commercial batch will be released in November 2015 and you’ll find Sunday Cider on tap at a few choice establishments here in Vancouver.

To kick things off, they’ve got their “First Press” – a blend of 100% organic cider and dessert apples from the Similkameen valley – pouring at Bestie starting tomorrow. Soon thereafter it will flow at the Alibi Room on the eastern edge of Gastown. The cost per keg is either $125 (19.5 L) or $229 (50 L). I haven’t tried any yet (and missed out on the holiday spiced cider they served over the weekend at Raincity Chronicles), but house notes on the 6% ABV stuff read as follows:

Comes in bright and finishes dry. Big citrus notes, bittersharp apple with little hint of funk. A combination of Champagne yeast and wild ferment make this small batch cider friendly and full of character.

They’re currently hard at work on their second cider, dubbed “Hop” on account of its Galaxy and Cascade hops, which give it “bright grapefruit and slight piny notes. A little bitter, yet agreeable n’ irie.” We’ll have to wait for it though, as it’s not due to be released until some point in 2016. Check out their launch video, made by Mike Babz:

Keep track of developments at www.sundaycider.com and via their instagram.

THE LOCAL DRINKER’S ARCHIVE