The Cider Farm
Deirdre Birmingham and John Biondi want to raise the bar for craft cider in Wisconsin.
Of all the bubbly, fermented refreshments on tap in Madison, truly old-fashioned ciders are in relatively short supply — or, at least they will be until John Biondi and Deirdre Birmingham, owners of The Cider Farm, open Madison’s first dedicated cidery and taproom in mid-January.
“Some of the best ciders in America aren’t sold in Wisconsin,” Biondi says. “We want to bring in orchard-based, high-quality ciders from around the country.”
The plan is to feature The Cider Farm’s organic wares in addition to rotating taps of outside ciders they consider up to snuff, and raise the bar for craft cider in Wisconsin along the way.
Biondi is disdainful of many commercial American ciders, and he’s not alone in feeling that way. The soda-sweet stuff available in U.S. pubs and grocery stores has an international reputation of “not being very interesting and overly sweet, with flavors kind of dumped on top,” he says.
European ciders, on the other hand, bear more resemblance to dry wine than beer — some varieties are, in fact, called “apple wine” — and have complex, funky flavors you don’t find in such major brands as Angry Orchard. The problem with domestic cider is that it’s made with the types of apples we eat and use for apple juice, rather than true cider apples that have been cultivated for hundreds of years specifically for making alcoholic beverages.
“You don’t make great wines out of table grapes,” Biondi says, “and you don’t make great cider with table apples.”
Biondi and Birmingham grow English and French cider apples, prized for their acids and tannins, but too bitter to eat. They planted the first trees on their orchard in Mineral Point in 2003 and brewed their first batch of ciders in 2015. Though Cider Farm cider is currently available in bottles and on draft lines throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, they haven’t had a storefront until now.
Inside Brennan’s Cellars on the west side, the location will include a new production facility and 55-seat tasting room, plus an outside seating area that will open next summer, as well as a seasonal greenhouse. The couple originally intended to open in November, but it took longer than expected to find a contractor and finalize the design, so they postponed opening until after the holidays.
They also plan on rolling out a menu of artisan cheese and charcuterie boards, pork dishes, and cheese sandwiches to complement the ciders.
“We’re going to steer clear from burgers and fries and that typical beer-pub menu,” Biondi says. “We’re looking at doing a lot of local, regional foods because some of the best cheesemakers in America are within a 30-mile radius of our farm.”
Similar cideries are opening across the country. Earlier this year, the United States Association of Cider Makers reported an increase from 146 to 820 registered cideries since 2010. Lost Valley Cider Co., Milwaukee’s first hard cider bar, opened in June 2016.
Given the ubiquity of craft beer bars in and around Madison, Biondi is banking on locals thirsting for something outside the realm of IPAs, stouts and sour beers. He considers the Cider Farm very much a part of the burgeoning craft cider movement, embracing old-world ingredients, techniques and flavors, and he’s excited to share the experience with customers.
“Craft ciders are dry, complex, good with food,” he says. “We’re trying to bring that kind of cider into the larger awareness here in Madison.”
The Cider Farm Tap Room
8210 Watts Rd.; 608-219-4279; theciderfarm.com
