Minnesota Hard Cider Makers Form Guild, Organize Minnesota Cider Week

Minneapolis, MN, April 19, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Cider producers from across the state have come together to establish the Minnesota Cider Guild. The newly organized guild brings together licensed cider producers for the purpose of advancing, promoting, and showcasing quality Minnesota-made cider. At present, there are a total of 16 cider producers in Minnesota and several cideries-in-planning. The Minnesota Cider Guild was officially formed on April 3rd at their first general membership meeting held at Republic on Seven Corners in Minneapolis. Currently the guild has 12 members comprised of 9 cider makers and 3 cideries-in-planning. Future plans are to expand guild membership to include apple growers and cider enthusiasts of all kinds.

“The Minnesota cider industry is very young, with the majority of cider makers launching their businesses within the last four years,” says Gretchen Perbix, guild president. “We have tremendous support among our local consumer audiences, so by bringing together our collective ideas and talents, we will be able to continue to build interest, momentum, and consumption of our local ciders.”

The first order of business for the guild is to organize the 2017 Minnesota Cider Week, June 5 – 10, a week-long celebration of cider with multiple events at many different venues throughout the Twin Cities. The celebration, originally established as “Minneapolis Cider Week,” was the brainchild of Town Hall Tap in Minneapolis, back in 2010, before the cider craze began. “Town Hall Tap saw the future of cider, long before even we cider makers did,” says Perbix. “Now they have handed over the reins to the Minnesota Cider Guild to take it to the next level, and we are really appreciative for all of their support.”

Plans are still in progress for all of the events during Minnesota Cider Week, which will include cider pairing dinners at participating restaurants, cider trivia at participating entertainment venues, opportunities for home brewers to enter their ciders in competitions to earn bragging rights and fun prizes. The festivities will conclude on Saturday June 10 with the Minnesota Craft Cider Festival, a cider-tasting with up to 50 different ciders from around the world, to be held at Red River Kitchen at City House in St. Paul. City House is an historic Elevator and Sackhouse, renovated into a public pavilion located on the scenic Mississippi river in downtown St. Paul. Tickets for the Minnesota Cider Festival are $30 and can be purchased online via the guild’s website MnCiderGuild.org

The Minnesota Cider Guild is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting Minnesota Cider.