The growth of the cider market continues to be recognized in the press, this time with a good article by Harry Esteve at Oregonlive.com: Cider takes off as Oregon’s latest boutique alcohol trend
Caleb Williams, one of our attorneys who represents cideries, was fortunate to attend CiderCon 2014 in Chicago earlier this year and nearly 100 cideries from across North America were represented. During his time there, Caleb found that “according to veterans in the craft beer industry that are now making cider, the market is just beginning to be tapped. Almost a quarter of the cideries represented at CiderCon were still in the planning stage, not yet producing cider for the public. It was clear from the conversations I had with cidermakers from around the country that cideries in Oregon such as Wandering Aengus, E.Z. Orchards, and Reverend Nat’s are leaders in the industry, both in quality and innovation.”
As touched upon in Esteve’s article, this must partly be due to the consumer in Oregon who favors local, creative beverages. These consumers have grown up with beers from the neighborhood brewery and wines from the vineyard just outside the city. With cider just recently taking up space on store shelves and taps in bars and growler fill stations, Oregon cideries are preparing for solid growth in the coming years.