Kristy Rhyason and Nathan Smith are the co-directors of yegcider. You can read our bios on the About Us page. We started making cider in 2015 and began documenting it as yegcider in 2016. We are in the process of launching a startup cidery in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
YEG is the airport code for Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, but it’s also so much more in the local culture. We use #yeg as a way to connect and communicate with our communities. We talk about the #yegwx (weather in Edmonton) and share recipes on #yegfood. It reflects a truly local experience and we know that we can connect to others through developing a movement around #yegcider.
You can pronounce yegcider like egg with a ‘y’ in front or spell it out like y-e-g-cider. We use both.
Nathan inherited some wine making equipment and we started there. We knew we would have better results if we could use fresh ingredients and we wanted to use local flavours, so we switched to cider. We are much better cidermakers than winemakers anyway. Read more in our Cider Manifesto.
Our province is full of amazing fruit! Despite what people sometimes think, there is an abundance of delicious cider ingredients available on the Prairies. In our own neighbourhood we saw so many apples just rotting on the trees; the fruit is so abundant that people often don’t know what to do with it all. We want to help take that fruit that would normally be wasted and give it new life – as cider! Read more in our Cider Manifesto.
Our commitment is to embracing local – flavours, culture and producers! We rescue unwanted fruit from our neighbours. We respectfully forage in the river valley. We buy other ingredients as locally as possible. All the ciders we make honour Prairie flavours and culture. Read more in our Cider Manifesto.
Not yet, but stay tuned. We have spent the last 3 years practicing and perfecting our craft. We are hoping to launch a product to market by Summer 2019. Subscribe to our cider news if you want to receive email updates when we launch!
We are in the startup phase, but these things take an often unpredictable amount of time. Meanwhile, we are taking our time to develop our craft and raise the profile of cider in Alberta. We are hoping to launch a product to market by Summer 2019. Subscribe to our cider news if you want to receive email updates when we launch!
We would love to put your unwanted fruit to use! We have been overwhelmed with requests to pick fruit and are almost full for scheduled fruit pickings. If you can harvest it yourself, send us a message to find out where to drop it off. If you need help picking, send us a message and we will see what we can do!
It’s best to let your fruit ripen fully before picking it! We’ve written a blog post to give you some tips on how to tell if your fruit is ripe.
Yes! Because we are crushing and pressing the apples for cider, cosmetic issues like some bruising isn’t a problem. However, we cannot use fruit that is rotting, or has broken skin.
LOL. We are business partners and we live together, but are not a couple. Think more Will & Grace, than Ross & Rachel.