LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2021

A guide to cider

What’s your style? Classically dry, pleasingly sweet or the out-of-the-ordinary new twists coming to market? No matter how you love to sip, cider has gone from niche to necessity with broad appeal. Here’s your essential guide to what’s new and how to pair it with food and even use it in cocktails.

Ontario’s cidermakers are getting more creative than ever before. Our province grows the most apples in the country, so producers are able to source truckloads of fresh juice from farmers and then make their cider in places you’d never expect. You’ll find traditionalists making cider in terroir-driven organic orchards and vineyards, while others are fermenting juice in the basement of a downtown restaurant, a corner of a brewery or a sprawling barrelhouse dedicated to cider. No matter where they make it, the flavour comes down to one thing: the juice. The perfect blend of apples, from sharp to bitter to sweet, gives the cider its body, tannins and balanced flavours. Ontario boasts all of these thanks to our Great Lakes—their cooling effects protect apple harvests and nurture intense, vibrant fruit.

By Crystal & Tara Luxmore PHOTOGRAPHY BY rob fiocca

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AUTUMN 2021 FOOD & DRINK