LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2015

LOCAL  THE ART OF ARTISANS

POMMIES

In case you hadn’t noticed, Ontario is in the midst of a cider boom. “No wonder!” says Nick Sutcliffe. “Because of the climate, Ontario grows the best apples for cider in the world. And the apple farmers are happy. After years of pulling trees out, they’re planting again, all because of cider.”    The Sutcliffes are fairly new to cider-making. In 2011, they both left successful careers in Toronto (he was in sales, she was in communications) and moved to Caledon, Ont., to pursue their dream. Nick, an Englishman, had always been a cider drinker. Making it was a different matter. “So I went down to Waupoos,” he explains, “and sat on the terrace of the County Cider Company with the owner, Grant Howes, and we worked out a recipe. He trained me, helped out with everything. Cider makers are very supportive.”    The recipe involves five kinds of apple all grown in the Collingwood area (last year, they got through 1½ million pounds). They use a white wine yeast to ferment the crystal-clear juice, then carbonate it like beer. The result is crisp, clean and dry—well, rela- tively dry. Pommies was drier than most when they first made it; now they’ve added a second cider called Farmhouse, made with a saison beer yeast. It’s much drier, more edgy—a very grown-up cider that tastes a bit like an English scrumpy.    “Cider’s where craft brewing was 15 years ago,” says Nick. “Just give us another decade!” NICK AND LINDSAY SUTCLIFFE www.pommies.com

Pommies Dry Cider LCBO 244897, 4 pk, $12.95

POMMIES USES ONLY ONTARIO APPLES

CLEAN AND CRISP, REFRESHING AND GLUTEN-FREE

Not too sweet, not too dry, exceptionally refreshing, Pommies is made from Ida Red and Northern Spy for crispness, Gala and Empire for fresh apple flavour, and Golden Delicious for sweetness. What could be more welcome on a thirsty autumn afternoon? Like most cider, it’s also gluten-free.

PORTRAIT BY FIONA TUDOR-PRICE; APPLES: STOCK PHOTO © AARON-H

122  FOOD & DRI NK AUTUMN 2015