Residents from Coldstream have a new cider spot in their area.
Tony’s Craft Cidery opened its doors for the first time recently with a soft opening where more than 50 people came in for some free samples.
The cidery can be found at 6167 Highway 6 in Lavington, where Tony Nijjar and his family have owned their farm for the past 15 years. Two years ago they constructed the building and patio that houses the cidery, and since then they’ve been busy preparing for their opening.
Nijjar’s daughter, Tanya, learning the tricks of the cider-making trade at Brock University. Three of her creations have made it out of the trial stage and into bottles that can be purchased at the cidery.
Tanya started out with a dry cider, aptly named O.G. Dry. She then created a sweeter apple blend called Bippity Bop.
“It’s a totally different flavour,” she said. “It kind of has some acidic end notes so it’s not super sweet.”
Lastly there’s the Cherry Bomb - which, as the name suggests, is heavy on the cherry.
“I call it semi-sweet; it has some nutty undertones to it.”
Tanya also gave out samples of a pear-flavoured cider, and depending on its popularity it could soon be the next flavour on on the shelves. She also has a cardamom flavour in the works and a Sangria cider saved up for summer.
Tony’s Cidery will be open for another month or so to hold free tastings in preparation for a grand opening in the spring of 2020.
Tanya plans to get her product out to a number of events next year, and the cidery will have a food truck and picnic area, inviting customers to stay a while.
“We’re going to do end of March if it’s warm enough,” said Nijjar. “Basically as soon as it gets warm, and by then we’re going to have our patio done and everything.”
“In the spring I want to keep nice and busy,” she said.
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