Hard cider brewery comes to northeast Minneapolis with Sociable Cider Werks

[lsanderson]

As Minnesota’s craft-beer landscape grows faster than your holiday-season waistline, the local hard cider scene has stayed undesirably thin. However, Wade Thompson and Jim Watkins are throwing their hats into the bushel with Sociable Cider Werks, a new cidery in brewery-fertile northeast Minneapolis.

“Being in the neighborhood that we are, there are a lot of great breweries around, so we’re bringing something different to the experience,” Thompson said last month.

While the duo’s hard ciders and apple graffs (a mixture of beer wort and cider) aren’t quite finished, they quietly opened their 1,100-square-foot taproom on Black Friday, offering nano-batch beers brewed on a two-barrel system. Until Sociable’s ciders are officially ready in late December or early January, Thompson said it’s more of a soft opening.

Once the Northeast cider house is fully functioning, the plan is to have six to eight taps with a selection of two or three graffs, plus a few small-run, taproom-only beers. Sociable’s core flavors will be a dry apple graff called Freewheeler, and Broken Spoke, an apple graff/milk stout mash-up. “Nobody’s really been doing graffs before, so there’s a lot of different directions you can take this stuff, and we’re pretty excited to explore it,” Thompson said.

Thompson said graffs usually take about two months to produce, with a secondary aging process that lasts four to six weeks. He hopes to add a canning line in late January and distribute apple-based blends.

Located at 1500 NE. Fillmore St., just blocks from 612Brew and Indeed Brewing, it stands to reason that Sociable Cider Werks, with its 900-square-foot patio and bocce court, could become a regular stop on the popular northeast Minneapolis taproom tour. From the sounds of it, both Thompson and Watkins have been making microbrew excursions themselves. “Jim and I have been living in Northeast for the past three, four years, so we’ve been hitting up all those places since they’ve been opening,” Thompson said.

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/dining/234634801.html

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

MN apples y/n?

K.

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

In a world of made-from-concentrate, high-sugar, low-alcohol products, we just didn't think it was right to call our products a cider. Enter the apple graff: A dry, crisp, effervescent product made from the fermented blend of locally sourced apples and malt mashed right here in the Minneapolis "Brew District."

When drinking a Sociable graff expect a 7-9% ABV product with a subdued sweetness that will put your taste buds into overdrive while they sort out the flavors from the hops, grains, spices and a blend of the very best apple varieties in the midwest including Haralson, Honeycrisp and SweeTango(r). http://sociablecider.com/apple-graff-ciders/

Freewheeler

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Freewheeler is the product in our lineup most like a traditional European cider. This dry graff is a fermented blend of the Midwest's best apples with just a touch of lightly hopped cane sorghum to add body and structure. It is light, crisp and despite being crafted from a blend of Haralson, Honeycrisp, Sweetango and Topaz apples, the apple notes are subtle and enjoyable. This 7.5% ABV product is never too sweet or filling...the perfect start to any night. Go ahead and be a freewheeler!

Broken Spoke

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Broken Spoke is crafted using a blend of the Midwest's best apples and a hearty milk stout brew that we then ferment using a traditional English ale yeast. When you take your first swallow of Broken Spoke you will immediately taste the spicy chocolate and roasted toffee aromas typical of a stout style beer. Those flavors quickly transition to the crispness of a cider with some very subtle lingering sweetness from the unfermented lactic sugars. At 7.5% ABV we are sure this Broken Spoke will be one you'll actually enjoy.

Re: Broken Spoke

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

All righty then. Let's go.

K.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

Something to look forward to on our next trip to the Twin Cities.

Re: Broken Spoke

[bkremser.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to check SCW out, so would like to join you if you go.

Re: Broken Spoke

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I'm in.

B

Re: Broken Spoke

[bkremser.livejournal.com]

Tap Room hours are: TH & F 4-10 p.m., SAT Noon-10 p.m.

Re: Broken Spoke

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Dec 23? That's the next opportunity for both of us to go.

K.

Re: Broken Spoke

[bkremser.livejournal.com]

Doesn't work for me. I'm off to Oregon on Dec. 22 for a week, then to Colorado skiing the following week. Am back on Jan. 5 and am totally open after that.