WHO WE ARE
The Nova Scotia Cider Association is your hub for local cider in Nova Scotia. With great pride and love for our province’s world-famous apples and exceptional ciders, we work to connect the local community as well as visiting tourists with our local apple growers, cideries, and cider retailers. Although Nova Scotia has a long history of apple growing, in recent years there has been an exciting resurgence of craft cider in the province. We look forward to promoting local ciders in innovative and engaging ways, such as the Nova Scotia Cider Route.
ABOUT NOVA SCOTIA CIDER
Nova Scotia Ciders are crafted from 100% fresh, delicious Nova Scotia apples. Rooted in place, our orchards are nurtured by the world’s most powerful tides from the Bay of Fundy. A long growing season means hot days and cool nights that maintain crisp acidity. The Nova Scotia cider industry is exploding with flavour and styles to suit a variety of tastes. And while the industry is still in its infancy, we are working hard to create distinctive and unique ciders that cider lovers around the world will enjoy! Meet our members and explore and taste the deliciousness of a growing array of Nova Scotia ciders.
Annapolis Cider Company
Tucked neatly along Main Street in downtown Wolfville, we were founded in 2016 to produce premium ciders from the highest quality fruit grown nearby in the Annapolis Valley. A diverse selection of ciders reflect our commitment to minimal intervention, and the practice of long, cool fermentations of unique cider and heritage apples varieties.
Beausoleil Farmstead
Nova Scotia’s first vinous cidery, we create artisanal cider and wine blends made from traditional apple varieties and cool climate grapes. Beausoleil Farmstead offers unique expressions of extraordinary Annapolis Valley fruit and an incomparable farm-to-glass experience with our AirBNB property nestled on our working vineyard.
Chain Yard Cider
Halifax’s first urban cidery – inspired by the city dedicated to making awesome, approachable, unique and traditional ciders made from 100% Nova Scotia apples. Enjoy flights and pints of our cider made on site, and from across Canada and the world in our taproom.
East Coast Cider Company
In the picturesque fort town of Annapolis Royal, you’ll discover Annapolis Brewing Company’s sister company, East Coast Cider where they capture all the goodness and deliciousness of the Annapolis Valley in its 100% Nova Scotia apple ciders.
Island Folk Cider
Like our bold palette and playful illustrations, we’re coloured with the cheeky zing of our island folk. Locally owned and operated, we celebrate our roots and rich and radical culture with a range of traditional and unusual ciders, proudly brewed with 100% Nova Scotia apples.
islandfolkcider.ca
Hennigar’s Cider & Farm Market
Hennigar’s Heritage Cider, a secret blend of apples from the family’s orchards, is crisp, lightly sweet and thirst quenching. Find it at Hennigar’s Farm Market, a ‘must-stop’ destination in the valley since the 1950’s.
Lake City Cider
A living love letter to Dartmouth, Lake City Cider works closely with Stirling Fruit Farms to select its proprietary blend of apples. Fresh juice is then fermented, filtered and bottled/canned on site where patrons can taste a rotating array of its premium ciders overlooking Portland Street.
Maritime Express Cider
An award-winning cidery and taproom located in the former iconic railway hotel the heart of Kentville. Premium quality, small batch ciders are crafted with the highest quality fusion of sweet, sharp and bitter flavours, locally pressed, and cold-fermented underneath the taproom’s stone floors.
Meander River Farm & Brewery
This mixed farm operation with onsite brewery and cidery specializes in hops, lavender and craft beverages where seasonal brews and ciders have been lovingly crafted and bottled since 2013 in Ashdale, Hants County.
Elderkin’s Cider Co. & Farm Market
Family owned and operated since the 1760’s, the family now grows tree fruits such as apples, pears, peaches, and cherries. Proud to offer a wide range of ciders crafted on site. They include our Traditional Cider, crab apple cider, maple infused cider and cranberry cider.
Moonrise Ridge
Our premium, all-natural hand-crafted ciders are lovingly made in small batches using only Nova Scotia fruit in the Annapolis Valley where fertile soil provides the perfect growing conditions. Taste the difference.
Noggins Cider
Noggins farm crafted cider begins first and foremost with our own apple orchards, growing for 250 years in Greenwich. From heirloom varieties like Cox Orange Pippin to new crowd favourites like Gala and Honeycrisp, we are proud of our apples and delicious ciders with unforgettable flavours.
Red Spruce Farm
Farming with the land in Pictou County, we are developing an apple orchard focused around producing cider in a biologically balanced layout selecting and growing tree stock for cider specific apples. Cider tap open and flowing by 2025.
Saltbox Brewing
Our focus is on distintive taste and aroma using local ingredients. Come visit scenic Mahone Bay, for a visit to Saltbox, where every cider has a story!
Sea Level Brewing
As Nova Scotia’s first estate brewery on our family farm in Sheffield Mills, we strive to produce an approachable taste to quality, micro brewed craft beers and ciders, providing distinguished and unique flavours to each truly handcrafted recipe.
Spurr Brothers
Established in 1875, Shippy Spurr began growing apples, hay and grains on 62 acres of land, quickly becoming a leading apple exporter and advocate. The family’s fifth generation continues a legacy of highest quality products with a new range of ciders.
Wild
We create truly unique ciders. Apples are handpicked from biodiverse orchards then pressed, fermented, aged, blended and bottled on-site. Taste the Annapolis Valley in a bottle.
Paddy’s Brewpub
Enjoy Fitz’s Strong Country Cider on tap at Paddy’s Brewpub. A traditional apfelwein cider is cold fermented from 100% local apples and has a refreshing finish.
Pay Day Cider
From the heart of the Annapolis Valley, PayDay Cider offers crisp, authentic local ciders, embodying Nova Scotia's rich apple heritage. Hand-picked apples, perfectly fermented, captures Atlantic Canada's invigorating spirit. Visit our Cider House in Canning to experience the refreshing essence of our apple heartland.
THE DELICIOUSNESS OF 100% NOVA SCOTIAN APPLES
CANADA’S OLDEST APPLE GROWING REGION
We’ve been growing apples for centuries. First cultivated by early French settlers in the Annapolis Valley, the ‘king of fruits’ were planted trees as far back as 1633. We are Canada’s oldest apple growing region, and quite possibly North America's...
Apples became an important agricultural crop because they provided alcohol for life on the harsh frontier. Apple cultivation expanded westward, thanks in part to the Hudson’s Bay Company who planted apple trees at each of its forts across Canada where the climate was suitable.
The dyke system in the Annapolis Valley established by the early French settlers ultimately created soils rich in nutrients while protecting the land from salt water flooding from the Bay of Fundy. By the 19th century into the early 20th century, Nova Scotia jumped onto the world stage as a preferred purveyor of apples to Britain owing to its climatic and geographical advantage. And though the industry fell on hard times following WWII, and lost its preferred trading status with Britain, it has experienced a resurgence since the 1990’s with the introduction of the Honeycrisp apple. And the rest is history!
A PERFECT MICROCLIMATE AND TERROIR
Naturally, great cider begins with great fruit. And though many early heirloom varieties like Pomme Grise, Tolman Sweet, Chebucto Beauty, and Gillyflower have faded away, a renaissance is occurring not only in apple growing but in cider making.
Nova Scotia’s apple industry continues to enjoy significant geographical advantages, as the highlands of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley to the north and south continue to shut out the maritime fogs and northwest winds. Along with the cooling effects from the nearby Bay of Fundy, the ‘Valley’ enjoys more hours of sunshine without getting too hot, and a longer growing season than most places in the Atlantic Provinces creating a perfect ecosystem or terroir, for growing beautiful apples.
Nova Scotia’s cider makers are crafting beautiful and distinctive ciders from an exciting array of apple varieties. Some ciders are made from dessert apple varieties like Gala, Northern Spy, Honeycrisp, Gravenstein, and MacIntosh, while others use heirloom varieties like Ribston, Golden Russet, and Cox Orange Pippin. Still or sparkling ciders come in a myriad of flavours and styles.
Our emerging industry is working to shape and establish distinctive and delicious ciders for cider lovers around the world. Still or sparkling ciders come in a myriad of flavours and styles.
Cider
Cider is the fermented juice of apples with no other added fruit or botanical adjuncts. Flavours can range from dry to sweet and are typically clean, crisp, fruity and have varying degrees of sweetness and acidity.
Perry
Perry is the fermented juice of pears with no other added fruit or botanical adjuncts and like its cider sister, flavours are derived from the pear varieties used, and possibly through the choice of yeast and production method.
Cider Blends
The explosion of flavours in cider continues as cider makers experiment blending a variety of fruits and berries, honey and hops, spices and wine along with cider. Balancing the various components in the blend, cider makers strive for an underlying cider character layered with its complementary flavour(s).
Specialty Ciders
Less common than other styles of cider because they use special techniques or production methods, specialty ciders include rosé cider, pétillant naturel, low/zero alcohol cider, barrel fermented/aged cider, traditional method cider, fortified cider, and ice cider.