#cider bars

Swinging Doors — Los Angeles’s Cider Scene on Johnny Appleseed Day

Craft Hard Cider Bars Serve Up Drink to a Growing Number of Fans

(NBCnews.com) “As the craft beer boom matures, novelty-seeking connoisseurs are on the hunt for more esoteric libations.Discerning drinkers and young adults put off by the bitter, hop-heavy flavor profiles popular among craft brewers today have rediscovered hard cider. And the trend bears all the trappings of the microbrewery culture: A focus on local ingredients, small-batch production and, in a growing number of American cities, bars where cider — not beer — is the star of the show."I think it's just great for the category, and opens up people's eyes to what cider is," said Aaron Zacharias, managing partner of the Northman Cider Bar, which opened in Chicago last month. Zacharias said the Northman has 19 draft lines and a firkin (a kind of keg) dedicated to cider, plus 80 ciders available by the bottle or can.

"I think it's an underserved market, and we can tell by the amount of customers coming in," said Patrick Jaouen, co-owner of Mullers Cider House in Rochester, N.Y., which opened in January.”

Craft cider bar owners have a complicated relationship with Big Cider. While they might dismiss mainstream brands as too sweet or lacking in complexity, they admit that the marketing and distribution resources poured into the cider category by larger players have benefitted them.

In relative terms, the cider category is still tiny — around $436 million, according to market research firm IRI. That's a drop in the keg compared to the $105.9 billion Americans spent on beer last year, or even the $22.3 billion of that total spent on craft beer.

But the rise of the cider category has been meteoric, with an annualized growth rate of just over 27 percent for the past five years, according to market research firm IBISWorld.

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