Celebrate Fall Flavors at the Southwest Cider Festival

In just one year, three craft cideries have opened in Arizona. They’re part of a national rise in popularity for this new take on an ages old beverage. Craft cideries are developing new techniques for cider making and experimenting with styles and culinary collaborations that pushing boundaries on what traditional cider flavors. Now, Arizona craft cideries are joining together to host an inaugural Southwest Cider Festival on Saturday, November 10 where people can sample and learn about craft ciders from Arizona, California and other neighboring states. The event will be at Cider Corps in Downtown Mesa.

“People are so interested to learn about and experiment with cider and that’s what this event is all about – a chance for everyone to continue to learn, sample and collaborate,” said festival organizer Josh Duren.

Duren and his brother Jason founded Cider Corps in Downtown Mesa one year ago. When they opened, they didn’t know what to expect. The response was resounding and almost instantaneous. They cidery served 2,600 people on opening day. In the year since the brothers have put nearly 70 different cider styles on tap and helped to define the emerging craft cider market which now includes Stoic Cider in Prescott and Crush Craft Cider in Phoenix.

At the Southwest Cider Fest guests will have the chance to sample cider from more than a dozen craft cideries from Arizona, California, Texas, Colorado, Washington and New York as well as enjoy bites from local food trucks and live music. A portion of all tickets sales will go to Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization supporting military families in our communities.

The Southwest Cider Festival will take place on Saturday, November 10 from 1 – 6 p.m. at Cider Corps in Downtown Mesa (31 S. Robson).  Tickets are $50 and include up to 20 samples of ciders and a $5 voucher for food at one of several food truck vendors. More details about the festival are on its Facebook page.