Supreme Core Craft Cider is DC's newest cidery. It will be some time before you can get cider, beer, and rum all made within a three mile radius of each other in Northeast, but you can sample Supreme Core Craft Cider at both Glen's Garden Markets this Sunday.
The first product from Supreme Core is called Micawber, and it's an unfiltered, dry cider fermented with English ale yeast. It is 6.9% alcohol by volume. On Sunday, September 10th, tastings will be held at Glen’s Garden Market Dupont Circle, 2001 S Street, NW, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and then move to Glen’s Garden Market Shaw, 1924 8th Street, NW from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.
As a bonus to you, intrepid Sunday funday cider-sipper, in addition to their Micawber dry, unfiltered cider, they'll offer a barrel-aged version of it on draft at both Glen's. The barrel-aged version came out of a Sagamore Spirit Rye Whiskey cask, and you can expect four-pack cans of oak-aged cider to be available at Glen's next month.
DCBeer had a chance to talk to Supreme Core co-founders Kyle Crosby and Will Sullivan, and the following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
DCBeer: Tell us about Supreme Core Craft Cider and what you plan to do with your cidery.
Will Sullivan: We've got a facility built out between the National Arboretum and Ivy City on T Street [NE], so we’re going to look and feel like a brewery with an industrial chic setting. You'll be able to see the tanks and production capability, and you'll be able to learn about it. We will be serving our ciders 6-8 on tap at all times and focusing on style development.
[Ed Note: They're planning to sell growlers or crowlers from their tasting room, but they've yet to determine pricing or timeline]
Micawber is your first product, and your press release says it is made with all Virginia apples and fermented with English ale yeast at Charm City Meadworks in Baltimore, MD. How was that decision to partner with a Maryland meadery made?
WS: We were put in touch with the Charm City guys about a year ago, and they were just really willing to help us out of the kindness of their hearts. We'd come to them with dumb question, and they'd give us great answers in regards to how they're doing things. We were looking for production space prior to opening our facility and taproom, and they make mead, and mead is really the same as cider in that there's no heat, no brewing, so we just started talking. Turns out they had room in their tanks, and so we reached out to them beginning of the summer to set it all up, and we have our second batch in the tank now, and we've got two additional SKUs [stock keeping unit] so we're doing small scale there as well. It's really been a blessing to do what we’re doing up there.
The press release mentions you'll be "using approaches and practices pioneered on the US West Coast." Can you tell me more about those approaches and practices?
WS: At the end of the day it's true craft process. We are starting with 100% Virginia apples that we work with two family farms to source. With the input, we get what we can get and make it drinkable, it’s front-end so we’re working with the family orchards and ask them to test the sugar. They'll pick the fruit and press it for us when we want. 100% apple juice. No water, no sugar in the back end. The ingredients are apple juice and yeast. We'll start doing some hop stuff and fruits stuff later.
Kyle Crosby: We're really excited about getting feedback, so the more feedback we get, the more we're getting our product to grow.
What's the best way to provide feedback?
KC: Definitely Untappd, Tweet at us. Our facility will be an especially innovative lab, and we plan to make ciders on a small scale, so we'll rely on our regulars who are cider fans and craft beer fans coming into our facility and trying things at a really small batch scale.
WS: I want cider drinkers to talk to us. We've spent a lot of time putting stuff together that I think they're going to like so I want them to try our product and tell us what they think. We're homebrewers, we're beer guys, and our cider does have craft beer sensibilities.
KC: We're using different innovative ingredients, so of course everyone has the beery ciders, and we'd like to move beyond that. Look at what craft beer is doing, things that impart mouthfeel, different sugars that are dissolved or not dissolved in yeast, we're looking at some surs. Cider is in a great position to reach craft beer fans and what they've done for the beer scene, so cider has some sour features already in its natural product. We've got a number of test trials going now, and we love the fruit, but also a lot of the herbs we're working on now are really exciting.
Since you're both homebrewers and people who appreciate beer, what are you drinking these days?
WS: I speak for both of us: we love Pen Druid.
KC: We love what they're doing in Sperryville, but it’s their use of yeast in beers that we love. The North East style IPA some people are doing it really well. Aslin's doing it really well. We also like RAR, and we think they're taking it in the right direction being on the leading edge but also having some approachable beers, those are some of the beers I'm drinking right now.
WS: My favorite beer is anything based in DC. So right now it’s the 3 Stars Ghost IPA, I'm loving some 3 Stars' stuff right now.
KC: I love Raised by Wolves [Right Proper], and it’s so warm out right now that it's an excellent beer for the weather. [Ed note: This was Tuesday, with a high of 86 F].
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Be sure to check out Kyle and Will this weekend at Glen’s Garden Market!
