Washington’s Southern Coastline Blooms a Cider Brewer
I’m in Ilwaco, Washington, located on the southern Washington coast, where I found a mom and pop cider company that is all local, luscious, and made with love, and sake!
I was hungry for something and thankfully had a food menu where everything can be paired with their ciders.
I ordered the jalapeno burger. (Suggested pairing Ancho Libre)
Did you know you can pair that with a cider that adds a new dimension to your burger?
Kyle offered a few samples. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for; ciders are unknown waters to me.
But that is why I was there. A day to explore the cute town of Ilwaco and across the street, one of Washington’s 124 State Parks, Cape Disappointment (that's another story).
After 10 minutes of perusing the menu, eyeing all the ciders on the blackboard, and walking around the merch and display areas at lwaco Cider Company, I was intrigued.
While my burger was delicious, I asked more questions about the ciders. This is not your dad’s apple cider. I asked my cider tender, Kyle, if there is a bubbly-wine-like cider he can recommend.
He stepped over to his colleague, the owner, and she appeared with two samples. I was cider struck. I had asked more questions about a new project she was working on, a sake-infused cider!
Enter, Vanessa Karnofsk, the cider brewer.
GT: Vanessa, what in the heck is a sake infused cider? Tell me more!
VK: I’m making something new. It’s kind of fun just for me to geek out and enjoy what I’m doing in a different way. It’s something that will just be on tap here at the tap room and it’s an imperial cider which means it’s a higher ABV.
It’s going to come out around 9 ½ percent and it’s going to be semi still not fully still a little bit effervescent I’ll add a little CO2 to it but it’s a sake-infused hard cider so it’s still apple cider based. I use my dry cider, added into a fermenter with a spice bag. I add sake lees (Sake kasu or “sake lees” is the solid mash by-product (or pulp) leftover after the sake is pressed) that I had shipped to me from San Francisco- these are really beautiful botanical, sharp smelling lees- we’re putting in the spice bag with Goumi berries and with Asian pears. And all that mash just sat in my dry cider for about a month, and all the sugars were eaten out of all that, just as the pear juice and the Goumi berries. It came out tasting kind of like AI would describe it as a sharp Sémillon or Chardonnay that’s been maybe conditioned in a steel tank rather than oak barrels.
I really love the bouquet on it and I think that other wine drinkers will appreciate it too. and So, I was just sharing with you this project because you shared with my staff that you’re a wine drinker and which one of my ciders mimicked wine the closest. My other ciders, Bone Dry and Fisherman’s Flannel, are our drier ciders with just a few botanicals; Solitary Euphoria is the same, but it also has gin botanicals added.
Most of my ciders here are all made with local ingredients the there’s three ciders that have local cranberries that come from local farms, Starvation Alley and Cruel Mistress. A lot of my botanicals and some of my fruit purees like figs, raspberries, blackberries, Goumi berries, bay leaves, hops, lemon verbena, thyme like all of these come from my mother-in-law’s organic farm down the road, which is called Biocharm farm. She also designs the flowers we keep on the tables here. I source local blueberries.
GT: And your apples?
We don’t have a huge apple crop here on the peninsula. What we do is ask around our locals for an exchange of apples for a free pint!
We just posted a social media request- if you bring us in a 5 gallon bucket of apples, we’ll pour you a free pint and oh my gosh we got like 2 tons of apples.
I enjoy making annual reserve batches. As a small boutique-I like to get super creative with a batch and have it on tap in the house for my locals to have something that no one else is getting.
GT: Spoken like a true craftsman! Speaking of, are you a woman owned business?
VK: Yes. Me and husband own the place and since he works at a different location, I own 51%.
GT: Kudos to that! And what inspired you to start your own local resourced cider business?
VK: Yeah, it’s something that is a highlight to know too. When I was 19, I worked at a restaurant-brewery called, Golden Valley brewery in McMinnville OR and I went to culinary school. I was envious of the brewers because I witnessed all the fun they were having at work. The kitchen got stressful when we have large volumes walk in, but not the brewers. I loved the camaraderie, and with my degree, I decided that was what I wanted, but even then in 2020 it was a man’s world, to brew.
I continued, moved forward with taking some cider courses through WSU, hired a consultant for a year, and then away I went.
GT: Good for you to progress with your dream. Adding spice and flavor to your community, and locally sourcing and encouraging farm-to-table or tap.
VK: I’m always very humbled when people are interested in what I do. We are two years in business, and we have big plans to grow. Not to become mega or even statewide; we just want to be in our region because we love it. There’s so much we can do right here.
GT: It looks like you're already doing it here in the Pacific Northwest, and it has proven to be a destination spot. Cheers!
To hear from Vanessa, you can listen here.