Behind the Brew at Duluth Cider

DULUTH, Minn.– Duluth Cider is one of two cideries in the Northland. And their entire cider making process happens all under one building.

“It’s really nice, in the middle of Duluth Minnesota, we’re taking on cider, we’re doing it all in our cellar, and bringing it up, out the door, all over, it’s actually pretty cool,” said Kyle McKean.

Duluth Cider introduced the Northland to its first cidery back in 2018. And Kyle, the head cider maker at Duluth Cider, said they’re still feeling that love to the core.

“I would say there’s, not to sound cheesy, but passion that goes into it. We are a very small crew. It is currently just two other people with me back there,” said McKean.

Over time, the cider community has grown quite a bit. And to tackle that, the team is always working towards the bigger and better project.

But before that can happen, it all starts with the cider base they receive from a local apple orchard.

“So, we get that in, we’ll start the fermentation process, that takes 10-12 days depending on the time of year,” said McKean.

Kyle said, Duluth Cider brews the traditional way. They use gravity to filter out the liquid from herbs, spices, and other fruits.

“Once ferment is done, it goes completely dry. which means there are no residual sugars left. From there, we’ll do whatever adjustments we have to make. Such as strawberry for ‘Trailside’, a little bit extra apple for ‘Gitch’,” said McKean.

The final product has a homemade feel to it. Kyle said every finished batch is unique.

“There’s nothing more fun than the actual science experiment itself. So, I think that’s actually the best. You never know how it’s going to turn out. Every single batch is different here. So that’s why sometimes if you come in, you get a really cloudier trailside. and you’re getting a lot more fruit compared to normal,” explained McKean.

For the cans you find in the store, they are sorted, filled, topped and labeled by the team of three.

And for the batch made today, they were in the process of brewing 550 gallons of ‘Trailside’. A popular strawberry basil cider.

For this cidery, there is no slow season.

“Obviously in the summer, we are making boat loads, just nonstop. We’re just turning over tanks cider and just getting it out the door. I would say for this time of the year; we have a lot more fun with the small batch stuff. Because it gets people into the tap room, gets us to see their faces and things like that,” said McKean.

Next time you’re enjoying Duluth Cider at the tap room, or grabbing a can from the fridge you can’t help but appreciate the effort that goes into it.