Cider Summit Seattle 2025 Recap

It felt like a cider comet had returned to its proper orbit: the 2025 Cider Summit Seattle dropped back into its original South Lake Union Discovery Center Lawn home, the corner of Westlake and Denny humming with 40 producers and roughly 150 expressions of apple sorcery, mead mischief, fruit spirits, and cocktails that made you question the very notion of “juice.” Saturday, Sept. 13, arrived painted in ridiculous blue-sky perfection, a slightly smaller crowd padding happily between tents, QR codes, and dog leashes. Shanleigh Thomson was everywhere at once, beaming out Instagram Live segments while toggling between her Roy Farms hop-guru persona and UC Davis ferment-nerd credentials, corralling voices from Schilling, Seattle Cider, Dragon’s Head, Offset, Oregon Fruit, and more into a cider-soaked reel of industry gossip and grins. Meanwhile, the expanded Mead Pavilion buzzed, the Heritage Cider tent whispered tannic truths, the cocktail lounge kept sneaking botanicals into unsuspecting palates, and even the Dog Lounge had treats and water bowls like some surreal canine beer garden. One Tree edged Slightly Furry in a photo-finish popular vote, the Fruit Cider Challenge unleashed a rainbow of Oregon Fruit-driven concoctions, and everywhere, cider folk mingled with food vendors, craft booths, and enough orchard perfume to convince you civilization might just be saved by fermented apples and a leash-trained corgi.

And yet, amid the booths and buzz, the Summit wasn’t just a spectacle—it was an invitation. To taste deeply, to notice which producers stretched fruit into new galaxies and which doubled down on heritage simplicity, to let the tannins linger like an afterthought from some ancient orchard priesthood. Which is exactly where our tasting notes wander next: down the row, fancy plastic tulip glass in hand, tongue chasing acid, funk, and fruit, scribbling as if the apples themselves were whispering in tongues.

Cider Summit Seattle 2025 Tasting Notes

Alpenfire Smoke Mistelle is velvet thunder in a glass—peat-smoked apple fire laced with caramelized oak, an 18% nocturnal hymn best sipped like contraband scripture.

Bauman’s Mango Black Tea drifts like an orchard daydream—juicy mango drape over taut apple structure, snapped awake by black tea’s tannic rasp that lingers like the kiss pictured above.

Bend Cider Huckleberry Ginger dances between mountain meadow and rave tent—purple-berry sweetness colliding with ginger’s fiery crackle, crisp orchard backbone humming underneath.

Channel Marker Raspberry Jam bursts like jam on hot toast—ripe berry sugar balanced by lemony sparkle, tart-sweet and unapologetically Grace Face.

Diskin’s Bob’s Your Uncle shocked Seattle with a dry Nashville drawl—dusty orchard air, brisk apple tang, and tannins that stick around like witty Southern sarcasm.

Endless Orchard Cranberry Cucumber is a paradox in a can—cranberry’s tart punch cooling instantly into cucumber hush, bright as static, clean as rain.

Finnriver Bloom fizzes like rosé in a cider disguise, blossom-light bubbles twined with citrus lift and blueberry perfume, a semi-dry serenade to summer.

Incline Tangerine cracks like citrus lightning—bone-dry and mouth-puckering, mostly apple stride with a cherry ghost pirouetting in the finish.

Newtopia Cranbusion is pure tropical delirium—cranberry bite and pineapple rush softened by vanilla velvet, Mosaic’s green whisper folding it all into a sun-drenched hallucination.

Offset Mojito breezes lime and mint across apple-pear bones—sugar-free, snappy, refreshing as if the orchard itself learned a Cuban handshake.

Pinball Dry AF is truth in a can—razor-bright acid, apple-skin scrape, a hint of mineral, bone-clean finish, absolutely no sweet surrender.

Portland Cider Paloma glows pink and hazy like a summer sunrise—apple spine shot through with grapefruit sting and lime sparkle, crushable as vacation and adorable as apple ears.

Sea Cider Bittersweet sings like orchard opera—tannic heirloom apples, phenolic spice, off-dry bubbles, a dusky hymn bottled in amber.

Seattle Cider Ginger Fig murmurs like an orchard séance—ginger’s quick spark drowned in fig’s lush waves, semi-dry, incense-like, lingering.

Sisters’ Black Currant Jack strides in lean and tart—wild berry aromatics, dry apple crunch, currant’s tannic grip trailing like a forest kiss.

Tieton Pink Guava is an orchard remix gone tropical—apple base pulsing with guava’s floral sweetness, half Northwest crispness, half Hawaiian postcard.

Winsome Asian Pear glides delicate as a silk fan—pear perfume and citrus shimmer drifting over a semi-sweet, easy body.

Wolfkin Moira channels autumn magic—cranberry bite, cinnamon heat, honey-kissed apples, a small-batch charm equal parts fireside ease and wild incantation.

Yonder Crescent glows like a lunar hymn—red-fleshed apples and berry nuance stitched into a crisp, dry body, moonlight bottled from Cascade slopes.

LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory