Double Mountain Brewery & Cidery’s story begins long before a tap handle ever turned. In 1999, founder Matt Swihart bought an orchard near Odell in the Hood River Valley, originally dreaming of a vineyard and winery before realizing his instincts lived more comfortably on the fermentation side of the fence. Two mountains framed that orchard — Mt. Hood to the south, Mt. Adams to the north — and the view earned a nickname that stuck: Double Mountain. When Swihart and future co-founder Charlie Devereux (the two met while working at Full Sail) opened a brewery in downtown Hood River on St. Patrick’s Day, 2007, they named it after that patch of fruit and horizon. Translation: the cider program isn’t a side quest bolted onto a beer brand. It’s the original backstory, hiding in plain sight all along.
The cidery philosophy is simple and stubborn in the best way. Fruit comes first. Everything is pressed and fermented in-house. Nothing gets back-sweetened into obedience. Double Mountain builds its ciders from heritage apples grown at Double Mountain Orchards and fruit sourced from neighboring Hood River Valley growers, aiming for structure over sugar — acidity, tannin, aromatics, and finish, the same way a good wine or a thoughtfully lagered beer earns your attention. The result isn’t cider that begs to be liked; it’s cider that holds a conversation. Dry, orchard-driven, and expressive in ways that reward slowing down and actually paying attention.
That commitment didn’t appear overnight. Early on, Swihart was already fermenting orchard fruit into beer, experimenting with cherries and peaches in Belgian-inspired wild projects starting in 2008. In 2010, he planted the first 36 dedicated cider trees — Kingston Black, Dabinett, Golden Russet, Foxwhelp, Brownsnout — just to see what would thrive. Over the next several years, Double Mountain cleared and planted a three-acre estate block, then scaled into full cidery production in 2016 with the purchase of a cold-storage building. The orchard has kept growing since, including a major 2,000-tree planting in 2025, signaling a long, patient commitment to estate cider. Today, their program leans on estate-grown varieties like Dabinett, Harrison, Wickson Crab, Ashmead Kernel, and Newtowns, alongside thoughtfully sourced fruit such as Kingston Black, Medaille d’Or, Winesap, Braeburn, and Foxwhelp from other regional orchards.
That orchard-first mindset is exactly why Double Mountain has long resonated at Peaks & Pints. In December 2016, just two months after we opened our doors, we hosted the official Western Washington release party for Double Mountain Dry Cider. It was one of the first big cider moments in this room, and an early signal of what Peaks wanted to be: not a beer bar with a token cider tap, but a place willing to treat cider with the same seriousness, curiosity, and storytelling as great beer. Some relationships age quietly. Some just get sharper.
Which brings us to this flight.
This lineup traces Double Mountain’s range and intent without redundancy, moving from crisp pear and gentle blends into wild-fermented nuance, estate-grown heirloom structure, and fruit-driven elegance. It’s an arc that welcomes newcomers without lying to them, and gives cider nerds something real to chew on. Think dry to off-dry, orchard-forward, vinous in posture, and refreshingly unsweetened — five expressions of the same core idea: let the fruit do the talking, and don’t interrupt it when it starts telling the truth.
Stop by Peaks & Pints from 5-8 p.m. and chat with Double Mountain Sales Executive Donovan Stewart, enjoy the following ciders on tap, and maybe win a prize. Cheers!
Peaks & Pints Double Mountain Cider Flight
Double Mountain Perry
6.7% ABV | Dry Perry | Hood River, OR
Pear doesn’t preen here — it shows up on time, clears its throat, and speaks in a calm, confident register. Fermented Northwest pears do the heavy lifting, opening with white flowers, fresh pear skin, and cool orchard air after rain. The sip lands bone-dry and wine-leaning, carrying gentle tannin, subtle honeyed depth, and a mineral snap that keeps everything upright and alert. Nothing is padded, nothing is sweetened back into place; this is fruit allowed to finish its sentence without interruption.
Double Mountain Rosé Cider
6.5% ABV | Rosé Apple Cider
Pink in hue but firmly grounded in orchard seriousness, Rosé Cider feels like spring sunlight slipping across a cider press floor. Fresh Northwest apples lead with crisp skin and clean acidity, while red-fleshed fruit and a whisper of berry influence tint the glass with a soft blush and a hint of strawberry-meets-raspberry intrigue. The aroma drifts floral and lightly vinous, setting up a sip that moves dry and composed, closer to a porch-sipping rosé wine cousin than anything dessert-bound. The fruit stays taut, the sparkle stays gentle, and the finish lands bright and refreshing.
Double Mountain Maybelline
6.2% ABV | Wild-Fermented Apple Cider
Crack this one open and you can almost hear the orchard exhale. Maybelline feels like letting the ferment write its own love letter — native yeast doing a slow, thoughtful dance across Northwest apples, leaving behind whispers of apple skin, lemon peel, bruised pear, and a faint hayloft hush. The carbonation arrives lightly, pét-nat–adjacent and gently mischievous, lifting a tart, vinous core that leans more farmhouse whisper than barnyard riot. A soft funk hums underneath it all, never loud, just enough to keep things interesting. Each sip feels slightly different from the last, as if the cider is still deciding who it wants to be. Rustic without being rough, expressive without being chaotic — the kind of wild ferment that winks at natural wine drinkers, nods at saison lovers, and quietly steals the show by refusing to behave predictably.
Double Mountain Heirloom Estate Cider
6.7% ABV | Dry Heritage Apple Cider
This one arrives without costume or flourish, just orchard truth laid bare and sharpened into something quietly commanding. Built entirely from estate-grown heirloom apples, Heirloom Estate Cider leans vinous and composed, the aroma lifting with apple skin, green pear, faint hay, and a whisper of cellar air. The sip unfolds dry and linear, acidity humming clean and bright while subtle tannin adds a gentle grip that feels more like posture than pressure. Nothing is sweetened back into place, nothing padded for comfort — fruit, yeast, and time do all the talking. It drinks closer to a serious country white wine than a modern cider, finishing mineral, restrained, and faintly austere in the most satisfying way.
Double Mountain Adeline Blackberry
6.7% ABV | Blackberry Apple Cider | Hood River, OR
Adeline Blackberry feels like late summer leaning against autumn, berry-stained fingers hovering over a glass that glows deep ruby in the light. Built on a clean, structured apple base, the cider opens with fresh blackberry skin and a faint whisper of jam, then snaps back into orchard brightness before anything gets too sweet. The aroma drifts brambly and inviting — wild hedgerow, cool morning air, a hint of fruit leather — while the sip balances tart edge and gentle softness with practiced ease. Nothing feels candied, nothing feels heavy; the berries stay vivid, the apples keep the spine straight, and the finish lands crisp, refreshing, and quietly seductive.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
