“I don’t like cider, but I like this”

When I started making cider, I chose it because I didn’t want to make beer like everyone else, and I was too impatient to wait for wine. I didn’t fully understand the traditions of cider like I do now. All I knew 14 years ago was that I wanted to make something that I could drink a lot of and that everyone would enjoy.

As I would attend events or sample my ciders, the quote, “I don’t like cider, but I like this,” was the best compliment to me because I wasn’t trying to make a “cider”; I was trying to create something that people would enjoy over and over.

Grizzly Ciderworks and Camano Cider are two brands I am very proud of, mainly for the fact that I proved that, while I didn’t have the capital or resources like some of these other hard cider companies, I could make products and brands that easily went toe-to-toe with them.