Popular Lexington bars, restaurants team up with cidery for week-long apple celebration

Brian Simms
·4 min read

A Lexington craft cidery is teaming up with Kentucky breweries and popular local restaurants and bars, toasting fall with a week-long celebration of apple season.

Wise Bird Cider Co. is hosting its fourth annual Kentucky Cider Days Nov. 4-10, an event they say culminates in the largest gathering of cider makers in the state.

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All week Wise Bird is having special events at its Lexington taproom in the Distillery District on Manchester Street. Local bars and restaurants including County Club, Honeywood, Coles 735 Main, Epping’s on Eastside, Crank & Boom Craft Ice Cream and Constitution speakeasy are also partnering up, featuring Wise Bird’s Kentucky-made cider in menu items and drinks. Plus there will be tap takeovers and tastings at area bars including Liquor Barn, Total Wine & More and Shamrocks.

There will be drink and food specials and releases for Kentucky Cider Days included a new Wise Bird Cider and a dining event at Honeywood Restaurant.
There will be drink and food specials and releases for Kentucky Cider Days included a new Wise Bird Cider and a dining event at Honeywood Restaurant.

Wise Bird co-owner Greta Pittard Wright says this year’s event is event is bigger and she and husband Tim Wright are collaborating with more local businesses and having more events in an effort to highlight cider, which is fermented apple juice.

“We want to celebrate cider making, because we think that cider is the beverage of the United States of America, and we want to bring it back big and we want to have it be big in Lexington,” Pittard Wright said. “So we want to celebrate cider, autumn, fall, with other people who make this lovely beverage.”

Cider cocktails, brewery collaborations

During the week-long celebration there will be drink specials at Wise Bird and cider-based cocktails at Constitution, Epping’s on Eastside and Cole’s. Both cocktails will also be available at Wise Bird, who will also have a special new cider release Nov. 6.

For Kentucky Cider Days, Epping’s on Eastside will have a special cider drink, Jamaican Flannel. It’s made with rum, Wise Bird Commonwealth Gold cider, Averna Amaro, a splash Allspice Dram, a splash of Demerara syrup and 2 dashes Angostura bitters. You can get the drink at Epping’s or Wise Bird Cider Co.
For Kentucky Cider Days, Epping’s on Eastside will have a special cider drink, Jamaican Flannel. It’s made with rum, Wise Bird Commonwealth Gold cider, Averna Amaro, a splash Allspice Dram, a splash of Demerara syrup and 2 dashes Angostura bitters. You can get the drink at Epping’s or Wise Bird Cider Co.
For Kentucky Cider Days, Coles 735 Main will have a special cider drink, A Wisely Foolish Plan. It’s made with Provitas rum, Wise Bird Commonwealth Gold cider, Averna Amaro, a splash of Allspice Dram, a slash of Demerara syrup and 2 dashes Angostura bitters. You can get the drink at Coles 735 Main or Wise Bird Cider Co.
For Kentucky Cider Days, Coles 735 Main will have a special cider drink, A Wisely Foolish Plan. It’s made with Provitas rum, Wise Bird Commonwealth Gold cider, Averna Amaro, a splash of Allspice Dram, a slash of Demerara syrup and 2 dashes Angostura bitters. You can get the drink at Coles 735 Main or Wise Bird Cider Co.

There will be two special cider collaborations from Wise Bird with local brewers. The first, a pomegranate and cinnamon cider, comes out Nov. 6 with Country Boy Brewing. The new cider blends County Boy’s house cider with Wise Bird’s Stayman cider, infusing it with cranberry and cinnamon for a seasonally sweet drink. It is tinted warm and brown like falling leaves.

The second new cider is made in collaboration with West Sixth Brewing and will be released Nov. 9. The Red Raspberry & Black Currant Cider is a blend of West Sixth’s house cider and Wise Bird’s Stayman apple cider. It’s infused with black currant and red raspberry, bursting with berry notes. It has a blush-pink body with a fruited nose and lightly sweet finish.

For Kentucky Cider Days, Wise Bird Cider Co. is collaborating with Country Boy Brewing for a new pomegranate and cinnamon cider.
For Kentucky Cider Days, Wise Bird Cider Co. is collaborating with Country Boy Brewing for a new pomegranate and cinnamon cider.
For Kentucky Cider Days, Wise Bird Cider Co. is collaborating with West Sixth Brewing for a new Red Raspberry & Black Currant Cider.
For Kentucky Cider Days, Wise Bird Cider Co. is collaborating with West Sixth Brewing for a new Red Raspberry & Black Currant Cider.

“There are apples in Kentucky that we are making cider from and it’s a great beverage that we don’t want to be forgotten to the ranks of beer and bourbon and wine,” said Wright.

County Club, Honeywood specials

For the entire week, County Club will be braising some of their meats in cider, including pork belly braised in Wise Bird’s Short Stories No. 5 Cider. It will be served with grit cakes & maple chili crisp.

Special events start Nov. 5 with Wise Bird hosting an election night watch party with special cider flights and pairings to go with food form Wise Bird’s Little Fork Kitchen.

On Nov. 8 there’s a cider-pairing dinner at Ouita Michel’s Honeywood restaurant. The menu, which pulls inspiration from France, Ireland, and Kentucky, includes shareable plates pairing with cider including fried cheese curds with apple mostarda and hoecakes with smoked sturgeon, honey butter and caviar. There will also be apple-centric entrees like Marksbury Farm Porchetta and Irish Fish Bake. There will also be steamed mussels with fresh fennel, shallot, cream, butter, Wise Bird Cider, pickled mustard seed and of course, apple desserts including fritters and crumb pie.

A cider-inspired dinner at Honeywood Restaurant will include hoecakes with smoked sturgeon, honey butter and caviar.
A cider-inspired dinner at Honeywood Restaurant will include hoecakes with smoked sturgeon, honey butter and caviar.
A cider-inspired dinner at Honeywood Restaurant will include Marksbury Farm Porchetta.
A cider-inspired dinner at Honeywood Restaurant will include Marksbury Farm Porchetta.

A $10 cover gets you a welcome pour and chef’s amuse bouche before you order off the special menu. Honeywood’s regular dinner menu will not be available during the special dining event.

There will be a PJ Party Themed Drag Brunch Nov. 9 the festival wraps up with its biggest event is noon Nov. 10 at Wise Bird with Cider Fest.

At the $35 ticketed event, you get a commemorative tasting class and can sample as much as you want from more than 12 different regional cider producers including Pivot Brewing , Country Boy Brewing, Turtleback Ridge Farm Brewery, West Sixth Brewing, Dreaming Creek Brewery, Maiden City, and the University of Kentucky’s winery. There will also be activities for kids including crafting and painting from On the Move Art Studio and bocce ball and cornhole for adults.

A full list of events can be found at kyciderdays.com.

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