Kristina Inman, professor of food and beverage in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport at Niagara College, gets to the core of the cider craze in this May 28 piece in The St. Catharines Standard.
Inman, a certified CAPS sommelier and TAC tea sommelier, identifies in which beverage category – wine or beer – the popular summer thirst-quenching belongs to. Made of fermented fruit and acidic like wine, but carbonated and packaged like a beer, cider straddles the beverage categories but finds its home right here in Niagara where fermentables grow abundantly.
Gavin Robertson, winemaker and instructor at NC’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute, Gavin Robertson, teaches dedicated cider courses. He and his students experiment with different styles of cider and explains that apples are hardier than grapes when it comes to cold weather. NC’s Teaching Winery planted English and French cider trees, and recently acquired a specialized cider press from Austria.
“As Niagara provides education for the cider industry, its local wineries are dabbling in the crafting of the product,” Inmann writes.
Despite the similarities to wine and beer, Inmann asserts that ciders are in a league of their own.
