Cigar City Moves Forward with Mead and Cider

April 9, 2014 By Heather Vandenengel

Cigar City Brewing’s cider and mead side project is about to get a home of its own.

Joey Redner, owner of the Tampa, FL, brewery, founded Cigar City Cider & Mead in 2012 with six silent partners. The cider was contracted to a local winery and sold on tap at the brewery and on draft at area restaurants and beer bars.

Now the team is moving forward on opening a cider and mead production facility in Tampa’s Ybor City this spring and will be canning its popular cider with the help of a mobile canning company. The facility, located in the old Tampa Bay Brewing Co. brewpub space, will have a tasting room, and drinkers will be able to purchase growlers and cans of cider to go.

While they will produce some classic ciders, partner and operations manager Todd Strauss says the brewers plan to channel creativity akin to Cigar City’s brewing style. One of its most popular offerings is Fight the Power Sour Apple, and the first batch of mead will be Orange Blossom Mead.

“I really like to think that Cigar City Brewing is on the cutting edge of things, and I want to be the same way with cider and mead,” Strauss told All About Beer Magazine.