Third Anniversary (no party) :(

Well, 2020 has struck again, even if it is 2021. I saw a meme that said “2021 is just 2020 with bangs” and it just feels so accurate. We are so bummed that we won’t be able to have an anniversary party this year.

Last year, I wrote this whole blog about all the things we accomplished in the year prior. We couldn’t do any of those things this year. Not a one…

Last year we had such an amazing time celebrating our cidery with all of you, our cider friends, for our anniversary. It’s our favorite night of the year. Both Dan and I get such a wonderful feeling when we get to chat with you and drink with you. That’s been a huge challenge for us this year - beyond the business difficulties and navigating our new reality, not getting to connect with our customers has been really hard.

So this year, our kids have grown, our staff has changed, and we have learned how to survive in the weirdest year in our memory. We have pivoted to a lot of direct to consumer sales and virtual tastings with our friend Colleen from Behind The Rind. We have worked to get our ciders in many more liquor stores so you have access locally and added home delivery.

At the end of the day - and the end of this blog - we are here today because of you, our customers and fans around the country. We appreciate you and we can’t wait to drink with you again. Stay safe and thank you for being our Haykin Fam.

Second Anniversary Party

So, I really didn’t keep up on my blogging this past year for the cidery… but I meant to! In fact, Megan (our tasting room manager) even gave me writing prompts and ideas… but I have just been too busy. Our tiny newborn has grown into a very independent little girl full of her own opinions. Our young son started to ask every night “let’s talk about the cider business.” (No joke… he’s 4.5 and even he knows we have a lot going on!!)

We have met amazing people in our tasting room and at events. We’ve been invited to pour cider in the middle of a farm field, in an abandoned warehouse, next to a ski slope, and in a tiny hotel room with all the legends of our industry. As someone very well-known in our industry said to Dan last year at CiderCon - he really didn’t f*ck up those apples.

We were especially busy over the late spring through summer. Here’s a quick recap (of just the late spring/summer). We:

• Did in-store tastings with Pearl Wine Company, Boulder Wine Merchant, and The Cellar at The Milk Market.

• Poured at the Pressed Fest in Longmont.

• Traveled to GLINTCAP and won the most gold medals of any commercial cidery in the WORLD.

• Hosted a cider and cookie pairing with Good Sugar Baking and a cider and cheese pairing with Mondo Market.

• Did staff education with a number of our wholesale accounts.

• Took countless meetings adding nine new wholesale accounts to our company.

• Served our ciders at an exquisite dinner with Mondo Market in the Stanley Marketplace.

• Did two events at Slow Foods Nation - This Is Cider, a panel with three other cider makers and our apple grower, and Meet Your Maker, an intimate salon with Steve Ela and Dan drinking and talking.

• Dan talked to Ira Flatow of Science Friday about historic Boulder apples and how you should drink them to save them.

• Did a dinner with our Colorado Springs account - Juniper Valley Ranch (GO! Try their fried chicken. It's amazing).

• Poured cases of cider in the middle of a field at Fruition Farms Creamery at a dinner hosted by Outstanding In The Field - It was a spectacular event!

• Dan travelled to DC to launch our brand there at ANXO - an exceptional Basque style restaurant that serves incredible cider and amazing food. 

And that was just the summer! Since then, we partnered with The Buffalo Theory and Via Alba for an awesome dinner IN the cidery (it was incredible), hosted a bunch of private events, study classes, and parties. We did a paired dinner at both Bird and Jim and Mercantile. Plus many more in-store tastings and conversations with lots of you all!

This year, in our tasting room, we sold 3700 bottles of cider (300 more bottle than last year!), 1350 flights, 3600 glasses of cider. And we had 2000 customers come join us in the tasting room (many of you multiple times)! We added 30+ new wholesale accounts around the Denver/Boulder area (plus one in DC!) and DOUBLED our club members.

WHEW! It was a heck of a year. And all thanks to you, our customers. Please join us on Saturday February 1, 2019 from 5-10pm (only) to celebrate. Dan and I are looking forward to it!

Join us for our second anniversary party!

2/1/2020 from 5-10pm

• Special menu for the party including a rose on tap!

• Special library release bottles (limit 1 per person - many are very SMALL quantities!)

• Celebrate two awesome years with Dan and Talia!