Cidery Spotlight: Sly Clyde Ciderworks

Maybe you’re not a beer drinker. Or maybe you’re just craving something sweet. On this trail, there’s only one place to go for the sweeter things in life: Sly Clyde Ciderworks. Opening in 2018, it’s the only cidery on the Toast the Coast 4 Cities For Swag trail and it is the first hard cidery in Coastal Virginia.

The Smith family have been in business in Hampton for over a hundred years and have now moved onto hard cider. Brothers Tim and Doug Smith began their cidery in 2016 and moved their business into the century-old house of their grandfather, H. Clyde Smith. This brickhouse in Phoebus was then renovated and turned into a custom-built ciderhouse that has added a taproom while still having that old-time feel.

What is hard cider? Imagine apple juice but fermented. Wine is made from fermented grapes. Beer is made from yeast, malt, hops, and wheat. Hard cider is made from fermented apples. These apples are picked and then pressed to get all of the juices out. This juice is then placed in vats, not unlike beer, to ferment over time. Like the apples themselves, hard ciders can have a wide range of flavors, from sweet to dry. They are usually served in bottles, cans, or draft.

Hard cider tends to be served alongside beer in taprooms or on store shelves. It’s no wonder why it’s part of the Four Cities for Swag trail. It’s a unique stop compared to the multiple breweries that make up Toast the Coast and is well worth the visit.