Fredericton cider best in show at international competition

A Fredericton cider company won top marks at an international cider competition.

Red Rover Craft Cider's Summer Cider earned top prize for modern cider at the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Adam Clawson, the owner of Red Rover, said he couldn't have hoped for more.

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"It's alway been [my partner's] favourite and has been in the top three for me of our ciders," Clawson said. "This year, luck would have it we managed to get number one spot."

The competition featured traditional ciders, made from heritage apples, and modern ciders, made from dessert apples. The latter is where Red Rover Craft Cider has made its mark.

"In New Brunswick, we really only produce dessert apples and we've come to be known for making our dry and semi-dry ciders from those dessert apples," Clawson said.

The win has Clawson thinking about the future and possibly expanding the company's cider sales beyond New Brunswick.

"This has really shown us that the appetite for a modern dry cider like ours is out there, outside not only New Brunswick but outside of Canada," said Clawson.

He said the competition is well respected by people in the industry because only cider producers are judges. Competitors come from long distances to have their cider or perry — a version of cider made with pears — sampled with the best.

"We came first place, second place in our category was one from Washington, and third was from Estonia," said Clawson.

Red Rover Cider also ranked second in the specialty cider and perry category with its Barrel Reserve #2.

Perry is a version of cider made with pears.