Tasting Cider at the Brooklyn Cider House

Quite some time ago we had the chance to taste some Brooklyn Cider at the Lower East Side Cider Festival, and I’d heard that the cider makers had recently opened a new cidery and restaurant called the Brooklyn Cider House in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We decided to stop by and check it out last weekend when we were on the hunt for street art in Bushwick, and that turned out to be a great decision.

From a distance, the Brooklyn Cider House looked like a brick industrial building with a metal fence at one end, but there was a large break in the fence with a sign-board welcoming us in. Upon entering the property, we immediately saw the Cider House entrance.

As we stepped inside, we began to feel the magic of the place. Stretching along one wall of the front room, a sunny and welcoming bar, is a mural by Italian street artist Pixel Pancho. The sunlight made getting a full photo of the mural difficult, but in the close-up pictures you can see the details that make Pixel Pancho’s murals so beautiful yet unique.

We arrived not long after they had opened, and the person who greeted us took us on a quick tour of the cidery and restaurant. As we walked past the bar, we entered a space with huge barrels that are used to age the cider. It was a wonderful space, and behind the barrels was even more street art, this time a large mural collaboration by Israeli artists Dede Bandaid and Nitzan Mintz. This one is hard to capture in a single photograph, because of its location behind the barrels, but here are a couple of glimpses.

Behind a pair of large doors was this room where cider is made.

Finally, there was this large room, empty at the time of our visit but used for the the 5-course Basque-style tasting dinners. As part of the dinners, guests have the chance to catch and taste cider straight from the wooden barrels. We decided then and there we will have to come back and have dinner sometime very soon. (Wondering about what they serve at the dinners? Here’s a link to the menu.)

After the tour, we sat down at the bar to order brunch and sample cider. We shared this delicious cowboy steak and eggs for two, perfectly cooked and just the right amount for two people.

Although the bar offers a variety of ciders, beers, and wines, we chose to do a tasting of Brooklyn Cider House’s own ciders. The tasting came with three out of four ciders, but the bartender was kind enough to let us taste the fourth as well. The Kind of Dry, Half Sour, and Bone Dry were all delicious, but our favorite ended up being the Raw, which is described as “a dry, wildly natural cider with beautiful acidity … fresh and mouth puckering with crisp green apple and citrus aromas.” In fact, the ciders were so good we purchased a couple of bottles to take home with us.

Our entire experience at the Brooklyn Cider House was great, and the people we met were enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their ciders. It was the perfect start to our hunt for street art around Bushwick that afternoon, and we will definitely be visiting again soon.

Want to visit Brooklyn Cider House yourself? It is located at 1100 Flushing Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn, just a short walk from the L train’s Jefferson Street stat.:ion. The restaurant also has a small parking area inside the fence, for those who are driving.