It’s been less than a year since Burton City Cidery first opened its doors and things have been going very well.
Owners Barbara and Alan Ross were looking for property in the Arrow Lakes region for their business.
The pair decided on Burton because they have a home in the community, and have been coming here for years.
“We originally were going to try and do something on the property where we vacationed and homed, and then Alan found this place up for sale,” said Barbara. “It took him five years to convince me, but I’m so glad he did because it’s worked out really well.”
A lot of work went into turning the cidery into what it is today, including turning what was a residential home into a fully functioning business.
Burton City Cidery had its grand opening in May of 2016.
“A lot of people were glad there was something new coming in,” said Alan. “There had been a lot of things shut down and not much opening up.”
One thing the Ross’ try to do with the cidery is support businesses in the region as much as they can.
This includes using hops grown in Lumby, selling a selection of cheese from Armstrong, and more.
However, there are setbacks when it comes to trying to support local businesses.
“If I sell it from here it has to be made in a commercial kitchen, it’s kind of frustrating.” said Barbara. “I can sell the jams and jellies that I make myself. If they make it in the farmer’s market they don’t have to have a commercial kitchen.”
Though there are some limitations, the Ross’ are always looking for ways to support locals and bring the community together, including hosting special events.
In January they held a wassailing party to ring in the new year and ensure a bountiful harvest for their crops. The couple already have another event planned for this month.
“We have a Thai dinner that we’re hosting next weekend, and it sold out in two days, so that’s pretty exciting,” said Barbara. “We want to host more events like that where we get in a special chef or a special themed meal.”
The plan is to host these events around once a month.
They are also looking at expanding the selection of what’s available on tap to include something of the non-cider variety: beer.
The beer would be locally sourced, possibly coming from Nelson. In return for having this beer on tap the company who partners with Burton City Cidery will have a tap of the Ross’ cider.
Because the cidery is so popular there are already plans in the works to expand.
“The production area is tight,” said Alan. “We knew this was going to be good for our first step, but that it would need to be expanded. We’ve got a bigger production area that we’re in the planning stages of.”
The expansion would see the production area expand out toward the barn on the property. This will give the Ross’ a chance not only to make more cider, but to bottle more of it as well.
The goal is to have major construction completed before the July/August summer season.