Cider Corner: Expanding your Audience With Food Pairings

Food and cider pairings  can help market your brands to new consumers and help fans enjoy your brand in a new way.

While Saro Cider currently does not have a specific food/cider pairing guide, its tasting room offers a small assortment of snacks that have been chosen for its ability to highlight the Nebraska cidery’s brands.

“We believe that educating the consumer on ways to pair cider and also recipes to use hard cider in their own cooking demonstrates the versatility of cider and additional ways to use and enjoy Saro Cider,” said owner Paige Duncan.

​2 Towns Ciderhouse has taken feedback from staff on their favorite pairings and also gathered in small committees to create pairings​ to share with the public.​

​”​We have many food-savvy folks on our crew who can be tapped to consider complementary or contrasting flavors or regional cuisine for traditional fermentation styles​,” said the cidery’s Madison Shirley. ​”​The best part of creating a pairing guide is double-checking your work by consuming the proposed pairing! It doesn’t always work 100% of the time but then that’s a learning opportunity.​”​

Shirley said they have found that the most successful pairing recommendations hosted online are actually recipes or ‘how-to’ guides. A couple examples include:

• How to build a charcuterie plate to pair with cider
• A taco recipe paired with the cidery’s Prickly Pearadise

“This gives customers a structured guide but allows flexibility based on their own personal tastes,” Shirley said.

Duncan added that Saro Cider is incredibly fortunate because, at the cidery, they have a certified executive chef.

“Eric Leyden has spent a lifetime in hospitality and his unique perspectives about flavors and creating outstanding food and cider make him a natural at pairing food with cider,” she said.

For off-premise placements, such as L-cards, 2 Towns has found the most effective pairings are specific brands and products that are easily available in the store.

“Even better if your cider and the pairing recommendations are placed near each other,” she said. ​”​Overall customers tend to respond very positively to pairings, particularly when it comes to cider.

​”​Most customers are just now realizing the flexibility cider has when it comes to food pairings, and they are particularly stoked when they see some out-of-the-box recommendations.​”