Step aside, Sriracha Festival, there's a new festival in town—LA Cider Fest—and it's happening tomorrow. That's right, Los Angeles is getting its first-ever hard cider festival, which will take place at Raleigh Studios Hollywood. At ease, skeptics: this isn’t the kind of cider that summons an instant headache from tasting granules of sugar with every sip. This festival, hosted by Hand Crafted Tasting Co. and Half Pint Ciders, is offering a selection on non-commercial ciders with pressed juice and no water added.
Drinking cider harkens back to the days of yore when New England was first settled, before Bud was America’s favorite beer and before we had a National Day for Everything in The Universe (we’re looking at you, National Cheeseburger Day). But as all things in life are cyclical, cider is back to being a very big deal, and LA is ready to celebrate. The fest is trying to appeal to craft beer drinkers, which, in case you haven’t gone to a gastropub in the past few years, is a huge crowd. But it also is trying to pull in the gluten-free crowd as well. Besides, cider is just like beer, except it tastes better.
The LA Cider Fest has a list of all the participating cider houses, breweries and meaderies listed on their website. There will also be a handful of food trucks, dessert options and other vendors. Tickets for the event, which are selling fast, are available in two sessions: one that runs from 2-4:30pm and a second from 7-9:30pm.