Dallas To Get Wider Cider Variety With Addition Of Trinity Cider

DALLAS, TX — Trinity Cider, a soon-to-open cider brewery in Deep Ellum, will bring a variety of flavors, including the unexpected, to the people of North Texas as only the second cider brewery in the region.

So the cidery — that's what founder Josh Price calls it — is, if everything plays out right, only a month away from opening its doors to the people of Deep Ellum. And once it does, Price said, it will bring consumers a dry cider flavor similar to a clean, crisp champagne.

There's good news for health-conscious imbibers as well — all the cidery's beverages will be gluten free, and most will be sugar free.

Price, a former winemaker who recently returned to North Texas after spending eight years in Napa Valley, said he enjoys the variety and quick-turnaround that creating ciders allows.

"With cider making, we can turn around a cider in maybe three weeks," Price said. "In winemaking you're looking at anywhere from a year to three years. It's a lot less labor-intensive."

One benefit to the quick turnaround of cider flavors is a chance to experiment with flavors that Price hopes will become attractions, among them a spicy ghost pepper cider and a pomegranate-balsamic cider.

Price was attracted to the alcoholic-beverage industry after a childhood spent with family members who appreciate wines, spirits and brews, he said.

"I was a science major in college, which got me into viticulture," he said. "That spurred me into winemaking."

For him, drinking is all about the shared experience. Price said he likes to "create something with my own hands that I can share with friends, family and the world."

And that's exactly what he'll do when Trinity Cider opens at 2656 Main Street, a storefront that faces the Pecan Lounge across Pryor Street. He describes the space as "a fairly small building — kind of industrial-chic — with railroad ties hanging above the bar, Edison bulbs hanging down ..."

While Price said the cidery is funded and will open as expected, he hopes to garner additional support through a Kickstarter campaign aimed at covering last-minute expenses. (Subscribe to your local Texas Patch for real-time news alerts and informative newsletters delivered straight to your inbox.)

"One of the biggest things we really want to push on the Kickstarter is you can buy the tickets to the soft opening," he said. "You and one other get to come, drink all the free cider you want and have a great time."

As with any Kickstarter campaign, donors will be rewarded with various gifts once the business opens. Aside from the soft opening tickets, the campaign also promises donors items like hats, custom growlers, a private tasting, cider-making classes, the chance to name a fermenting tank in the cidery and a permanent barstool guaranteed to be vacated upon your arrival.

Price said he chose to place the cidery in Deep Ellum in an effort to "get in while the iron is hot."

"Deep Ellum, to us, at the rate that it's growing, we kind of see [it] as being one of those destination areas in Dallas. Like the Sixth Street of Austin, that's what Deep Ellum is going to be to us," he said. "There's all sorts of new, eclectic restaurants, bars, tattoo shops. It's an edgy, cool place we think is going to explode in the next few years."

It's hard to say what the future holds for Trinity Cider, but Price said he intends to start by selling his cider in Deep Ellum bars.

According to the Kickstarter campaign, "not only will we be handcrafting our cider on-site at our Deep Ellum location, but we'll utilize local ingredients and create a unique product that appeals to the community. We are all about innovation, edge, and imaginative new flavor profiles."

Images courtesy of Josh Price