DO YOU HAVE A CIDER ON TAP?
THE QUESTION THAT STARTED OUR COMPANY.
2007
OUR FOUNDERS
When Adam & Nicola moved to Canada over 10 years ago, they brought with them their love of cider. Disappointed by not being able to finding any local craft cider in Atlantic Canada, they took matters into their own hands and started making it for themselves and friends. They quickly realised that there was an opportunity to create a new sector in the craft alcohol industry of NB; Red Rover was born.
2012 - 2014
THE EARLY YEARS
Because Red Rover would become the first craft cider company in NB, our founders needed to come up with a way to identify exactly what the people of New Brunswick were looking for in a craft cider, so crowdfunding began. The opinions gained from this system were far more valuable than any monetary investment. Our supporters attended various tastings, offered great feedback on all of our cider creations, and received a personal supporter pack. As the project progressed it became very obvious that not many people truly understood craft cider as an alcoholic beverage. Because of this, Red Rover was first branded as “Red Rover Brewing Company”. This was later changed to “Red Rover Craft Cider” as the market, and understanding, grew!
2014-2-13
THE CIDERHOUSE
Being the frontrunner in the alcoholic craft cider industry of New Brunswick was no small feat. Many long hours of research, and lobbying were put in to this vision, but once all was said and done we were finally able produce and sell our product! We began production at 880 Hanwell Rd. in Fredericton New Brunswick, and filled our first flagon of cider in Eastern Canada on the 13th of February 2014.
2014-7
FARMERS MARKETS
We were so happy with our new facility, but wanted to find a way to share our product with more people and to make this as convenient for our customers as possible. In the summer of 2014 found the perfect venue; Farmers Markets. Our first offsite location was the Fredericton Boyce Farmers Market, where we still set up every Saturday morning year round. We didn’t stop there! Over the years we have expanded to 5 Market locations in St. Andrews, Saint John, Kingston, Shediac, and most recently the Garrison Night Market here in Fredericton. We love the community feeling and the dedicated market goers who visit us each week!
2015-6-6
OUR FIRST AWARD
In 2015, for the first time ever, the “Canadian Brewing Awards” added cider to the styles being judged. This was a huge announcement, not only for us, but for many cider producers across the country. We decided to take a chance and enter our Fire cider, this delicious ginger spiced cider WON GOLD! Receiving this award was an amazing experience, but we could have never anticipated that this would just be the first of many more. In 2015 we were named Cidery of the Year and were awarded an additional 8 medals over the next year alone!
2016-1-1
BOTTLES IN NB LIQUOR
After over two years of work, NB was finally ready for an official Cider Policy. This new legislation would enable our products to be bottled and sold at provincial liquor outlets! Spring, Fall & Fire were release at ANBL locations in January 2016, with Summer cider following in May. These four varieties, as well as some special seasonal bottles are available at your local ANBL.
2016-3-16
THE CIDERHOUSE V2
As the company continued to grow and expand the original Cider House, located in the Cider Works at 880 Hanwell, was getting a little crowded! In March of 2016 we decided to move our tap room downtown! We teamed up with a local restaurant and The Cider House opened up at 546 Queen Street. In this new location our guests would have access to our retail outlet, could conveniently refill their flagons, and would be able to sit and enjoy a cider in the core of downtown Fredericton.
2017-5
INTERNATIONAL BEST-IN-CLASS
In early 2017 Red Rover won FIRST PLACE Best-in-Class for our Summer cider, at Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition - the most respected cider competition in the world. We knew our products were fantastic, but this was something we had aspired to achieve in a decade, not a few short years into our journey!
2018-12-7
THE NEXT GENERATION
With so much growth in such a short time we decided that it was time to felt it was time to refresh the company identity. In December 2018 we launched our brand new branding starting with "Jingleberry" our extra special holiday favourite. If you’ve been with us since the beginning you’ll notice we have that same amazing quality products but with an all new logo, bottle design, and an overall refreshed look. We are so pleased that Red Rover has, and will continue, to grow. With a dedicated team, and a common goal of sharing the love of high quality, hand crafted cider, with as many people as possible there’s no telling what’s next (no really, there’s no telling. Spoilers are no fun!) but we certainly hope that you’ll come along with us!
