Tap Handle #694: Swilled Dog Hard Cider

June 13, 2018

Tap Handle #694: Swilled Dog Hard Cider

Tap size: 11"
Rarity: less than 10 seen
Mounting: internal 3/8" nut

One of my collector's club members helped me acquire this tap. I had a great conversation with Brooke Glover, Swilled Dog's Director of Sales the Marketing, about the design of the tap. There are many great features to be found on this tap, with the most prominent being the border collie laying under the apple tree which forms the main basis of the tap. The border collie's name is Lucy Pickles, and she is the cidery's mascot, representing the other dogs that the Glovers have, as well as their support of pet shelters. As the owner of two Australian Shepherds, I absolutely love this aspect of the tap. Below Lucy Pickles is a place for a round label (or a place to write a variety), and at the bottom is an apple core. Looking closely you can spot that the seeds are shaped like the state of West Virginia. At the top of the tap is the cidery's name on a big sign among the apples on the tree. It's a beautiful tap and I loved adding it to the collection.

Click through to read more about Swilled Dog Hard Cider and to see more photos of this sweet tap...

Swilled Dog Cider Company was founded in Franklin, West Virginia in 2016 by The Glover family. Brad Glover, his two sisters and their families, all work to help make the hard cider, including pressing the apples and making the cider. Brooke Glover, Brad’s wife, is the director of sales and marketing. Locals had a tradition of producing their own hard ciders. The Glovers became hooked on some of their friends' concoctions, and decided to launch a cider company. Their love of dogs led them to include them in the name of the cidery, and a local artist named Michelle Sites was instrumental in the creation of their logo and labels. After making many test batches in their basements, the Glovers determined that they needed something that resembled a cidery, so they turned approximately 1,100 square feet of space into a full-fledged production facility, with many members of the family bringing their expertise to the project. Much of the equipment and the work space used in the cidery was built by their resourcefulness, such as a 4 station keg washer, a counter pressure bottle filler, a chill chamber for small batch carbonation, a temperature controlled fermentation room, and a walk-in cooler.

The majority of the company’s apples and juice are sourced directly from local West Virginia orchards and farmers. Among the first ciders Swilled Dog offered was a 2016 limited edition West Virginia Scrumpy, made of a mixture of apples donated to the cidery by West Virginia residents. The Glovers actually went around knocking on doors for donations, and everyone was very excited about the prospect that their apples would be used in making a local West Virginia product. Additionally, all proceeds from the sale of the Scrumpy went to charity. Without a tasting room, the cidery was solely dependent on local retailers for sales and distributed the product themselves. Due to demand, Swilled Dog was forced to scale up very quickly. They decided to plant their own orchards of heirloom variety and cider apples. After a successful plantings in 2017, larger plantings were scheduled for the following 3 years with more to follow. The apples being planted or grafted have names like Northern Spy, Golden Russet, Roxbury Russet, Goldrush, Pippin, King David, Winesap, Ashmead’s Kernel, Arkansas Black, Hewes Crab, and Black twig. They have room to plant thousands of trees. The family has been working with West Virginia University to lean how to plant and take care of the cider apple trees and how to take care of them during the winter and graft them

In 2016, Swilled Dog entered GLINTCAP (Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition), the largest cider competition in the world. The limited edition West Virginia Scrumpy earned Silver in the Heritage Cider - Dry category. Granny’s Gold, Swilled Dog’s Winter/Spring seasonal, also earned Silver in the Specialty Cider and Perry category. Two of Swilled Dog’s Flagship ciders, Bunny Slope and Walk the Dog earned Bronze in the Hopped Cider and Heritage Cider - Dry categories, respectively. The award-winning ciders have been so popular, that Swilled Dog turned to canning to keep up with demand, and was the first cidery in West Virginia to put cider in a can. Swilled Dog is also now able to ship its ciders to 38 states across the country via their online marketplace. They have even created a Swilled Cider Club where you can receive quarterly shipments of Swilled Dog Hard Cider right to your door.

The Swilled Dog owners emphasize operating as a socially responsible company that wants to be deeply involved in its community. The owners give not only their time but have also committed to give at least 1% of their annual sales to local communities and charities. They also plan to partner with schools to teach kids how to plant and take care of apple trees. In addition, Brooke Glover was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the United States Association of Cider Makers (USACM) for a three-year term. The USACM is an organization comprised of over 400,000 cider makers across the country. Brooke joins the 11-person Board that includes cider makers from companies such as Woodchuck, Angry Orchard, Bold Rock, Stem, and Noble. Her platform is to help push regulatory change for the growing industry on a national level and provide a fresh perspective for craft cider-makers.

Swilled Dog's Walk the Dog is their flagship semi-dry cider meant to be enjoyed all year long. After selecting the perfect combination of apples and fermenting to the right balance of flavor and acidity, this cider offers a refreshing finish that will keep you wanting more, or as Swilled Dog likes to say, this cider will surely Walk the Dog!