BlackBird Cider Works

Yes, I know I’m not the biggest fan of apple cider to begin with, but I was pleasantly surprised by the ciders at Leonard Oakes, and that made me feel more optimistic about trying out BlackBird Cider Works last week.
The venue itself is great. The grounds are beautiful with a view of the lake. The building is cool. Service is friendly. The ciders are okay-​ish.
I tried the Brut first because it was supposedly made in the champagne style. I figured worst case scenario it would taste like sparkling cider. Nope. No sparkle whatsoever. It just tasted like apple flavored water.
Next I tried the semi dry New England style because it incorporated local honey and sounded promising. The smell was really unpleasant. The taste actually wasn’t too bad. It kind of reminded me of mead… but I’d rather have mead.
I also tried the two drafts. The estate was okay. The premium draft was not.
Again, take my review with a grain of salt. It’s worth a visit.

Cool little cider shop. None of the ciders were very outstanding, but nice for something different.
Our group did not end up buying anything because while the ciders were good, nothing was great. The girl at the counter was nice, needed a little encouraging to open up, but once she started talking she was very nice and informative.

Long overdue review! This place was such a fun stop on our Wine tour around. We were spending a couple days in the area checking out all the different places on our way back from Niagara Falls and this was by far our favorite! I wish I could remember his name (he’s in one of the pictures) but he was so cool and very friendly. My boyfriend is in my the beer industry and they had lots to chat about. We loved the ciders and bought quite a few to take home and give as gifts as well. I still have the tasting glass as a candle holder on my stove (scared we would break it!) so I can always remember our trip! A must stop! Also I must mention, we started our day at a different winery/​cider tasting place and the girl there actually told us not to come here and that the cider wasn’t good, etc. SHE WAS WRONG and also we really didn’t like her negative attitude towards a neighboring business. It was the highlight of the day for sure!

Our wine tour called ahead because apparently you need reservations. Regardless, we were accosted in the driveway and admonished to «use our indoor voices» before we entered the building. We were a group of 15, but having only started the tour, we were far from rowdy. On entering the building, the staff were rude and unwelcoming, challenging our reservations and our right to be there. We left. In exactly the dignified way they expected us to.

Nice to have a cidery on the trail! And even better, a cidery that makes organic batches! They had at least three organic ciders offered. While there for a tasting, the owner was just completing a batch of habenero cider which will be a limited offering. I cannot wait until it is done — I will definitely be making a trip out to try it!
We came with a group of 21 people. They accomodated us, but it was a tight fit. We had five people at the bar for a tasting at a time. They were very friendly and helped us partake in the scavenger hunt by scattering photos throughout their tasting room for us to find. We appreciated them being so accomodating and the uniqueness they offer on the trail.

BlackBird Cider Works is located along the Niagara Wine Trail. It has a small tasting room that features a wide variety of interesting and diverse hard ciders. The people who work here are super friendly and the Ciders are fantastic. One word of caution: Do not come here expecting your typical carbonated Woodchuck or McKenzie’s hard cider. What you have here is more sophisticated and aged… it’s quite similar to wine. One suggestion to these folks is to build a larger tasting area. I really appreciate when people take risks and do something different. Best of luck to this local business!

I love hard cider and they do a nice job esp for a relatively new place, tried twice so far. Visited their place last yr & took some home and also tried some samples when they did the Chocolate party at the Lafayette in Bflo in January. Should hv bouhht more then. Kind of settled more then bubbly. Friendly & unassuming but welcoming servers. Will return.