REVEL CIDER
WHO: Tariq Ahmed, owner
WHERE: Stoney Creek
EMPLOYEES: 1
FIRST RELEASED CIDER: 2014 revelcider.ca
THE DAYS WERE LONG for Tariq Ahmed while he interned at an organic farm in Copetown during the summer of 2013.
Despite spending nine-and-a-half hours a day picking vegetables, he managed to fit in learning a new craft. After-hours, the now 23-year-old would head back out to the field to gather apples and, using equipment he found at the farm, make hard cider.
While Ahmed originally wanted to be a farmer, his cider-making became a growing obsession.
“Fell in love with it, kind of, on the farm,” he says.
September rolled around, and Ahmed headed back to the University of Guelph where he was studying plant science. In Guelph, he bought an old wine press and grinder from a guy who could no longer use them and continued developing his cider recipe. In the meantime, he learned of a pitch competition offered through the university for undergrads and alumni looking to start businesses.
Ahmed ended up winning, which gave him some cash to help with startup costs.
Revel Cider was born.
Ahmed keeps three types on tap — Liquid Gold, made with Ontario-grown apples from Twin Pines Orchards; Hop X, featuring a new hop varietal grown in Nottawa by Clear Valley Hops; and Spirit of the Woods, featuring gin botanicals from Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers in Beamsville.
His product is available at about 65 restaurants and bars across the province, but not in the LCBO. Cider producers are licensed as wineries in Ontario but not necessarily regulated as such and because the beverage isn’t made from grapes, they don’t receive a rebate. That means cideries pay the full markup — 56 per cent of sale price.
Now in his second year of commercial production, Ahmed expects to churn out 35,000 litres, up from 20,000. His target for 2017: 80,000.
Ahmed typically puts in about 70 hours a week making cider and making deliveries in his pickup. Eventually, he’d like to be able to hire help.
“I’d like to transition into the role of just cider maker,” said the Guelph resident. “That’s kind of where I see my own role in the business.”
FUN FACT:
Ahmed has his own equipment but rents space out of the West Avenue Cider Company’s facility in Stoney Creek. He hopes to have his own location within six months and rent out space to another cider company.