Salt Lake City— Utah’s blossoming craft cider scene reached a new milestone today as Scion Cider, Utah’s newest urban cidery and bar in Salt Lake City teamed up with southern Utah’s Etta Place Cider to craft a limited release from local Utah apples, fermented with Saison yeast and dry-hopped with Azacca hops. The result is a powerful 8.0 percent ABV apple wine that is dry, bubbly, bright, and citrus-forward with tropical notes to kick off the summer season. 

Beginning today, the collaboration will be available on draft only at Scion Cider Bar in Salt Lake City while supplies last. Etta Place will sell co-branded bottles at their tasting room near Capitol Reef National Park. A limited supply of the collaboration cider will also be available for Utah DABC Special Order by the case. (12 Bottles, 500ml, $8.95 each, CSC#923835) 

The joint initiative brought together the cider makers of Scion and Etta Place to share knowledge and resources among the small businesses. Open for less than six months as a cider focused bar, Scion was experiencing delays in receiving production equipment and was still awaiting manufacturing permits; Etta Place, who opened operations in spring of 2021, had yet to experiment with dry-hopping cider and had no prior experience in kegging cider and wine. Utilizing the Torrey facility to produce the first-ever collaboration between Utah-based cideries was the perfect solution, enabling the two groups to work together. 

Rio Connelly, General Manager and head cider maker at Scion, brought his expertise from over 10 years in the Utah craft beer scene, as co-founder of Proper Brewing and assistant production manager in the early days of Epic Brewing. 

Connelly shared his excitement in bringing to life his first commercial cider project: “It was such an amazing opportunity to work with Robert, Ann, and Travis from Etta Place. We’d already been friends for a couple of years so doing this project was a no-brainer and we had so much fun. They care so much about their product and it comes through in the final cider. I can’t wait for whatever we do together next!”

“The great thing about the cider community is that most everyone understands we aren’t competing with each other. There simply isn’t enough craft cider in America to meet the demand, ” added Ann Torrence, co-founder of Etta Place.

While Etta Place manages its own heirloom apple orchards near the aptly named Fruita, Utah – for this collaboration, the juice blend made up of primarily Jonathan apples, plus Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Fuji, and Gala varieties – was provided by Jordan Riley, Scion co-owner and orchardist at The Partner Farms, a multigenerational family operation in northern Utah. 

“Without this collaboration, we never would have attempted a hopped cider in our first year of production. Rio’s extensive beer experience guided the recipe development in a direction that would have taken us months of bench trials to get started. Instead, we nailed it on our first attempt. We can’t wait to start pouring this in our tasting room. It’s going to convert quite a few people over to hopped ciders as a category.”

In the heart of the Central 9th neighborhood and Granary District full of craft breweries, Scion Cider is bringing a new kind of tasting experience to the downtown Salt Lake City bar scene, and this initial collaboration is sure to appeal to craft beer lovers, cider novices and wine enthusiasts alike. 

What: Scion x Etta Place Cider Dry Hopped Release Party, featuring the Azacca collaboration plus a lineup of new Spring 2022 Etta Place releases: Newtown Pippin single varietal and Gingered ciders, Rhubarb Peach Wine and Fig Mead.

When: Thursday, May 26th – 4 PM to 10 PM 

Where: Scion Cider Bar, 916 Jefferson St W, Salt Lake City, UT

About Scion Cider 

Scion Cider Bar features over 20 taps of full-strength craft ciders, plus over 150 cans and bottles imported from around the US, Canada, the UK, France, Spain, and Sweden. Cider-focused cocktails plus specialties such as Calvados, Pommeaus and Ice Ciders, and apple-based aperitifs round out the extensive menu. Scion’s bar snack menu is inspired by salty Spanish pintxos – with conservas (tinned smoked & fermented fish), nuts & olives, and a rotating selection of gourmet cheeses & charcuterie, to create natural pairings to compliment the complexity of cider. Local beer, distilled spirits, and house wines are also available. Scion Cider is a female-led company, with Managing Partner Elisabeth Osmeloski heading up the ownership group, working closely with GM Rio Connelly on daily operations, overseeing brand marketing and community events.