Cider and cheese pairing returns for fall's Harvest Days

We always knew the pairing would come back. We just didn't expect how many of you would ask when. So this fall we planned ahead and there are two of them.

Saturday, October 3rd Adrianne Mingea — Curd Nerd, Certified Cheese Professional®, and the person behind Curd Culture — is coming back to guide the room through a pairing built on our Harvest Flight. First seating 2 to 4 PM, second seating 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Thirty-five seats in each.

We could have thrown open one big room and doubled the number, but half the fun is being close enough to ask a question and actually hear the answer. Two smaller rooms keeps it that way.

Here's how a seating goes. You sit down to a board of cheeses Adrianne picked for the season and a flight of our ciders to go with them, and she talks you through each one as you go while we pour alongside her. By the end you know why a sharp cheddar wants something dry, and why the funky stuff pairs better than you'd think.

The ciders are our Harvest Flight: King Blossom, Kingston Black, Cranberry Vanilla and Harvest Spice, the fall lineup we pour right through November. If you've done cheese with wine or beer before, cider is its own thing. The acidity does a lot of the work, and orchard fruit gets along with dairy in a way that catches people off guard the first time.

And if you're sitting there thinking you don't know enough about cider for this, you don't need to know anything walking in. Plenty of people at the last one were first-timers, and they had the most fun.

Reserve the 2 PM seating

Reserve the 5:30 PM seating

Seventy seats, and that's all there is. Last time they went fast, so if you've got a preference between the afternoon and the evening, now's the time to act on it.

See you October 3rd.