We have a passion for talking to people who are passionate about what they do. Kari Williams is a prime example of that. As Owner and Head Cidermaker at Snow Capped Cider, Kari has a deep love and respect for the apples she grows as well as for the ciders that come from them. Involved in every aspect of the business, and carrying on multiple generations of apple-growers and cider-makers, Kari shares that passion, and news of her new Snow Capped Cider Tap Room and Wine Bar with In Good Taste Denver readers and our podcast listeners.
Here are some highlights from this podcast episode which you can stream on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and many other places, as well we right here on this page:
One of the early In Good Taste Denver podcasts I recorded was with Kari Williams, Owner and Head Cider Maker of Snow Capped Cider. To this day, it’s still one of our most listened to episodes. Back then I was fascinated to meet Kari and learn more about her family- and woman-owned business that produces hard ciders and nurtures more than 2 million apple trees in Colorado, making the company the largest Apple producer in the state.
Now, Kari and her team have a new venture. The Snow Capped Cider Taproom & Wine Bar, which gives us another excuse to have Kari on as a guest to catch up and see what’s new.
Before we talked about the new Taproom and Wine Bar, I asked Kari to go back in time way, way back to where the Snow Capped Cider story began.
Kari Williams: Snow Capped Cider really came about because of us being fruit growers. One of the primary things was watching my family out growing fruit and what they do to be able to grow fruit in some of the highest elevation orchards in the northern hemisphere.
It’s a very labor-intensive process and I just became very fascinated with apples, high elevation, high UV exposure, what it does to them, and eventually they just kind of decided to take the cider company out into the world. And I became fascinated with cider and presenting what cider should be, what cider was as a historical beverage. And, you know, I was telling my husband that the apples kind of tell me what they want to be, and the apples are leading me. He thinks I’m crazy, of course, but they still are doing that.
And the fascination with the industry as a whole, educating people about proper cider, making conscientious products, from a background of sustainable fruit growing is really what has driven it. You know, we never really intended on being any type of a large company at all, but we are garnering attention and we are slowly growing as a beverage supplier.
Kari then talks about the French and English apple varietals her company is growing at the high elevation of the western slope and how the conditions there influence how the fruit grows and ripens.
KW: As I go deeper and deeper into this cider world, and it’s all based in fruit growing, I still feel like I’m learning, growing and experimenting with making some of the best ciders in the world, honestly. And they’re coming from Colorado and I’m very proud of that.
She speaks of the family’s multi-generational interest in fruit growing and cider-making. Her kids are now entering the business, making it five generations.
KW: What I have in my corner, when it comes to growing fruit and having all the fruit that I have, is my family being fruit growers for so long – over a century. They’re very experienced in it. They’re very serious about growing. That’s what our whole family does all the time. It’s our entire livelihood. There’s hardly a time when you don’t hear one of us or all of us when we’re in the same room, start talking about fruit. We have to try not to talk about apples.
Kari told us about the strains of climate change in an already-challenging growing region and how there are pluses and minuses.
KW: So everything that’s really positive is enhanced by growing here. Everything that is negative is also enhanced because of our weather conditions and whatnot. But the resulting fruit is pretty amazing.
Snow Capped Cider also makes wine and Kari talked about its place in the company.
KW: We make wine, we have vineyards too. We make some fabulous wines, by the way, and we will be featuring them in the tasting room. But I sell wine to buy things for cider! I love, love wine and I am featuring so many wonderful Colorado wineries. I am a wine drinker and a wine connoisseur, and I love good wine, but generally when I promote wine of my own, I’m not nearly as passionate about it as selling cider.
When I sell wine, I take those funds and I put it into this company to buy something cool for the cider production area. And so, you can clearly see where my passion is. It really is in cider. But the two things parallel each other and, this is just my personal opinion, I think making fine cider and fermenting cider and understanding flavor profiles in fruit is much harder than making wine.
That’s going to freak a lot of sommeliers out in the market. There’s just a lot of nuances about it, and there are so many different flavor profiles and understanding how to blend apples and get a certain result. It’s taken me a long, long time to do that.
Next, we talked about the Snow Capped Cider Taproom & Wine Bar.
KW: It seemed like the right time for us. A little building in town kind of came about. And my husband was like, ‘you won’t like that place.’ I looked at it, of course, I said, ‘it’s fabulous. I love it.’ It was this little old gas station at the only stoplight in our whole town. It’s a 1940 gas station. It had nothing there. It was just a little square cinderblock building, no awning, no tanks. It was just sitting in the dirt, the ugliest thing around. And I just thought it was the perfect thing for us. So, I loved the history of it. And it’s taken me a year to remodel it and we’re about to open up.
I think it’s just time to bring in fruit and apples and talk about things. And I’m focusing a lot of my education and I’m going to do tasting flights and teach people about cider and apples. And I have beautiful murals up in the inside with tasting notes from my bottles, from the most famous apples in the world that we grow here in Cedaredge. I love the history of the old gas station. My husband remembers as a kid getting fuel there when he was a kid.
And it really contributes to our little community. We have a beautiful little historic downtown and it’s right at the stoplight. It’s very visible. We planted a lawn and patios and apple trees and it’s taken me a little while, but we’re really excited about it. It will also contribute as fruit growers and being here and doing what we’re doing and speaking out about cider – not only our hometown should know that the fruit is grown here, but I think Colorado should know.
I think it will bring cider drinkers that are interested over the Grand Mesa, which is beautiful. It’s the largest flattop mountain in the world. There are 300 lakes up there. We’re 15 minutes from there and I think it’s going to be just a fabulous time to promote cider, to speak out about where it’s grown.
Kari plans to have 16 taps of Colorado cider, 14 canned products and 54 bottles of French and English cider in the Taproom. She says she went through every style of wine in Colorado and curated a wine menu from around the state.
Snow Capped Cider Taproom & Wine Bar will celebrate its Grand Opening on July 4, 2024. It is located at 105 S. Grand Mesa Drive in Cedaredge. Stay up-to-date on social media: Facebook, X and Instagram. And, of course, on their website.
-By Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher & Managing Editor of In Good Taste Denver and Host of the In Good Taste Denver Podcast
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