Wise Bird Takes a Bet on Kentucky Heritage Cider
Authentic European-style cider in the heart of bourbon country
All photos by Sara Havens
Editor’s note: Sara Havens visited Wise Birds in the weeks prior to Covid-19 lockdown in Kentucky, when their tasting room was still open to visitors. The cider is available at the cidery for curbside pickup, and they ship direct to most states, info here.
Tim and Greta Wright craved more than the rigid routines of the 8-to-5 lifestyle, so they bet the farm—or rather, their digs in Washington, D.C.—and followed their passion to make small-batch, heritage ciders all the way to Lexington, Kentucky. It was a big leap for the couple, especially since Greta was pregnant with their second child at the time.
The Wrights had frequented Lexington many times before, since Greta’s sister lived there, and they knew it would be the perfect spot for their dream cidery, which they branded Wise Bird Cider Co.
Many might think such a drastic transition is anything but “wise”, as the name suggests, but the Wrights did their homework years before taking the plunge. Long before babies, the couple traveled the country, visiting as many cideries as they could find. Tim was drawn to the traditional style of cider—more focus on the apple, less on the sugar and other fruit additives.
Tim and Greta White with their kids at the cidery in early March
“This is how cider has been made for hundreds and hundreds of years around the world,” Tim explains. “We make cider from apples like the wine maker makes wine from grapes.”
The Wrights took beer and cider-making classes at Cornell University and began experimenting with home-brew. Tim studied the nuances of French-style, Spanish-style and English-style ciders, and he worked to get his juice as close to those traditional methods as possible.
And then, on a wing and a prayer, the Wrights began entering competitions with much success (we hope to see them in New York this coming winter!) It turns out all that studying and practicing paid off, and they took home a few awards. “That’s when we decided: ‘Maybe we should quit our jobs and sell our house and invest every penny we have into a cidery,’” Tim says.
The Wrights scouted a few locations throughout Lexington, but when they stumbled upon open retail space inside the trendy new Distillery District, which sits on the grounds of the recently renovated James E. Pepper Distillery, they knew they had found their home base.
Wise Bird Cider Co. opened its doors in June of 2019, joining neighboring businesses—like Ethereal Brewing, Goodfellas Pizzeria, Middle Fork Kitchen Bar, and Barrel House Distillery—that make up the food-and-drink complex. So far, business is booming.
The Wise Bird menu is short and rather simple, offering five flagship ciders, two special releases, a handful of cider-infused cocktails (the cidery just received its full liquor license, so expect more drink options in the future) and several guest taps.
The tasting room pre-lockdown in early March
Tim has transformed from student to teacher, and he trains all his employees on the methods and stylings of traditional cider. Because there's always that one customer who comes in expecting pineapple/cherry/you-name-it cider.
“We spend a lot of time educating our customers,” Tim says. “As soon as we explain to them what traditional cider is and point out the analogy to wine—that not all cider has to be super sweet—they’re much more receptive to what it is when they taste it. Their minds are blown, because they never expected a cider could taste so good without all the sugar and fruit flavors.”
Wise Bird’s ciders have been so well-received, Tim adds, you can now find it in more than 35 locations throughout Lexington and Louisville.
Of course, with being in such close proximity to a bourbon distillery and being smack dab in the middle of Bourbon Country, Wise Bird has experimented with barrel-aged ciders. Its flagship Rickhouse offering features a Winesap single varietal cider aged in James E. Pepper barrels for six months.
“It’s a good way for us to showcase what a subtle, bourbon barrel-aged cider can taste like,” Tim says. “Again, with traditional cider, we wanted the focus to be on the apple, but to give it just enough of a hint of vanilla and rye and oak to highlight the fact that it was aged in a bourbon barrel.”
Tim also has experimented with Panneau, a French classic that involves distilling cider and aging it in a barrel. His has some Kentucky leanings, naturally, as he aged his distillate in a former W.L. Weller bourbon barrel that was then used for aging brandy by Copper & Kings Distillery out of Louisville. The result? A delicious, 19% abv apple dessert wine that flew off the shelves.
Before lockdown, Wise Bird Cider Co. had become a gathering space for fellow beer and cider lovers, and that’s exactly what the Wrights set out to create (hopefully gatherings can resume again safely in the not-so-distant future). The open floor plan, with garage doors that let the outside in, features eye-catching murals painted by local artists, lounge areas where parties can gather, smaller nooks for private meetings, tailgate games and TVs. And while the cidery doesn't serve much in the way of food, Tim schedules a regular rotation of local food trucks.
Some day in the future he'd love to partner with a local restauranteur who could cook in the space as well. Before the cidery had to shut its doors to visitors, but Tim had hosted the occasional Chef's Dinner Series, a kitchen takeover of sorts that also focuses on cider pairings.
For now, the Wrights are focused on quality, sustainability and giving back to the community. It’s their dream, after all, and, according to Tim, it’s meant to be shared.