I’ve gotten behind on pointing to my recent print articles so it’s time to get caught up. Last month, I was invited to attend and cover the Northwest Cider Cup awards party in Portland to do a writeup for The Bulletin, and I was pleased to be able to highlight a local angle as Bend’s own Avid Cider won two medals in the most competitive category of the competition, “Fruit Post-Fermentation Addition Sweet.”

“We entered our flagship Blackberry cider, Dragon Fruit cider and Pineapple Mango cider in the competition,” said [Avid’s] senior brand manager Finn Leahy via email. “All of the entries were in the ‘Fruit Post-Fermentation Addition’ category. We take great pride in our fruited cider offerings and believe it is our strongest area of expertise in the cider industry.”

The “Fruit Post-Fermentation Addition Sweet” category, in which Avid’s ciders were entered, was the largest category by number of entries, with 49 in all. Of the four medals awarded in the category (there was a tie for silver), Avid won two: the bronze medal for Pineapple Mango, and the gold medal for Dragon Fruit.

I caught up with co-founder Samantha Roberts, who was in attendance, to find out her thoughts on the wins.

“It’s the most important category,” she said of the overall amount of competition. “(Dragon Fruit) is one of our favorites, and we think it’s one of our best ciders by far.” Dragon Fruit is the company’s second best-selling cider, after Blackberry.

If you’ve never attended the awards for the NW Cider Cup, it’s a lively and festive party where you can connect with industry professionals and the cider makers themselves. The full list of 2024 winners is posted here, and I’m already looking forward to next year!