Canada’s first cider bar is opening in Toronto

Toronto’s having a cider moment, and Joshua Mott is all over it. This May, he’ll open Her Father’s Cider Bar—the country’s first bar dedicated to the stuff—on Harbord Street. The 31-year-old spent the last three years making cider with his parents at their award-winning Beaver Valley Cidery, outside Collingwood. He watched as the hard cider renaissance swept across North America, and dedicated cider bars began popping up (like NYC’s Wassail, which opened in spring 2015). And last year, the LCBO’s local cider sales increased by 93 per cent to $4 million. That was all the ammo Mott needed.

At Her Father’s, he’ll showcase experimental one-offs on 12 rotating Ontario-dedicated taps. “There aren’t many traditional cider apples that are native to Ontario,” he says, “and that’s forced our cider producers to get creative with things like cherry or orange infusions, barrel aging, and adding hops.” There will also be a list of 75 international bottles, including hard-to-source ones from France, Spain, the U.K. and New Zealand. Chef Ryan Barclay (The Grove, Splendido) is creating a menu of locally sourced, seasonal dishes and—since cider is gluten-free—Celiac-friendly dishes, too.

119 Harbord St., 416-569-9167, herfathers.ca, @HFCiderBar