The Fraser Valley Cider Trail: 8 Stops from Chilliwack to Aldergrove

If you only drink cider when there's nothing else on tap, the Fraser Valley scene will surprise you. The last five years have brought a wave of dry, complex, single-varietal ciders that taste closer to a Loire-Valley Chenin Blanc than to the sweet, supermarket stuff most people think of when they hear the word. Here's a route through eight of the best, organized as a Saturday-to-Sunday loop starting and ending in Metro Vancouver. What to expect Most Fraser Valley cideries grow their own apples. The orchards are small (5–25 acres typically), and many of the apples are cider-specific varieties — Kingston Black, Dabinett, Yarlington Mill — bred for tannin and acid rather than eating. The resulting ciders tend to be drier, lower in residual sugar, and more food-friendly than the sweet stuff. Tastings run $5–$15 and usually include four to six pours. Bottle prices are $12–$25 for 750ml, with the more interesting wild-fermented and barrel-aged bottlings at the top of that range. The route Day 1: West to east 1. Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse (Saanichton, off-route — skip if not on the Island). Worth a mention but it's on Vancouver Island, so start the Fraser route at #2. 2. Tugwell Creek Farm Cidery — Sooke (also off-route, but if you've come from the Island, hit this one). Skip if you're starting in Metro Van. Fraser Valley route proper, west to east: 3. Lonetree Cider — Vancouver. Not a cidery in the orchard sense — they're a producer with an East Van tasting room. Good starting point because you don't need a designated driver yet. 4. Twin Cedars Orchards & Cidery — Surrey. A small family operation. Their dry Heritage cider and their perry (pear cider) are the two to try. Open weekends, smaller weekday hours. 5. Fraser Valley Cider Company — Langley. Probably the most-decorated of the bunch. Tasting room is a converted barn with bench seating. Their Black & Tannin and the Methode Champenoise sparkling cider are signatures. 6. Tod Creek Craft Cider — Cloverdale. Smaller production. The cidery is open Friday–Sunday with a wood-fired pizza oven that runs in the patio season. Lunch break: Trading Post Brewing's restaurant in Fort Langley, or hit Krause Berry Farms for the mini-donut detour (sweet, but it's the move). 7. Windfall Cider — Maple Ridge. Different format — they ferment in old wine barrels. Their barrel-aged ciders are the closest you'll get to a serious table wine in the cider category. 8. Heritage Cider — Mission. Family-run, orchard-to-bottle, with a particular focus on traditional English cider varieties. The Kingston Black single-varietal is a standout. Day 2: Eastern Fraser Valley 9. Ravens Brewing's Sister Cidery — Abbotsford. Newer addition. Lighter, more session-style ciders. Good after a heavier Day 1. 10. The Cider House on Promontory — Chilliwack. The easternmost of the proper Fraser cideries. Hill views over the valley, an orchard you can walk through, and a tasting room that runs charcuterie boards. That's nine in the valley plus a starter in Vancouver. Hit five or six in a weekend and you've had a real overview. What to order at each A few rules of thumb: • At any cidery, start with their driest offering. Sweet ciders are more forgiving — they all taste pretty good. The dry ones separate the great producers from the mediocre. • Try a perry if they make one. Pear ciders are a smaller category and the best ones are excellent. • Look for 'wild fermented' or 'native yeast' on the menu. These are usually the most distinctive bottles. • Ask what they're working on. Cider makers love to talk about experiments, and they'll often pull something from the back that's not on the menu. Buying Most cideries sell 500ml or 750ml bottles, sometimes 4-packs of 355ml cans. Prices are reasonable — you can put together a mixed case of 12 bottles from two or three cideries for $200–$300 that would cost twice that in a city wine shop. Logistics Distances between Fraser Valley cideries are short — 10 to 30 minutes between most stops. A designated driver works fine; if you're a group of two or three, an Uber or pre-booked van makes sense in summer when wait times are long. Go on a sunny weekend. Cidery patios in the Fraser Valley in July are one of the underrated experiences in BC.