This year's camping trip saw us turn away from the mountains and head east to Whitney Lakes Provincial Park. northwest of Lloydminster. The park itself has secluded campsites and multiple lakes with clean beaches, which was enough of a draw for us. But the area also includes a number of historically significant sites which made for some great day trips. On the way back from one such trip we made another great discovery - Alberta's northernmost cidery and taproom.
Friday was a hot day of 30, too hot even for a dip in the lake, so Audrey, Glory and I took a tour of the area and visited the Frog Lake National Historic Site. My misreading of Google Maps then saw us take an extended sightseeing trip north to Bonnyville, but on our way back to the campsite, I saw the familiar blue roadside attraction sign for Journey North Cider Co..
I became very excited, having only first encountered Alberta's newest cidery about a month beforehand. I had noted Bonnyville on the label but then put it out of my mind, so this felt like a very fortunate opportunity indeed. I love taprooms and the tasting of flights, and talking with the people who produce them, but as the only beer drinker in the household, it is not exactly a family outing. But we all like cider, so I excitedly directed Glory to pull into their spacious parking lot.
The air-conditioned taproom was its own reward in many ways - clean, spacious, and overlooking the farm and orchards backing onto the building, with an upper level reservable for parties and events.
We took three seats at the bar where Angela, the taproom manager, welcomed us and told us that flights were currently on for $10. I ordered a selection of four (crisp. cranberry, hopped grapefruit and blueberry rosé) while Audrey and Glory split another, swapping out the grapefruit for a cherry instead. There were also a number of local-ish beers on tap and their own version of snakebite (cider and lager) they call "Lakebite".
The ciders were uniformly amazing and covered a broad spectrum of flavour profiles. Blueberry rosé had the most wine-like characteristics and would not feel out of place alongside a chardonnay on a hot day, while the hopped grapefruit was even more refreshing and a great gateway cider for beer fans, but at 6.3% abv was not exactly session friendly.
The flagship crisp was delightfully dry, as Angela explained that they were trying hard to differentiate themselves from the sweeter ciders already on the marketplace, such as Okanagan and Growers. Cranberry was undoubtedly my favourite though, bringing just a bit of pucker to the party.
While we drank them, Angela related the trying prospects of launching a business during a global pandemic (October of 2020!), and how helpful it was to win the local Chamber of Commerce's Perseverance award the following year. It came with advertising funds at a time when their ad budget was zero, and let them start spreading the word a little more effectively.
Now the taproom has a number of local regulars who drop in, but also gets holiday wanderers like ourselves. "Putting up that blue highway sign is the best thing we've ever done!" Angela laughed. Their ciders have won a number of awards, and Journey North has also been recognized for their educational efforts. Certainly Angela was able to talk very comprehensively about almost all aspects of the ciders we tried.
On our way out, we made sure to grab some of their ciders from the cooler (including Mythic, a gamer-inspired cider made with butterfly pea flowers and no longer available on tap), and Glory grabbed a pair of sweatpants with their logo as well.
On our way back to Edmonton on Sunday we stopped in for Sunday brunch with Fenya, and enjoyed breakfast poutines, stuffed brioche French toast and huevos rancheros (tragically, they had already sold out of their amazing-looking breakfast charcuterie). It was all delicious, and now I hope we have a chance to return sometime to try the other food offerings - and any creative new ciders they may have come up with in the meantime!
Should you ever have cause to be around Bonnyville, all four of us can highly recommend stopping in at the Journey North taproom.
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