Many don’t know that Poland, my home country, is one of the largest apple producers in the EU. This is also the reason why Poland is also called the “Orchard of Europe”. Despite this fact, Poland doesn’t have a strong tradition of cidermaking like the UK, France, Spain or Germany have. Nevertheless, over the last decade the cider category in Poland has been continusly growing. In Poland, there are more than 15 cideries right now and new ones are opening each year. Admittedly, considering the fact that Poland’s population is approx. 40 million people, a number of 15 cidermakers is not a huge number but trust me it is a real challenge to set up a cidery in Poland. Anyhow, in the past, there has been already several attempts to organise a cider festival in Poland. One of the most recent cider events was Cydr i miód nad Odrą in Wroclaw in 2022 and 2023 that was organised for both cider and mead aficionados (as I participated in this event, I wrote a visit recap – read it here). But wouldn’t that be nice to have an event dedicated only to this magical alcoholic beverage made from apples? I hope this is what inspired the organisers of Cydrówka to hold an event that took place on May, 30 2024 in Otomin, approx. 10 km away from Gdańsk in the north of Poland. And, only 20 km away from the Baltic sea.
Cydrówka was an outdoor cider festival that was held in the premises of Tabun, a family-run agritourism complex consisting of a restaurant, horse-riding center, farm, a few red brick-guesthouses and of course, that is also a home to a cidery Tabun. The man behind the Tabun cider is Michał Ponikowski (I’ve reviewed Michał’s ciders in the past – Lodowy 2020, Renety 2021, Nehou 2020, Wytrawny 2020, Krik 2020, Wytrawny 2019, Wytrawny Dziki 2019, Wytrawny 2018, Renety 2018). Since Tabun is located just outside of Gdańsk but is still easily accessible by bike or car. And, also since a cab from the center of Gdańsk doesn’t cost an arm and leg, it is a great retreat for the inhabitants of Gdańsk, fans of the slow food/slow life movement and a fantastic location to hold an outdoor cider festival.
The idea of Cydrówka was to bring together almost all Polish cidermakers with cider drinkers and showcase different faces of Polish craft cider. And, most importantly to prove that Polish cider is doing well. Apart from sampling ciders from a number of Polish cidermakers and one Spanish cidermaker, the agenda of Cydrówka included lectures about cider (And, I happened to be the one of the speakers), a lesson of pouring sidra natural and a cider dinner that involved the pairing of cider with each course.
Here is the full list of participating cidermakers:
- Tabun
- Cydr Chyliczki
- Cydr Ignaców
- Cydrownia Zywer
- Pfeiffer’s Cider
- Filomelos
- Cydr Pełnia
- Cydr Swoszowicki
- Cydr Lorek
- There was also a booth offering sidra from the Asturian Fanjul
Highlights of Cydrówka 2024
When you are planning an outdoor festival, you never know what kind of weather to finally expect on the day of your event. Despite the fact that the weather forecast for that day included the possibility of rain and even storm, fortunately for Cydrówka goers, Thursday’s weather turned out to be filled with sunshine and a pleasant temperature above 20 degrees Celsius. In a nutshell, perfect conditions for an outdoor cider festival as one could relax in the sun sitting in a garden lounger sipping cider being surrounded by the forest, fruit trees, stables and a bonfire site. Cydrówka goers included not only cider lovers, who came from all over Poland and sometimes even from abroad for this cider get together but also also families with small children or cyclists. The amount of people was just right. It was busy all the time but not unpleasantly crowded. And, due to the fact that Tabun is a large complex, everyone could find their own space.
As mentioned previously, one of the agenda points apart from sampling cider was the educational part. Tomek Porowski from Cydr Ignaców briefly explained how cider is made, which apple varieties are used to make cider and gave an introduction to European cider regions. Interestingly, Tomek managed to find some historical data proving that in previous centuries there has been some attempts to make a fruit wine from apples in Poland and that apple wine was praised for its health benefits. Then Przemek Iwanek from Cydr Pełnia run a cider tasting explaining the differences between various Polish ciders. During my talk, I shared some basic information on how to perform a cider analysis during a cider competition and gave a brief introduction to styles in European cider regions. I must say that I was very pleased that during my presentation and afterwards, a lot of questions were asked. It shows that there is indeed a strong need among Polish cider fans for discussions about cider and that there are not enough opportunities to speak about different features of cider.
If you are an avid reader of Cider Explorer you are surely used to the fact that when writing a visit recap I usually mention ciders that stood out, impressed me most or that I enjoyed the most during a particular event. This time, exceptionally, I will have to skip that part. The reason for this is that I suffered from a cold a few days earlier so that at the time of Cydrówka, I didn’t feel fully recovered from that. As my ability to smell and taste properly were significantly reduced, I reckoned that it would be unfair towards cidermakers to express opinion about ciders they have made.
What I can, however, share with you are the results of my analysis of the Polish cider style. I tried to assess, what all these Polish ciders have in common and see if there is a trend or one style just like it was in the case of Latvian cider (I wrote about it here). As per my findings, most of the tasted Polish ciders were dry, sparkling, were a blend of a few heritage apple varieties such as e.g. Reine de Reinette or Boskoop but also mixed with dessert apples or in some cases English apple varieties such as Kingston Black or Dabinett. In two cases, red-fleshed apple varieties to make a Rose cider were used (Tabun and Pfeiffer’s). Single-varietal cider was rare, however. The same goes for perry (only Filomelos brought perry). Also, in most cases Polish cider wasn’t aged in any kind of barrels. None of the cidermakers used wild apple tree but crab apple were used in certain cases to add some astringency. It all reminds me a bit of the US cider scene as there was only little that all these ciders had together and every cidermaker was doing things in its own way. It’s nothing bad. It just tells about the lack of cidermaking tradition in Poland. I just find it interesting that despite no real cider tradition in Latvia, they managed to develop their own style. It is really exciting to be able to observe what is happening in the European cider scene!
Closing remarks
Frankly speaking, I can’t imagine a better place for a cider festival in Poland than Tabun in Otomin. The proximity to Gdańsk, beautiful surroundings, being close to nature, very tasty food from the Tabun restaurant all this make Tabun a perfect place not only to spend time but also enjoy a glass of cider. The first edition of Cydrówka was in my opinion a huge success. There was a good amount of cidermakers, visitors, an offering of activities such as drawing a graffiti, cider talks. If only my ability to smell and taste properly were not reduced, I would have obviously enjoyed it much more. But only the fact that I was given a chance to educate a group of people about how to evaluate cider made me very satisfied. And, of course meeting like minded people.
As for future ideas, since Cydrówka is about celebrating Polish cider, in my opinion it would be an advantage to include a space for home cider makers so they can pour samples of their ciders or perries and obtain feedback from the audience and cider experts. Especially, that at Cydrówka I met many home cider makers who brought cider samples with them. Therefore, it is something worth considering for the next year’s event.
In summary, there is a lot going on in the Polish craft cider scene and more Poles start to discover and appreciate cider. I think that the number of people that came to Otomin prove that. And, the fact that the date of the next Cydrówka is already known, June 19 2025 is another great example. Therefore, save the date, arrange your flight/train and come to Otomin in 2025! Na zdrowie!
If you want me to participate in and promote your cider event in Europe or beyond, contact me at cider.explorer@gmail.com
Cider Explorer 