Kings & Spies Sparkling Cider

Victorian by provenance, Kings & Spies is a cider fit for royalty or rogues. Crafted from King apples, Northern Spies and other apples of mysterious lineage, this off-dry cider is crowd-sourced and community-minded to the core. Sea Cider insiders refer to Kings & Spies as "apple prosecco."

How We Make This Cider

Kings & Spies is part of our Heirloom Apple Series, which contains ciders made from select heritage apple varietals. For Kings & Spies, the blend of apples varies from year-to-year depending on the fruit brought in by the community, but the style is consistently effervescent and off-dry.  Also consistent year to year is that we press the apples at our farm, then ferment the juice with a champagne yeast and induce a malolactic fermentation. It is aged for up to three months to soften the acidity of our Island apples.

Tasting Notes & Food Pairings 

• Appearance: Effervescent, light straw in colour, clear, bright
• Aromas/Flavours: Reminiscent of Prosecco; delicate; hint of floral and
  herbaceous notes
• Acid/Sweetness: Mellowed acidity, off-dry
• Mouthfeel: Minimal astringency, slight creaminess

Food pairings: Delicate flavours and light sauces such as white fish, raw oysters and poultry. Salads and mild, hard cheeses. Prosciutto, margherita pizza.

Good to Know

• 8% ABV
• 750 ml clear champagne glass bottle with flip-top closure
• Produced on-site in Saanichton, BC, Canada

Awards

• 2021 BRONZE  - GLINTCAP

• 2018 BRONZE - Taste BC 

• 2018 JUDGE’S PICK - Sip Best of the NW 

• 2017 BRONZE - GLINTCAP 

• 2016 GOLD - GLINTCAP

• 2016 BRONZE - Taste BC 

• 2016 BRONZE - PNWCA 

• 2015 SILVER - GLINTCAP

• 2015 SILVER - Taste BC 

• 2015 BRONZE - PNWCA 

• 2014 SILVER - GLINTCAP

• 2014 BRONZE - Taste BC 

• 2012 SILVER - NW Wine Summit

Heirloom Series

Traditional European cider varietals and heritage North American apple varietals are the focus of our Heirloom Series. For centuries, British and European cidermakers have used cider-specific varietals to impart complexity in cider that ordinary eating apples cannot achieve. Cider made from bittersweet and bittersharp varietals in places like Herefordshire and Somerset delivers earthy phenolic aromas and appealing astringency that, to this day, distinguishes this style of cider as “the cider for cidermakers”.  Most of the varietals we grow at Sea Cider are of this lineage, and include Dabinetts, Kingston Blacks, Chisel Jerseys and Yarlington Mills. 

Sea Cider’s Heirloom Series of ciders pays tribute to apples that have stood the test of time and produced some of the world’s finest cider. The ciders in this series are handcrafted on our farm and have been developed to highlight the robust varietals deeply rooted in tradition.

Products in the Heirloom Series include, in preferred tasting order: Perry; Wild English; Flagship; Platinum; Kings & Spies; Bittersweet; Pippins.