Get excidered.
Petworth’s Capitol Cider House throws open its doors on July 20, adding another option to the District’s burgeoning cider scene. Owner Jared Fackrell follows in the footsteps of Anxo Cidery and Ivy City’s Supreme Core, expanding drinkers’ repertoire beyond bottled brands. In fact, you won’t find a single sign of Angry Orchard on the menu.
Instead, rotating taps will feature dozens of ciders—all made from apples grown within 200 miles of the Capitol building. Whether it’s a rosé cider from Richmond, Va.’s Blue Bee, an elderberry mead from Baltimore’s Charm City, or a semi-dry pour barrel-aged in rye whiskey from Jefferson, Md.’s Distillery Lane Ciderworks, Fackrell is aiming for a diverse menu that caters to a range of tastes. Anxo and Supreme Core will have their own dedicated taps, serving up a rotating selection of their products. Ciders are available in tastes ($3-5), by the glass ($8-11), in flights of four ($15), or to go ($29 for a 32 oz growler).
Capitol Cider will also be creating its own ciders, starting with the Quincy, which will be available on the first day. Fackrell collaborated with Distillery Lane Ciderworks to make an aged, semi-dry cider, using a blend of Gold Rush, Arkansas black, and Sundance apples infused with quince. Fackrell has several on-site products in the works for the coming months, including a seasonal rosé made with tart cherries.
As a former hard cider skeptic, Fackrell had a preconceived notion of the drink as “sugary soda.” Then he was blown away by Finger Lake Cider House’s take during a vacation in Interlaken, N.Y.
“We went into it expecting Woodchuck, but it was like white wine,” Fackrell says. “I want to make cider accessible for everyone. Even the sweet ones will be far less sweet than bottle brands.”
Two years ago, he began fermenting in hopes of bringing a more varied drinking experience—with tart, dry ciders as well as sweeter ones—to the District. Fackrell, who also works as a defense contractor for the Navy, started making cider out of his Dupont Circle home with juice from Trader Joe’s—a far cry from his setup now.
The cidery and bar are rolled into one on the first floor of Georgia Avenue’s Fahrenheit apartment building, separated by a row of oak barrels full of aging cider. The space is a mix of country and urban, with soft honey wood from restored barns, corrugated steel walls, and cement floors. Flights are served on red, white, and blue trays for patriotic flair. An outdoor patio seats 18.
On the cidery side, an elevator grinder can crush and ferry up to 500 pounds of apples at a time into a bladder press, where water pressure squeezes out gallons of juice ready for fermentation. To avoid waste, Fackrell says he’s in talks to potentially send the leftover pomace (aka the apple guts) from the cidermaking process to animals at the National Zoo and to livestock on area farms.
“My boys’ closet still has about 50-odd gallons of cider in it, so I think my wife will be happy when we open and restore the space,” Fackrell says. “The only thing we won’t do here is grow the apples.”
Two Union Kitchen vendors, Short Eats and M’panadas, will provide Sri Lankan street food and gluten-free empanadas, respectively, as menu mainstays, supplemented by rotating concepts like cheese and charcuterie boards and (with Fackrell’s own children in mind) hot dogs.
The cidery will throw a grand opening party on July 20 with live music. Entry is $30 per person, and includes a cider pour in a take-home glass. Advance tickets are required. Regular hours will begin July 21.
Capitol Cider House is located at 3930 Georgia Ave. NW in Petworth. Hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
This post has been updated to reflect that the plan to distribute pomace to the National Zoo is still tentative.
