Virtue Cider Opens Tap House And Bottle Shop In Michigan

By Lorna Juett in Food on May 2, 2013 9:30PM

Though Virtue Cider has deep Chicago roots, as founder Greg Hall has a full-on Goose Island pedigree, choosing Southwest Michigan for their first tap room was a natural fit. The new bottle shop and tasting room, which opened May 1, is located on a 48-acre farm in Fennville, Mich., which also is home to their cider house. In the next few years, the farm will be home to an orchard, with roughly 500 apple trees being planted currently, that will produce a fair amount of fruit for the cider, moving them closer to the goal of using 100% Michigan apples in future pressings.

The opening also marks the inking of a distribution deal in Michigan, as Virtue will be working with Kent Beverage of Grand Rapids, MI. This is great news for cider-loving Michiganders, and also for those Chicagoans who jet up to southwest Michigan for summertime and early fall retreats.

And, if you happened by the tap room last night, you could have been among the first to taste Virtue’s newest cider, The Ledbury. The Ledbury is a blended cider made in collaboration with Tom Oliver of Oliver's Cider and Perry in Herefordshire, England. If you didn’t make it to Fennville, you have a chance today to try this cider at Owen & Engine from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m., and speak with Greg Hall and Tom Oliver. If you can’t get there this afternoon, Owen and Engine is hosting an intimate dinner with Hall and Oliver tonight, with seatings at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $75 and include three courses, and six ciders. Seating is limited, call 773-235-2930 for reservations.

Owen and Engine is located at 2700 N Western Ave.