Chain Yard
"Chain Yard Urban Cidery started in 2017 by 4 partners who have a passion for well-made, quality cider. Coming from backgrounds in tourism, hospitality & cider making, we put our experience into opening the first cidery in Halifax. We choose a location in Halifax’s hip North End and turned a former hair salon/café into our cider production facility and taproom. Unchained Kitchen, a separate business serves southern inspired dishes in our taproom."
"Chain Yard produces awesome, approachable, unique and traditional ciders made from 100% Nova Scotia apples – we NEVER, ever, ever use concentrate. We have a wine making approach to cider and choose to ferment our ciders slow and at a cool temperature to maintain the complexities in the apples. We source our apples from small and large apple producers in the Annapolis Valley who deliver juice to us periodically throughout the year. Our cidermaker is freshly inspired by each batch of juice so we’ll always have seasonal products along with our core ciders."
" At Chain Yard, our products are broken into our core ciders, specialty ciders, seasonal blends and one- off’s. We always have something different and something for everyone in our taproom. Our ciders range from dry to sweet (focusing more on dry), easy drinking to complex & funky and we are always excited to use other Nova Scotia ingredients in our ciders such as pear, berries and honey as well as produce perry, mead and soon to be released ice cider. We stay on top of cider trends around the world and love to collaborate on products with local breweries, distilleries, kombucharies and other cideries."
About the owner/brewer/winemaker:
Jay’s passion for cider first developed while he was living in Ireland enjoying scrumpy ciders. After moving back to British Columbia, Jay quickly immersed himself into cider-making and learned everything he could about the craft, and of course, apple varieties. With a burgeoning craft cider industry sprouting in Nova Scotia, Jay decided to move across the country to hone his craft, making varied ciders, mead, and fruit wines at both Bulwark Ciders and Planters Ridge winery. When he was approached by the Chainyard team, Jay did not hesitate as it offered an opportunity of a lifetime with plenty of freedom to make the ciders he envisions. Jay also consults for wineries and cideries, from NS to India.