Bull City Ciderworks ramps up production

This 3,000-gallon tank will be installed this week in the Bull City Ciderworks production facility in Lexington to accommodate growing sales. {Contributed photo}

Cidery production expands to accommodate business growth

With a larger, renovated Lexington taproom and event space in the Depot District, a new taproom in Greensboro and another soon to open in Cary, Bull City Ciderworks is expanding its production level in Lexington.

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This week, a 15-foot tall, 3,000-gallon brite tank (where hard cider is carbonated after fermentation) will be installed in the cider production facility, which already has two 2,000-gallon tanks, one 1,500-gallon and one 300-gallon tank. Not only will the cidery be able to make more product but it will also shave off a few days from the production process, said John Clowney, CEO of Bull City Ciderworks.

“With this addition, we’ll be producing another 30,000 gallons a year over where we are now.” Clowney noted the cidery has been making about 120,000 gallons this year through the summer after some drop-off in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Clowney said all cider production for Bull City is in Lexington except for a few small batch, barrel-aged ciders in Durham, the original location of the growing business established in 2013.

Internal growth at the taprooms is a big part of the need for expanded production, he explained. The Lexington location finished a 10-month renovation and expansion this past spring as the cidery celebrated its fifth anniversary. In addition to refurbishing the existing taproom, a large greenspace with a parking lot, fire pits and chairs, as well as a 6,000-square-foot covered patio, were added. Marketed as “Lexington’s backyard,” the sweeping outdoor space has become popular as an event venue for everything from private parties and nonprofit fundraisers to class reunions and wedding receptions. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in that. It’s been a nice diversification for us.”

Bull City opened a taproom in Greensboro in January of this year and plans to open another in downtown Cary in October or November. That location features an entrance that includes the historic Williams House in Cary with a larger, modern addition.

“It’s a really cool adaptive reuse project — like reusing these old buildings in Lexington,” Clowney said of the cidery’s home in former Lexington Home Brands factories.

“This location will also be our first dive into craft cider cocktails.” He shared, for example, there will be a Moscow Bull, a riff on the classic Moscow Mule with Rhize Up ginger cider in place of ginger ale.

Clowney added the company continues to look at other possible taproom locations in the state.

Bull City sells a lot of cider through grocery store chains, including Harris-Teeter, Lowe’s Foods and Food Lion in North Carolina and in Greenville and Spartanburg, S.C., as well as Total Wine stores.

Sales in bars and restaurants, as well as breweries, are also increasing again.

“We’re considered a fortified wine product, so some breweries see us an alternative beverage they can offer in their taprooms that they can’t produce themselves.”

While sales took a hit in the past year or so with COVID restrictions, Clowney said it was actually a good time to focus on the Lexington expansion and renovation project as well as add new locations. “It was an opportunity to keep working and investing in our business to be prepared to move forward on the other side.”