Newtopia Cyder’s 10045 Carroll Canyon Rd. Scripps Ranch location includes both cider production facilities and a tasting room. (photo by John Gregory)
Newtopia taps into success
Scripps Ranch’s Newtopia Cyder will soon mark its third anniversary and, by all accounts, the company’s early years have brought the sweet taste of success.
Opened in January 2017, the company’s 10045 Carroll Canyon Road location is both a hard cidery and a tasting room with seating available indoors and on an outdoor garden patio.
Jennifer Hays Moreno co-founded Newtopia with her husband, Rick Moreno.
“I like wine, my husband is a beer guy, so cider is called a ‘compromise,’” Jennifer said. “We wanted it to be successful, but we’re surprised at how successful it’s been and how quickly.”
Rick is interested in distilling, Jennifer explained, but since spirits take a while to make, he started brewing cider with future plans to move into making spirits. Friends in the craft brewing business let him know when he was onto something special.
“My husband knows a lot of beer guys, so we started taste testing with beer guys who are in the industry, who have their own companies,” she said. “They said, ‘You need to do something with this.’ That was when the business aspect was born.”
They came into the business at a time of growth. According to the research firm Ibis World, hard cider was the fastest growing alcoholic beverage industry in the United States between 2013 and 2018, with a total 2018 revenue of $510 million. Research indicates America’s love of hard cider goes back to the first English settlers. Europe’s history with the drink goes back to Medieval times and the first recorded reference dates to Roman times. Newtopia’s spelling of cider as “cyder” is the old spelling and a nod to the drink’s ancient roots, according to Jennifer.
“We use Old World processes to make modern cider,” she said. “We are orchard to glass. It’s very natural. No unnatural ingredients, no unnatural products – and that’s not something you’re going to get from most of the other (hard ciders).”
The company gets apples from several growers who produce apples specifically for them, including doing specialty crushes of specific apple varieties. Future plans call for Newtopia to start its own apple growing operation. Jennifer said special blends and collaborations with San Diego’s active craft beer brewing scene are among the things that set Newtopia’s Cyder apart from others.
“Like I said, my husband’s a beer guy so we’ve done a lot of collabs with breweries in San Diego, Los Angeles, Coachella, some other places. Not a lot of cider places, if any, are doing collabs with breweries,” she said. “The other piece is that we were the first cider house to open in San Diego proper. So, we set the bar for what we think is crowd-pleasing cider. To us, that means different varieties all the time.”
Newtopia’s four flagship ciders include the India Pale, a mosaic dry-hopped cider; a Belgian Saison cider called Belgian Pineapple; Semi-Sweet, an off-dry cider with hints of eucalyptus and hibiscus; and Wyld, a cyder described as funky, sweet and sour.
Jennifer said popular flavors in their ever-evolving menu of specialty ciders include the chai-spiced Chai Me A River, and the tropical influenced Banana Applebum.
At the 2019 San Diego International Beer Competition, Newtopia took home four medals in cider categories, including a gold for Chai Me A River.
Jennifer reports Newtopia was producing 1,200 barrels annually by the end of their second year and are now up to 4,500 barrels. She said they plan to expand production to the 6,000 barrel-per-year rate in the next year. They have also increased distribution to bars and restaurants with the help of Karl Strauss Brewery’s distribution business.
“It’s on tap all over the place. We have about 300 accounts in San Diego County,” Jennifer said. “Karl Strauss is distributing our cider now throughout San Diego County, Inland Empire, Riverside and the Temecula area.”
Take-home Newtopia Cyder is also available for purchase in the tasting room, and online in 32-ounce growlers and in four-packs of 16-ounce cans.
The Scripps Ranch tasting room hosts a number of recurring events, including Trivia Tuesdays, live music on Friday evenings and a dog-friendly special on the third Sunday of each month. The company also has a tasting room in San Marcos at 250 North City Drive.
Moreno said tasting room events for each week are posted every Monday morning on Newtopia’s website. As Scripps Ranch residents themselves, connecting with the local community is important.
“We really try to be as community oriented as we can, so we do a lot of donating here in Scripps,” she said. “We live in Scripps, so it’s really important to us to make sure we’re contributing to the community efforts here.”
Visit drinknewtopia.com.