×

West Virginia cider company gets international recognition

Swilled Dog Hard Cider earns awards

FRANKLIN, W.Va. — Swilled Dog Hard Cider, a West Virginia hard cider company that launched in January, has achieved international recognition for four of its cider varieties.

The family-owned company, which prides itself on crafting refreshing, crisp hard apple ciders, recently became an award-winning cider company, said Brooke Glover, marketing and sales manager. Glover is a Parkersburg native.

In April, Swilled Dog entered GLINTCAP (Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition), the largest cider competition in the world, the company said.

“We competed against the biggest cider companies in the world,” cider maker and co-owner Jill Gallaher said. “And we are thrilled to be recognized alongside them and even above them in some cases.”

The limited edition West Virginia Scrumpy earned Silver in the Heritage Cider- Dry category. All of the apples in this cider were donated from West Virginia residents and the company donates a percent of the proceeds to local, West Virginia charities.

Granny’s Gold, Swilled Dog’s Winter/Spring seasonal, also earned Silver in the Specialty Cider and Perry category. Two of Swilled Dog’s flagship ciders, Bunny Slope and Walk the Dog, earned Bronze in the Hopped Cider and Heritage Cider- Dry categories, respectively.

Co-owner Brad Glover believes this puts a spotlight on West Virginia. “I think this shows that West Virginia can make great hard cider and can be a player on the national stage. We’ve received such an amazing response from the people of West Virginia, which has allowed us to scale up and grow very quickly while also giving back to our communities. We want to continue to represent our wonderful state and give the residents of West Virginia a delicious, local product.”

Swilled Dog gives at least 1 percent of sales to West Virginia charities and is now available statewide after recently partnering with Mountain State Beverage for distribution.

Swilled Dog just released its summer seasonal, Island Vibes, which is a pineapple apple cider. Caramel Apple, one of the company’s flagship ciders, has also just been released.

“We would have loved to enter these two ciders into the cider competition this year but they weren’t ready in time. We think they would have done very well,” said co-owner Chris Lemmon.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today