Banditry Cider's 'Cheeky Pash'
Brewery Boast
'Brewery Boast' aims to highlight the remarkable brewing talent found on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Every month, Douglas Bevans of Sunshine Coast Art Tours hones his attention and taste buds on a local tasting room and carefully selects a beverage that he truly admires. This month’s focus is Banditry Cider and their mouth popping, tropical fav, ‘Cheeky Pash’,
We warmly invite you to join us on one of our delightful Cidery (Brewery or Distillery) tours and experience our incredible brewing scene yourself. For more information, simply click on the 'Book Now' link located at the bottom of this section.
Head Cider Maker Matt Cavers (left) and owner Jamie Armstrong (right) of Banditry Cider and Douglas (mid) from Sunshine Coast Art Tours
“Cheeky Pash! the unofficial, official, cider of summer on the Sunshine Coast”
Douglas sat down with Matt for a Q & A about their popular beverage
Q: Can you tell us what ingredients are in Cheeky Pash, and how they contribute to the flavour profiles?
A: Cheeky Pash is a blend of our dry apple cider, made entirely from BC-grown apples, with passionfruit juice and Strata hops. Passionfruit juice is amazing stuff—it’s tart and incredibly aromatic. The hops are in there just to round out the aroma. Strata is one of those varieties you might see in a hazy IPA, and you could describe its aroma as “tropical.” The passionfruit juice is definitely doing the heavy lifting here, but you’d miss the hops if they weren’t there.
Q: Any special fermentation techniques for this cider? And how do they influence the final taste and texture of the ciders?
A: I ferment the base apple cider that’s in Cheeky Pash at a cool temperature with a neutral wine yeast. I want it to be clean and unobtrusive so that the other ingredients can take centre stage.
The nose, knows! Yum.
Q: Could you walk us through the aging process for your ciders? How does aging affect the flavour and complexity of the final product?
A: After the initial fermentation, where the yeast converts the sugar in the apple juice to alcohol and carbon dioxide, I make sure that the base cider has several weeks of aging at a cold temperature to allow fermentation byproducts to get cleaned up, and to let the yeast settle out. We really value a good clear, clean cider here at Banditry, so once the cider is aged and blended with the juice and hops, I run it through a two-micron filter to make it nice and shiny.
Q: Would you consider this one of your unique or experimental ciders? If so, what inspired you to venture into these unconventional flavours?
A: When we first released Cheeky Pash in the spring of 2022, we certainly intended it to be an experimental, one-off cider. Up until then, I hadn’t tried using tropical fruit in our cider, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. But we all liked that first batch so much—and, more importantly, so did our customers—that we quickly realized Cheeky Pash would have to join our core lineup.
To me, Cheeky Pash is a cider with the soul of a hazy IPA—the aroma is big and bold but it's refreshing and drinkable.
Q: In general, how do you ensure consistency in your cider production, maintaining the same quality and taste from batch to batch? Are there any challenges or variables you encounter in achieving this consistency?
A: As a small producer, I strive for a particular sort of consistency. Batch to batch, our cider can vary a fair bit, depending on what kind of apple juice we’re using. Early season apples can be pretty acidic, and so some batches of our cider can be more tart than others. If you run a massive cidery, you’ll have enough cider on hand to blend out that sort of variability. But we embrace it here. The consistency that I try my utmost to maintain here is consistency of quality, which I uphold my keeping things clean, using fresh ingredients, and handling the finished product as carefully as possible.
At Sunshine Coast Art tours, We provide unique day trips that spotlight the passion and creativity of Canada’s Sunshine Coast. we would love to offer you and your group the opportunity to join this extraordinary tasting tour. The next time you're seeking a fun activity to enjoy with friends or family visiting the area, please don't hesitate to give us a call at 778-650-2781.
Banditry Cider's 'Cheeky Pash'