Herlinda and Bex.
Bex Pezzullo, founder and cider maker of Sincere Cider, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.
Bex started Sincere Cider right at the time of the pandemic. The lockdown started six days after she canned her first batch of cider.
She had a 20 year career in event promotion and marketing, and she had a lot of personal contacts whom she had hope would help her at her launch. Instead of that, she ended up employing some friends who were unemployed bartenders to deliver cider. After that, since business was slow enough, she bought a 1993 camper van, named it Farley after the Chris Farley “living in a camper by the river” and hit the road. In every new city up the road, she would look for the cool bottle shops, bars and restaurants and bring cider to offer them. Before starting the cider company she had a job at an event festival company that worked with clients like Bonaroo and Outside Lands.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Granny Smith Apples and Chablis Yeast
Bex likes to joke that she is a recovering sommelier, having worked as an Italian wine specialist. She did a few harvest seasons in Italy. They are sipping the Dry Apple Cider, made mostly with Granny Smith apples. She also uses a Chablis yeast which brings the right crispness and tanginess. Their core line-up includes a Rosé cider, called Granada, that has California organic pomegranate and blueberry juice and a little bit of orange zest. The color is beautiful, everyone agrees.
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For Pride Month, “Sincere is proudly a queer owned and operated business,” says Bex. There are some popups happening in the city. She explains how she enjoys integrating all of the ingredients into her ciders, like Granada, to make a “satisfying sip.” She is on the road a lot with her English Bulldog Shasta and spends a lot of weekends traveling to bring Sincere Cider around.
Sincere Cider also makes seasonal ciders three times per year. The one they are tasting is Pine-Apple, an apple cider infused with pineapple as well as wild-foraged spruce tips. You just get a little hint of the forest. Pine-Apple is the summer seasonal.