SLO Cider opens new downtown tasting room in a tucked-away creekside spot
A longtime vacant building surrounded by leafy green trees and perched above San Luis Creek has been converted into a new hard cider tasting room.
The popular local cider company SLO Cider officially opened its second location at 750 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo on Friday.
The spot is tucked away next to the back side of Mission Mall near the pedestrian bridge that crosses San Luis Obispo Creek to the Mission.
SLO Cider creative partner Pete Ayer said the new creekside operation has been in the works for 18 months, but the wait was worth it to finally have a footprint in downtown SLO.
“We are so stoked to be here, and it’s unique. You have to be adventurous. There’s no parking lot,” Ayer said. “So you got to come and explore and find us, and I think that’s a cool aspect of this location.”
SLO Cider first opened at 3419 Roberto Court in San Luis Obispo on March 13, 2020, days ahead of the statewide shelter-in-place order due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ayer said the company quickly pivoted to canned cider and retail distribution. Now, SLO Cider is sold at stores, bars and breweries across the state.
Even in an era when less alcohol is being consumed, Ayer said the company has seen “slow, steady growth over the years,” culminating in the grand opening of their second space in San Luis Obispo.
New tasting room is 18 months in the making
The new tasting room took a year and a half to launch after the company faced months of red tape and a long list of renovations.
The company invested $24,000 into the space, operations manager Nate Adamski told The Tribune. The company kept down costs by completing most of the construction in-house through a lot of sweat and late nights.
“Everything in here we did by hand, everything was built by us and painted by us,” he said.
Adamski said he’s been drawn to the creek-adjacent spot for decades.
“Since I was a kid, I’ve had a huge crush on this building the whole time,” dating back to when it used to be was a toy store, he said, calling it a “pretty building that’s been underutilized this whole time.”
The guys behind SLO Cider transformed the building from looking like a ‘90s office into a comfortable, cozy place where people actually want to hang out and sip cider, Adamski told The Tribune.
Now, the building features a wall of exposed brick, shelves full of canned cider and tables and chairs to fit up to 41 people in the tasting room.
SLO Cider also hired six more employees to work at the new downtown location, according to tasting room manager Shawn Marchant.
What’s on the menu at downtown SLO Cider?
The new tasting room will offer eight ciders on tap — fewer than the 14 featured at their original location, Marchant said.
To start, SLO Cider will pour 5-, 12- and 16-ounce glasses of its dry, rosé, Coastal Haze, tropical, classic, Bubblegum Alley, tangerine and no-alcohol ciders.
Marchant said the range in flavors will offer something for everyone who walks in the door, whether they’re sober, gluten-free, low-sugar or looking for a fun, funky flavor like bubblegum.
“What better place to have a Bubblegum Alley cider than downtown?” he said. “It’s just a fun little ode to SLO.”
Likewise, he said SLO Cider’s new tangy tangerine flavor is a collaboration with SLO’s Concerts in the Plaza series.
While the downtown tasting room won’t offer patrons flights of cider to start, the makers behind SLO Cider said they’re excited to keep teaching people about their alcoholic beverages sourced from Oregon and See Canyon apples.
“We feel like educating people on it makes it the most fun,” Marchant said. "There’s a lot of different perceptions of what cider is, so we kind of want to give everyone that full experience of this is what it can be.”
When is downtown SLO Cider location open?
SLO Cider’s downtown location on the creek, 750 Monterey St., is open from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
On Sundays, its open from noon to 7:30 p.m.
