Cider philosopher

Cellar Door Cider is the newest tasting room to open up in the so-called beverage district in south Chico. Owner Bryan Shaw, 43, is also a woodworker, and he built the bar and finished the tasting room himself in an effort to create a nice place for the public to come in and try his ciders. Shaw grew up in Red Bluff and, after getting an English degree from Chico State (which he never used), worked as the produce manager at Chico Natural Foods for 8 1/2 years. Then he found his true calling. He spent about three years at New Clairvaux Vineyard in Vina working with winemaker Aimée Sunseri. While there, Shaw went back to school, this time to UC Davis to study viticulture and oenology. He now applies the fermentation science he learned there to making cider. He opened Cellar Door Cider’s tasting room last month at 11 Commerce Court, Ste. 2. His ciders also are available at Chico Natural Foods and New Earth Market—plus, Cellar Door will be part of the debut Chico Beer Trail event on Saturday (Aug. 11).

What kind of cider do you make?

I make specialty barrel-aged cider—and that’s actually a category when you look at all the cider organizations in America. If I were to enter my cider into a competition, it would go into the “specialty barrel-aged” category. Then there’s a “traditional cider” category, which is what Ben Nielsen over at Lassen Traditional Cidery does. He and I have talked a lot about cider and we’re actually very happy that there’s two of us here because it makes for more cider awareness in the area.

Anything make Cellar Door Cider different?

I barrel-age it in newer French oak barrels for about six months. It’s a very unusual cider from what most American ciders are like and what most people’s palates expect when they think cider. It’s not sweet; it’s dry, there’s no sugar sweetness to it. It’s got a little more tannin from the oak barrels and it’s a little higher in acid, too. It’s a cider more for pairing with food and having a nice dinner, something that can stand up to a really rich meal like pasta or burgers, steaks, stuff like that. That’s what I was going for because I love the way that they make white wines in France.

Do you employ other French techniques?

While it ferments in the barrel, I do a thing where the yeast hulls that die off in there, they impart a yeasty kind of fresh-baked-bread layer to the aromas and the flavor. What the French do, what they’ve been doing for hundreds of years, is they put a rod down in the barrel and they stir up that sediment layer on the bottom of the barrel. It just gives it another layer of mouth feel and character and aroma that I truly enjoy.

What’s next?

I’ve got another cider in the barrel. It’s kind of a test run experimental batch—it’s an orange peel hops cider. We take beer hops and soak it in the cider to give that hoppy character to the cider.