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Meet John, Keane, Ruth and Kelley Dufresne of Waldschänke Ciders in Sunnyside and Northside

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Today we’d like to introduce you to John, Keane, Ruth and Kelley Dufresne.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We are an entirely family-run and owned business. Our name and European inspiration come from part-owner Ruth’s father, George. During the beginning of World War II, and at the young age of sixteen, George assisted in digging out the fermenting cellar of the original Waldschänke Ciderhaus of Switzerland. It quickly became a place where the entire village would come to relax, drink traditional unfiltered cider, and enjoy each other’s company.

While George- now 97- had to retire and leave his legacy behind, we have decided to carry it on here in the U.S., taking inspiration from his original unfiltered cider recipes while adding a modern Colorado twist.

In addition to our own ciders, we keep several of our taps on reserve for other local Colorado cideries so that we can share and promote not only our cider but our friends’ and colleagues’ as well. Our goal is to give you a European tap house with unique, unfiltered ciders as well as have the best and most diverse selection of Colorado ciders in Denver for our community to enjoy!

In addition to our one-of-a-kind cidery, we plan to add a unique and cozy European-style coffeehaus, which will have options such as traditional table-side French presses, high-quality pour-overs, standard espresso drinks, and regular (but delicious!) drip coffees.

We are partnering with a small, local start-up roaster based out of the foothills of Colorado- Mad Loon Coffee Roasters. Roasting at high elevations is incredibly tricky, and not everyone can get it right. However, Zach Green- owner and roaster at Mad Loon has perfected the process through meticulous and careful experimentation to create amazingly unique and mouth-watering flavors from his responsibly sourced beans. So, whether you come to The Waldschänke to sit, sip, and relax or want to grab a quick cup or growler to go, we hope to be a place where the community can come and enjoy our space not just in the evening as a cidery, but also in the mornings as a cozy, neighborhood coffee spot.

Thanks for reading- CHEERS!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road to opening our doors certainly has not been smooth! In fact, we’ve hit several potholes, speed bumps, and traffic stops! 

It took us over a year to find our building here in Sunnyside. After months of making offers on buildings only have it fall through, this one finally stuck and we couldn’t be happier! After about two weeks of being open, we unfortunately had a break-in, and the vandal caused hundreds of dollars in damages. It was quite a shock for all of us, but luckily nothing of note or value was stolen.

We are bootstrapping our entire operation, which means we have to be very careful and aware of how we spend our budget. With this, we ended up deciding to open our doors with all local Colorado guest taps while we perfected our own, Swiss-inspired cider in the back. This has been both great and challenging- our community was so excited for us to open, and have been waiting so patiently for our own cider to finally be on tap! And it’s COMING SOON! As of writing this, we will be tapping our base cider tomorrow!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Waldschänke Ciders story. Tell us more about the business.
We are Denver’s first Swiss-inspired cidery (and coffeehaus!). Our inspiration comes from family and community and our goal is to create a space where all feel welcome. While we plan to specialize in traditional Swiss cider, we also want to honor our own city of Denver by using many techniques that our beer brethren use such as barrel-aging, flavoring, and souring our ciders. We also want to broaden both ours and others’ horizons by experimenting with cider recipes and techniques from around the world (such as Spanish Cidre).

We are most proud of how far we’ve come. The modern concept of the Waldschanke was born and fleshed out in the kitchen of John & Ruth’s rental home in Thornton over three years ago. We have worked tirelessly day in and day out to make this dream come true and now that it has and our doors are open, the work has just begun! We are so excited to help bring cider to Denver, and educate its residents on all things cider.

And we believe that this is what sets us apart from the others. Our goal is to teach people that not all cider is just sweet or dry. Much like beer or even wine cider can be complex and intentional. There can be layers of flavor and aromatics that create something delicious and drinkable- all you have to do is give cider a chance!

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
As with many small businesses in their first year, we of course felt that we’ve hit many more pockets of bad luck than good. With the break-in and the unpredictable nature of the neighborhood, it’s very easy to feel defeated. But that’s what’s great about working with family, we pick each other up and keep going and are constantly finding silver linings.

That being said, we 100% lucked out with our location. After months of looking, John found it, and owner and landlord Brad seemed to really believe in what we were doing- it felt good! Now, with Zia moving in across the street (~400 apartment and condo units) we feel even luckier. We’ve also lucked out with our community. Almost every community member that has come in has made us feel so welcome and loved. It’s encouraging to have so many of our neighbors’ support!

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Derrick Bozkurt
Kelley Dufresne
Scott Jones

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