An interview with Ava Davis, pnwcidergirl!
During May, The Cider Exchange has reached out to members who you may know via social media outlets to be interviewed so you can get to know the people behind the persona. Our next interview is with Ava Davis, otherwise known as pnwcidergirl. Ava has been busy as of late interviewing other cider folks on Instagram as part of a Happy Hour series so be sure to check that out!
Matt Windle: Tell us about you. I was interested to learn that you're a teacher by trade during our last Cider Exchange Zoom call. What else should we know about you?
Ava Davis: I run a cider-focused account, pnwcidergirl, on Instagram. Mostly I focus on cider reviews, but I also cover cider related events and write about taphouses and ciderhouses that I stumble across. While cider has become an increasingly bigger part of my life lately, I am really just a first grade teacher who happens to be a cider enthusiast. Lately I've been spending a lot of time reading, gardening, cooking, and baking. When we're able to roam again, I'll be back out on the trails: hiking, camping, and backpacking. I like to travel and am always willing to travel for cider! I'm also a big fan of karaoke (Amy Winehouse and Miley Cyrus are my go-tos) and weekly trivia nights.
MW: What led you down the cider pathway? How did you go from cider newbie to pnwcidergirl? How did you come up with the logo and how can people get some of your stickers??
AD: Cider has been my alcohol of choice since I can remember. I started out with commercial ciders and then, as the industry has blown up in the last several years, moved on to smaller, more local options. The whole pnwcidergirl persona ultimately arose from social media. I launched the account on March 21, 2019 as a way to share the ciders I was drinking and connect with other cider lovers. It's been a wild ride this last year. I literally went from drinking the same half dozen or so ciders, having never been to a cider festival, or even heard of CiderCon to having reviewed almost 200 ciders, attended 4 exclusively cider focused festivals, and meeting tons of amazing cider industry folks at CiderCon. For my New Year resolution this year I decided I wanted to make my account more professional. I contacted a designer friend, Richard LaRue, about logos for pnwcidergirl as well as my new website project, Pommes and Pints. I told him I wanted it to embody the idea of the Pacific Northwest and cider and gave him some color combinations. He came back with a few different proofs and I fell in love with the current logo! He even designed super cool business cards and stickers for me! Right now the stickers are prizes for winning trivia and maybe another giveaway, but I might sell them in the future. I finally launched Pommes and Pints this month as a website devoted to all things cider, which will probably include merchandise at some point. Like I said, it's been a wild ride!
MW: Being in the Pacific Northwest, cider is very prevalent. Do you have a favorite PNW cider or cidery? What are your cider flavor profile preferences?
AD: These are tricky questions! There are so many cideries up here that are amazing. My go-to grocery store cidery is Incline Cider. Their blood orange, hopped, marionberry, and white peach ciders are amazing. I haven't tried a cider they make that I don't like! They also opened up a taproom in my hometown, so I might be a little biased. 2 Towns and Seattle Cider also make some amazing, easily available ciders. As far as smaller, specialty cider makers, the list is quite extensive! Finnriver, Union Hill, Alpenfire, Snowdrift, Independent Cider, Greenwood, Dragon's Head, Herb's Cider, Brownrigg, I mean I could keep going here… My flavor profile preferences are all over the place. Overall I enjoy a cider with a great balance. If it's sweet it needs some tartness to balance it out. If it's dry I want some earthy, oaky, funky notes too. Give me a single varietal that has notes of tropical fruit or citrus or honey. I love when ciders have those layers of complexity. I tend to steer clear of ciders that have been aged in whiskey barrels, but other than that, I am willing to try anything. Well, unless it has animal products in it since I'm a vegetarian. No bacon cider for me anytime soon. I don't think that is actually a thing and please don't make it.
MW: Obviously, we're living in unprecedented times. What have the last few months been like for you?
AD: Luckily, I've been able to work from home the past couple months. The expectations for distance learning are always changing, but I'm glad I can be providing some sort of services for my students. I would much rather be in the classroom, but it just isn't the reality right now. I've been home schooling my own children, providing distance learning for my students, launching a new website, working in my garden, and organizing some virtual social events. I'm definitely ready to get back to some outdoor adventures and traveling though! I think this time has given me an opportunity to widen my online presence. I started doing Instagram live happy hours with cider makers, hosting virtual trivia, and most recently began filming a cider cocktail series. You come up with a lot of ways to interact with others when you can't actually get out and interact!
MW: As you mentioned, you’ve begun hosting Happy Hours with Cidermakers on Instagram Live. What made you think to do that and how has that experience been?
AD: With social distancing the present norm, I decided I wanted to bring some sort of social connection back into my life. I'm definitely a social person and the isolation has been hard. I had a few ideas, put a poll out to my followers, and landed on hosting virtual happy hours and trivia games. The first happy hour aired on March 25 and it was just me, answering questions and talking to myself for an hour. After that, I started messaging people in the cider industry that I had met in my travels to see if anyone wanted to be a guest. Since that first episode, which luckily got lost in the Instagram nether verse, I've had guests from cideries and cider houses in Washington, Oregon, and California. It's been great to have these informal, social conversations with so many people in the cider industry. I've had the opportunity to reconnect with people but also make lots of new friends! Now cideries are messaging me about participating, and it's very exciting. I'm planning on keeping it going for the foreseeable future, however it might take on a different form as time goes on, I always have ideas to change and improve!
MW: Do you think of yourself as an "influencer" in the cider world? What role does social media play in your cider experiences?
AD: The word "influencer" has such a negative connotation. I think of myself more as a cider enthusiast. I am legitimately passionate about cider. I want cideries to succeed. I want people who have never tried cider or have misconceptions about it to find a cider that they love. I want to bring cider to the masses and hopefully in the long run, bring the masses to cider! Social media plays an overwhelmingly large role in my cider experiences. Before starting this account I had a limited cider repertoire and zero knowledge of the industry. I think social media has exposed me to hundreds of new cideries and thousands of cider lovers just like me! I'm definitely not a cider expert, but I'm committed to learning what I can. I'd like to think that someone somewhere read a review I wrote, and then tried a new cider. And really, that's all I want. But, I mean being recognized by strangers at a bottle shop or cider festival is kind of cool too.
MW: Any particular fond memories that cider was had a part in?
AD: I have an abundance of fond cider memories but I'll tell you one from the pre-pnwcidergirl days, that I believe ultimately led me to my love of cider. I studied abroad in Paris in 2007 as part of my French degree, I know, very useful as a first grade teacher. We had gone on a school-sponsored trip for a few days up to Normandy and Brittany to experience the culture, see some museums, and visit a few towns. It was Saint Patrick's Day weekend and we were in Saint-Malo with some free time. I distinctly remember going to the grocery store with my roommate and buying a cheap 750 ml bottle of cider. It was a cold, grey, and windy day but being young and adventurous, a group of us walked to this little beach. We sat on the rocks talking and sharing this room temperature bottle of dry cider and other drinks procured along the way. I think this memory has stuck with me for so long because of this sense of camaraderie that developed. We all went into this shared experience as strangers and came out as friends. I was in France for 3 months, but those few days spent on the coast were the most memorable. They also included the most cider and I don't think that is a coincidence.
MW: Our last question is a grab bag of sorts. Anything else you care to share?
A: My motto is “there's a cider for everyone.” I think that we're on the precipice of a cider revolution. The mindset of what cider is and can be is definitely changing in both the industry and the public's eyes. Ten years ago it was rare to find a cider in a bar. Now it's rare if a bar doesn't have at least one cider option. I'm excited to be a part of the cider world, even in my own tertiary way. I get to see what's happening from the sidelines, review some delicious ciders, attend some great events, and best of all meet amazing people. I look forward to what this crazy journey will bring next.