Our first three Second Sunday Cider events were held at the inimitable Cheese Bar. While the cider paired with cheese was fantastic, the turnout just wasn’t what we had hoped for.

We wanted to try something else. We wanted it to be a community-driven event, we wanted people to have access to plenty of cider and cheese, and we wanted a staff that was just about as excited about it as we were.

Boy oh boy, did Brooklyn House Restaurant fit that bill. From the second I proposed the idea, Erica and the rest of the staff were hung-ho email messages were so long I had to scroll. While we’ll certainly miss the astounding selection only Cheese Bar can boast — maybe we’ll go back sometime — the first event at Brooklyn House has us excited.

Our debut event featured Schilling Cider. We had Original paired with Dutch Meadowkaas Spring Milk Gouda, Ginger with Dutch Beemster 120-Day Goat, Oak Aged with German Cambozola Triple-Cream Blue and a surprise pairing of Schilling’s seasonal Spiced with some kind of apple/onion chutney that tastes a lot better than I can describe it.

Huge thanks to Willamette Week for believing in the event enough to feature it, too. It’s great when the people that know how to have a good time invite everyone to share.