MKE Cider Fest

This review is long overdue, but here goes:
Truth be told, the cost to get in is, in my opinion, too expensive to ever pay for; something like $ 40 per person to be at the whim of mother nature (the fest is outdoors with one tent for sitting down to eat or just rest). Then, you get to buy food, beer, soda or water if you want any of those. You do get a souvenir tasting glass, but the printed design started coming off immediately with any kind of friction from your hand, and completely vanished with a good wash in the sink. Sorry, but even if the printing didn’t come off the glass, it’s still a steep price to pay to sample things. We were able to go because we won free tickets.
This fest opened my palate up to a whole new realm of beverages. I don’t like beer, I’m still working on wine, and I have a select few liquors that I like.
Each vendor had multiple varieties of ciders to sample. Some had just two or three and some had as many as eight! Each vendor had a water jug with a spigot so you could rinse your glass out between samples. There were domestics like Angry Orchard, Crispin and Strongbow, and then there were some from Great Britain. There were apple ciders, pear, cherry and other berries and, I believe, a pineapple cider. One of my favorites was the Apple Cinnamon by Cider Boys. It tasted just like a homemade pie.
Because it was held at Schlitz Park, one of the food vendors was The Brown Bottle. There were three food trucks on site as well. One served Mexican, one served New Orleans type fare (po’ boys and such) and one served falafel. There was a charity on site raising money and a wonderful brass band walking around. There was an oom-​pa-​pa band inside the tent, too.
I would definitely go again, but I would need either free tickets or much cheaper ones to do so. One other thing to consider tweaking is the distance between vendors. Some were on a hill while others were in the street and this layout seemed very disconnected.
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I had a great time at Cider Fest! One of our last outdoor drinking festival before the deep freeze arrives. I hope this turns out to be an annual event. Now, I’m not usually a fan of cider beers. But, that’s cause I’ve only tried the mass produced crap like Smith Forge & Redd’s Apple. The craft ciders are the way to go & I’ve had a change of mind now. I’d like to make a few honorable mentions. But, I was way too tore up to remember any of their names. I do remember really liking the pear, pineapple & berry ciders.
Great to see the Extra Crispy Brass Band playing the event. It had been a whole 3 weeks since I last saw them. Nice of the band to let Geo. T step in to play tambourine for a few sets.
The Catfish Po Boy from the pink & white food truck was darn tasty. Quite the deal at $ 5 bucks! Some bar height tables placed along the middle of the street near the food trucks would have been nice The enormous sandwich was a bit cumbersome to eat with one hand while holding my plate with the other. Plus, I had nowhere to set my glass except the ground while enjoying my lunch. Also, the Oktoberfest tent should have been placed closer to the action. My glass was empty of cider everytime I got up to the tent. Great organization for an inaugural event. But, still plenty of room for improvement.
Plenty of Unilocalers perusing the venue, great to them out & about!

I volunteered at this inaugural event and I hope it continues.
The weather wasn’t ideal for a festival like this, but I think cider and Fall go well together, so I don’t blame them for choosing October.
This event offered 47 different ciders, with a few being made in Wisconsin. Most were from distributors.
A large tent had a couple of beer offerings, tables and live music. A small band also played outside at times to add a party atmosphere.
Three food trucks were onsite selling items like tacos, falafel, and catfish Po’Boys.
As a volunteer, I would say they were very well-​organized for a first time event, but there is some room for improvement. I think this event can only get better and was impressed!
I plan to offer myself up as a volunteer again next year!

Yay to more festivals! If we’re going to be the City of Festivals, I’m glad to add this one to the lineup. Schlitz Park was a great spot for this event; I’d love to see more events hosted there in the future. There were lots of familiar vendors (Crispin, Strongbow, Magners, Ciderboys), and it was nice to try some new-​to-​me ciders (Seattle Cider, Mershons). Because unlimited cider samples can get pretty sweet pretty quickly, it was nice to have food trucks and the Brown Bottle on hand with some savory treats for purchase as well as some German-​style beer vendors who were part of the sampling. With the weather being not entirely festival-​friendly, I was glad there was a tent set up where patrons could hang out at tables listening to the live music. All in all, a well-​executed event!

To be honest, I really haven’t had too many cider drinks in my lifetime. So why not pony up and go all in at an event where you can try them all out at once? This is exactly what I did and it didn’t take long to realize that there is another realm of beverages to choose from. I have to say there is sooo much more than the «Woodchuck» I knew about from my early 20’s. With the +50 vendors and free tastings of apples, pears, cherries and even pineapples my palette started to tingle. Well maybe my head towards the end. But even so, after talking to many of the vendors, I am totally going to be looking at the other end of the liquor store cooler come Friday night.
I hope to see this event in 2016!

Came to the inaugural MKE Cider Fest. As a guest. Had a great time talking with some of the brewers and plenty of volunteers. Shout out to Erick, Ricky R. at tent 1
The VIP package allowed an early admission and premium giveaways. The entertainment was good. Someone even planned for the Badger game. We tried plenty of samples bearing the cold. The walled tent really helped to cut the wind. Three food trucks were placed too far from the tent with tables. I’d guess if your food wasn’t warm you didn’t run fast enough. I hope they coordinate this for next year especially when it’s cold.
I’m not a fan of hot spiced cider but this would have been a hit along with Hot cocoa tea and coffee. Extra crispy brass band is a local favorite Milwaukee band.
Food 4 good selection from 3 vendors The placement of the food to places you can eat were not very well planned.
Ambiance 3 rain or shine event. So dress accordingly.
Service 4
Location 4
Value 3
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Besides getting hit rot due to sweet as all get out ciders the event went off with a bang! Great lively vendors whom you could tell love their jobs. One can’t forget the delightful patrons, oh and I got to play bag toss! ⁵⁄₅ for me

Unlimited 3oz pours of cider and octoberfest beers!
The beer tent for Oktoberfest was my favorite part. It was great to be able to sit down and eat pretzel bread and listen to the German band playing. Although in the 2.5hrs we were there they played roll out the barrel and Prost 3 times each. Nice to get away out of the wind tho and enjoy the music.
It wasn’t super crowded which was awesome!
They also had quizmaster and a nail game that cost money to play so we passed. They seemed to be there as an after thought.
It was fun to try all the cider. And most people pouring went way above the 3oz mark! Too much cider for me! Had to ask for just a little bit to get through it all.
The snifter glasses were a nice touch and great to take home and add to my collection.
Overall not sure if I would go again for $ 45 but it was a fun experience for my first drinking festival