Bellwether Hard Cider

This was our second to last stop on a two day wine tour of the Cayuga lake wine trail, and it was by far my least favorite place. We had intended on doing both the wine and cider tasting but left right after the wine tasting because of the horrible experience we had here.
The wine was very mediocre/​not good. I’d give the wine we tried 2 stars. What really made the whole visit here unenjoyable and frustrating was the overall experience. All wineries on the Cayuga lake wine trail are advertised as dog friendly, and we had our (female) husky with us. When we first entered, they greeted us and our dog with friendly smiles and said they were very dog friendly. After a minute or two though, the two resident (male) dogs came out. They were extremely aggressively wanton towards our dog, and she kept trying to hide behind or between my husband’s legs to get away from them, as it was really upsetting her and they would not leave her alone. At no point did any staff or owner come over to make them behave or get them away from her. My husband had to go outside in the extreme heat to get her away from them, and then both of those dogs sat and stared through the door at our husky the whole time she was out there. If your dogs can’t behave, why would you say you are dog friendly?
In addition, one of the staff members kept giving us (and then just me when my husband went outside) dirty looks because of our dog. Um, what? She was trying to hide and get away from their misbehaving dogs. If our dog is ever causing problems/​making noise, we take her outside immediately as I never want to ruin other people’s enjoyment. She wasn’t doing any of that and had to go outside because of the way their dogs were behaving.
We bought bottles of wine at every single place we went to on this trip (as we always do when wine tasting), as I love to support local businesses and especially wineries having worked at one myself in CA. I’m sure had we been able to stay to try their cider, we would have bought some. However, the whole experience was so upsetting that we left before doing so. This is the only winery we visited on that trip that I can definitively say I will never come back to.

The staff were very helpful and knowledgable about the wines and ciders. We tried the Riesling tasting and the cider tasting. Both tastings were good. We did
prefer the drier ciders as well as the dry and off dry Riesling.
It was a nice change from just another winery.

I tried the wine and my friend tried the cider. We were both dispointed each of the five we tried were the same. The staff was friendly.

Bellwether is a good little winery and hard cider establishment definitely away from the busier parts of the lake for sure.
The wine tasting and hard cider tasting is good and for a $ 5 tasting, kick in an extra dollar and take home a bellwether logo wine glass! The staff here is very knowledgeable and more than willing to talk to you about your 5 selections you pick out.
This time around we did the hard cider sampling and we did enjoy them, however if you prefer sweet hard ciders your only option is a cherry cider. Most here are on the dry side, which I’m not a fan of (I prefer semi’s), but discovering this is just part of the Cayuga trail experience.
I’m sure I’ll be back here in due time.

Coming from California, we do a lot of wine tasting but cider tasting was a new experience. There was only one woman staffing the tasting room, but she did a great job juggling all the tasters and working the cash register for people who were buying. She was very nice and very helpful. I had to laugh at the one review that was griping about the $ 3 tasting fee for 5 pours. In Napa we pay anywhere from $ 15 to $ 30 for wine tasting. I thought $ 3 was a steal. Good place.

I was extremely unimpressed. Customer service was lacking and rude. The pours are VERY tiny, making it very hard to taste anything.

If you have any issues about dogs or cats, you consider giving Bellwether a miss. We were greeted by a barking pitbull mix and another large dog (maybe a retriever?) who was thankfully much more mellow. The pet mix also included two white cats that we found rather charming, but some folks may be put off by the idea of cats walking or sitting on the tasting bar. It’s a cat-​butt thing.
The tasting itself was interesting. For $ 4 you can taste 5 ciders as well as a complimentary – and quite excellent – mulled cider. There were only 6 ciders currently on offer, so my friend and I split the last round so we could try them all. If you prefer white wines, a tasting of up to 6 Rieslings was something like $ 5.
I love that the ciders are 100% apple, and the varieties include rare heritage cultivars – but to be honest, I preferred the most common Bellwether bottles (Liberty Spy and original).
The tasting room host was very knowledgeable and she didn’t rush us at all, and the small space was comfortable and inviting.
That said, I’m not sure that Bellwether would make the cut as a must-​visit, particularly in light of the fact that Northside Wines in Ithaca actually offers a wider selection of their ciders at the moment than you can actually taste at Bellwether itself – and for two of us, the $ 8 tasting fee (which is not credited toward a purchase) represents half the cost of the most expensive cider they sell.

Nice change to taste some cider after all the wineries in the area. We paid 3 $ and got to taste 5 different ciders they make locally, some were too sweet to my liking but we all enjoyed the experience. Very nice spot!

Smallest pours of any tasting in the finger lakes. Do NOT try the wines. You have been warned.

This is primarily a family business, and guests are treated like family as well.
The staff are very affable, eager to help, and knowledgable of the ciders and wines on offer. Tastings are available without reservations, and if not too busy, they will give brief tours of the facilities.
A wonderful experience in the Finger Lakes.

This was the first stop on a wine tasting trip to the area. My girlfriend really likes hard cider so when she saw this place on the map she insisted we go. We arrived right as they opened and the staff were quickly able to accommodate us despite it being the middle of the week and it appeared they weren’t quite expecting visitors quite so early (this isn’t a knock on Bellwether, many of the local wineries didn’t seem to be fully up to speed right at opening). The tasting room was nice and able to handle decent sized groups but not quite bus fulls. I wasn’t as big a fan of the ciders as my girlfriend was but they were pretty good. I would say they tend to be on the dryer side of a hard cider. But with the friendly and knowledgeable staff I would recommend Bellwether as a stop for anyone in the area. It just wasn’t great for my taste.

My boyfriend and I made Bellwether Hard Cider our 1^st stop on Finger Lakes vacation on 8÷12÷14.
I have really started to enjoy hard cider over the past year. I couldn’t think of better way to start our vacation.
The women who did our tasting was very knowledgeable and good at balancing our tasting with a group of ladies from CT.
I loved the fact that the cidery had 2 cats just milling around. I found it humorous that one of the cats partook in the left over (dumped) cider.
The location also has a dog that in the beginning I found a annoying because it would not stop barking. The women who was doing the tasting did a good job of trying to mitigate the barking (and seemed to understand it was slightly jarring). The dog did settle down and we continued to enjoy our tasting.
Bellwether Hard Cider is a great value. I plan on enjoying the 4 bottles I bought with the complimentary wine bag in the future.

If you’re a wine lover, Bellweather is a nice break from the wineries (though they have added some wine to the inventory). If you’re a cider lover, you’ll love this place. You can get a feel for it just inhaling deeply as you approach. You have the option to sample either ciders or their liquors, and if you have enough people in your group, you may want to split the tastings so you can appreciate it all. I opted for cider tasting. I was unsure of how much I could appreciate it after sampling wines all morning, but I found I had no trouble and did buy some of my favorite. The cider was refreshing, not only as a break from wine, but definitely in taste. The staff who guide you through the tastings are very cider-​knowledgeable and fun with whom to chat. I hope Bellweather continues to succeed and grow.

I’m new to the hard cider trend but Bellwether is not. Stopped in today with some friends and enjoyed a great tasting enhanced by the knowledgeable staff.
Really enjoyable stop on any wine/​cider tour of the lakes.
Prices are very reasonable, and there is a wide range of ciders so whether you like champagne or true cider there will be something for you.
Second trip was even better than the first. Enjoyed a nice outdoor art festival, bought some pottery then came in and redid the tasting. Left with more cider… A very successful day!

This place has some very nice flavors that are a bit better than the regular apple cider flavors you might find. It’s also pretty funny and cool to see the cats hanging out in the store.

It was ok. I’m kind of snarky about a $ 3.00 tasting and then no reciprocity in a price cut when you buy a bottle. It’s just not customer service oriented. I actually asked about it and was told; no one really does that anymore, it doesn’t really encourage anyone to buy. I’d beg to differ, as I find it a motivator and have been to many establishments who continue to do offer this nicety this season. The pour-​er tips go to a local animal shelter, but feeling gouged by the pricing fee and the over abundance of tipping jars I couldn’t bring myself to tip them for a matter of fact, here’s the info on it and a little pour so I bought a shelter supporting chocolate. I wouldn’t visit again, nor would I recommend them.

Bellwether has been on my radar for quite some time. As I was driving down 89 this past weekend I finally decided to stop and check it out for myself.
Being a wine trail event weekend business was brisk, but we stepped right up and began our tasting with a young knowledgeable young man. For $ 4 we sampled five pours from bone dry to semi sweet offerings. I did prefer the dryer, non traditional offerings.
My gripe? The bottle prices. These bottles do not even have corks. I am not sure about the apple to bottle process but I could not imagine it is as complicated as wine making. We purchased 2 bottles, they did not waive the tasting fee and for $ 38 we were on our way… feeling a bit ripped off.

Overall, the cider I sampled was quite good. Aside from the two sweet flavored varieties which tasted like alcoholic juice boxes, the semi sweet varieties were my favorite (compared favorably in taste to Magner’s). The dry varieties were also quite tasty. My biggest gripe was that the asking price for a 750mL bottle of cider was in the neighborhood of $ 10-​$ 12. For the same price, one could buy a very nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc which I think drinks better than any of these ciders.
Service was friendly, but tended to hover while we were doing our tasting. $ 2 to taste 5 of the ciders; if there are two of you, then you can taste them all and share. Not necessarily worth going out of your way for, but definitely worth stopping in if you’re driving by on 89.

All but 1 of the ciders are sparkling. I don’t drink beer, but would have appreciated a few more stills. Good mix of sweet & dry ciders.

I am a major fan of good hard cider, and have to say that this is some of the best stuff I have ever had. Those of you who think you dislike cider because you tried some god awful original sin, harpoon, or woodchucks may have your minds changed by this wonderful selection of ciders. I like my ciders dry and this place accommodates that preference quite nicely.
Whenever I go to the chapterhouse which occasionally has this cider on tap, I make sure to ask for it. If they respond with «We’re all out, but we have Orginal Sin.» My response remains the same «I’ll have a Yuengling.» These days its either bellwether or I’m not drinking cider. After trying this stuff, the commercial ciders become hard to stomach.
My favorite flavor of their ciders is the original, its not too dry for your guests who are looking for something sweeter than beer, but its by no means sugary. The only bottle of cider that I don’t like from them is the cherry street one, its a bit too sweet and mediciney for my taste, but I suppose its good to those who like cherry drinks.
They have a frequent buyers club card, where your 12^th bottle is free. So if you go frequently get your card stamped.