An aspiring farmer-turned-cider maker is opening a bar as an extension of his already established cidery.
Tariq Ahmed founded Revel Cider in 2014 in Guelph. While product orders have been sent to restaurants in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa for some time, and a U.S. online store recently opened, the bar at 62 Dawson Rd. is intended for Guelph to taste Revel Cider in the presence of those who make it.
“I built the business backwards,” said Ahmed. Most people will open a tap room first and then a brewery, he said.
He started in wholesale and did it for four years.
Out of high school Ahmed wanted to become a farmer but decided to study plant science at the University of Guelph. One summer he had an internship at a farm.
“I wanted to get exposure to all of these different aspects of agriculture that I wasn't getting in school,” said Ahmed.
He read books about fermentation and found an old wine press on the farm, scrubbed it as good as new and made wine.
“Those early days I was fermenting everything and anything I could get my hands on,” Ahmed said.
He didn’t finish his degree at U of G and instead took a business course and an agricultural course to deepen his knowledge.
“I feel like being Indian immigrants to the first world basically, your parents are always pressuring you to be either a doctor or a lawyer or engineer,” Ahmed said.
His family didn’t approve of his career choice. “We left this part of the world so you didn't have to be a farmer,” he said his parents told him.
Ahmed comes from an Indian family who practice the Muslim faith, where alcohol isn’t permitted.
They are excited his business is successful but it isn’t the path they would have chosen for him.
Revel Cider was awarded a couple of grants which got the business started. It wouldn’t exist without U of G, he said.
“Our cider is very different from anything else you'll find in Ontario,” he said. The cider is wild fermented. Instead of introducing a lab grown yeast Ahmed lets the yeast and bacteria from the fruit do the fermentation.
Along with cider they produce wine, non-alcoholic wine and vermouth. The beverages are produced, bottled and packaged at 62 Dawson Rd. The location also has a bottle shop made possible by the changes to liquor laws in Ontario during the pandemic.
The bar is at the same location in what used to be a mechanic shop. A 3,000 square foot space with a garage door, high ceilings, and a disco ball. It will have capacity for 30 people.
Beverages will be available by the glass and by the bottle. A food menu will feature local Ontario ingredients just like their drinks. Cheese, cured meats, and local bread will be served similar to menus in cideries in northern Spain.
The Revel Cider bar is aiming to open by Aug. 1, said Ahmed.
