Finnriver Farm & Cidery

I think it was important to read the reviews that tell you about driving down a gravel road so you know you are at the correct spot. The building was fun the tasting room was cozy and welcoming. The tasting was great, the staff friendly, knowledgeable and genuinely cared about the cider and the portions are generous. What a great place to visit on a trip.

If I die and go to heaven, it will be a lot like a sunny summer afternoon at Finnriver Farm. A wood-​fired pizza, a glass of cold cider, some live music and a perch on the lawn, overlooking Chimacum Creek. When I lived in the area, every guest who came for a stay got the Finnriver experience, and to a person, they loved it. Do yourself a favor and take a drive in the country culminating with a stop at this amazing place.

We came on a Sunday and weren’t too impressed. The property is at the end of this small gravel road and houses and farm land are along the road. The parking is a muddy lot and a sign reads «No dogs allowed ever» and mentions their farm dogs are hard at work. I agree with another review that dogs are sort of a part of the beer and cider culture so I thought it was a let down dogs aren’t allowed. We left our dog in the car.
There was a small fire pit, a small covered area where they had tastings. Then there was a small room where they have two more tastings and where you can purchase bottles. There’s farm land and a chicken coop too.
For $ 5 you get a couple sips of 6 different ciders, wines and drinks. I’m pretty sure each pour was maybe 1 or 2 ounces.
The tastings were all great but I wish they were bigger. For a company that charges $ 12 for a bottle of cider, I’d expect more from the $ 5 fee and for driving all the way out to a part of Washington I’d never go to if it weren’t for the reputation Finn River’s ciders have.
Overall, I’d say this cider house was average. I don’t think I’d recommend it given the drive and what you get for tastings.

If I could give 6 stars I would, this place is charming, has great ciders and phenomenal staff.
Some things you should know before you go:
1) it’s kinda in the middle of nowhere and it takes awhile to get there from Seattle, so plan to make a day of it. We hit CB’s nuts on the way over as well as Port Townsend Creamery.
2) they don’t allow dogs
The place is a working farm and has gorgeous property. There are rolling fields with an outdoor fire pit. The main tasting room is charming.
There are a lot of types of ciders that they pour. We really enjoyed the dry hopped cider and the ginger cider. We bought some bottles and sat outside to enjoy them!
We will be bringing all of our visitors here!

My boyfriend and I drove there in September while Finnriver was dry running their new space. It was beautiful and amazing. There was live music, a tasting room, brick oven pizza and a small apple orchard that visitors can walk through.
Finnriver has a wide variety of ciders and a delicious desert wine that they make. My favorite is the pear cider which they had on draft! My boyfriend loves the dry hopped cider. One really amazing treat was their Blackcurrant Wine. It is sweet, flavorful and delicious oh and it has a high alcohol content so be careful! Their flavors are unique and their new location is beautiful! I believe it is closed for the rest of the year and they plan to open it up during the summer months!(the new location not the original tasting room).

Went on September 5^th for the opening of their new space. Never been to the prior location but the new space is great! Did a tasting and the bar tender who led the tasting was knowledgable and really nice. He answered all of our questions and had some great recommendations! The black currant lavender was AMAZING! As was the cider aged in bourbon barrels! I will definitely be back!

Love this place come all the time I recommend the black currant brandy or the blackberry

If you haven’t been, you MUST go! Cider tasting and an amazing 33 acre farm. Chickens, pigs, baby ducks, flower beds and most of all, so many blueberries! You pick’em. My favorite Sundays are spent here. Love you Finnriver.

One of my absolute favorite places. My kids love playing while I sit back and listen to the live bands and eat the wood fired pizza and drink whatever delicious cider they have on tap. My favorites are the Cranberry Rosehip, the Pear Cider and the Apple Blueberry Wine. Staff is always super friendly!

Since moving to the west coast my love for cider has grown immensely. My very first cider here was Finnriver’s Lavender Black Currant. I was smitten. Over the past few years, I have tried several other ciders, and found a few that have been tasty. However…
This past weekend the hubster and I headed out from Skagit Valley to the Peninsula for the Lavender Festival in Sequim. The day was filled with numerous snafus and plan changes due to overbooked ferries, unexpected heat, and deciding to bring part of our pack with us didn’t help matters. We had decided to take the long (3.5 hour) drive home since all the ferries were other booked or on a long stand-​by. A great idea had struck me, one that I promised myself I would do the next time I was on the peninsula: go to Finnriver!
The drive there was gorgeous and once you enter their quaint property; you will think you have died and gone to heaven. You first drive down a long, narrow driveway passing several small homes. Super friendly staff members greet you half way down to welcome you and tell you where to park. Once you get to the parking area, there is someone else beckoning you in. If you’ve ever seen the Portlandia episode with Jason Sudeikis, then that should give you an idea of where I’m going with this.
Once I secured the pooches in the car with AC blasting and the tunes pumping, we ventured forth. They have metal and chalkboard signs emblazoned with their name and wonderful quotes. There is a trail you can follow that talks about how their farm practices salmon safe farming. You can witness their dogs do what they do best: wrangle up escapee foul. However, after soaking in the beauty of the land, one must go back. Go back to the place where the cider lives.
They do an educational, entertaining and delicious tasting. By far, this has been my favorite tasting (and I have done beer, wine, and cheese tastings and some pretty awesome places **ahem Sonoma/​Napa**). They make their own Champagne, which is made in individual, hand stamped bottles. They make amazing ciders. Hands down, they are the most creative, delicious, organic, and sustainably produced ciders you will ever have the chance to put in your face. We had their Dry Hopped, which is excellent with a locally made gin (also made from apples) that we got up at a distillery in Bellingham. Of course, we had the Lavender Black Currant. We had two phenomenal barrel aged ciders. Yes, you read that correctly. One was aged in an oak barrel, while the other in a bourbon barrel. Words cannot express their deliciousness. There were a few other ciders in there too that were excellent but my mind wants to skip ahead and tell you about their wine – they make a port that is to die for! We had their blackberry port and I will probably never be able to drink regular wine again! It is just perfect. That’s all I can say about it. Oh, and it’s an orgasm for your mouth. We also were able to sample one of their «brandy candies,» aka their ice wines and they were quite yummy. But the piece de resistance, was the Habanero Cider. They made it as a joke, but the demand for it was ceaseless, so they decided to make it a part of their regular lineup and this one hits it out of the park! They had us «top off» our sample with some of the champagne, which was good, but I LOVED it on its own. The heat was not overbearing, which allowed the fresh aroma of the pepper to shine and the heat to just dance around your mouth. A must try for pepper lovers out there.
What almost brought me to my knees were the folks playing bluegrass music over where folks were enjoying their self-​made eats and brews. Literally I had tears in my eyes and no, it was not from the habaneros!
These folks do it right. They get what community means, they know how to make a mean cider (and wine and champagne), they are down to earth, friendly and oh-​so inviting. They speak straight to my soul with their farming practices. And if I could choose where I could live out my days, it would be at this place. My own personal heaven.

We loved this place! Imagine little house on the prairie folks drinking blackberry or lavender cider! I know crazy right? They have a pizza party and cider on Sunday 12 – 5. They offer gluten free options if you call ahead!

We drove from Seattle only to find a sign that says, «No dogs allowed ever». That’s nice because we brought our Newfoundland with us, like we always do when we go to Breweries and Cideries and it has never been a problem. Being dog friendly goes with this culture, which is what I have always found to be true. At least put this information on your website. I’ve always loved the cider, but how disappointing is this?

What a cool place to visit!
We wandered here on our way home from a day trip to the Olympic Game Farm last weekend and were not disappointed. The staff is super friendly and knowledgable — and gives you plenty to try for just five dollars.
I can’t give them five stars as although the farm was breathtaking and the ciders delicious (you HAVE to try the apply brandy wine), they aren’t really equipped just yet for what I would typically call a tasting room. We wanted to purchase a few pints and sit and enjoy the views, however, they don’t yet have kegs set up and don’t have the pricing infrastructure for you to pay per glass. Like I said, they were more than generous and gave us each a free small glass (which was amazing — seriously best service ever!), but I would have spent more money and enjoyed some more cider at their farm if I could have. We did, however, purchase some ciders there that you can’t find in stores and I would stop in to get more if I’m ever in the area.

This place was a great surprise while visiting Port Townsend. Got to the tasting room right when a tasting was starting. Best $ 5 spent. Very informational and a ton of different flavors to taste. Walked around the farm. I really wanted some fresh mozzarella so I could sneak into the greenhouse that was growing tomatoes and basil and eat as much as I could. The B&B looked like some place I’d definitely stay, and next time I go up there I wanna check out their Sunday pizza.
Worth the trip.

This place is so so so good. (yes, 3 so’s)
Finn river is tucked off the main highway in Chimacum, and is a fantastic stop if you’re doing a day trip to the peninsula. Drive down a single lane dirt road to the red barn at the end; this is where the magic happens.
The hours are 12 – 5 daily, and tastings are available for $ 5. If you buy a certain number of bottles, the tasting fee is waived. Even if you just do the tasting, the $ 5 is well worth it, because the tasting includes 4 or 5 ciders, and 3 apple wines, with the last served in a tiny chocolate cup. Delicious.
Finn river has ciders and apple brandy, both of which have seasonal flavors that rotate through. The seasonal ciders usually feature an herb or flower (i.e. lemon balm or chamomile) that is grown on property or nearby. One of my favorites is the fire barrel, which is aged in bourbon barrels and has an especially smoky and rich flavor. Another unique cider includes hops. As for the brandy, I favor the black currant. It is excellent for sipping, or poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Bottles are ~$ 10 for cider and ~$ 20 for brandy. The brandy lasts a long time if you savor it. There are also 2 «clubs.» There’s no fee to join, but you agree to buy either 3 or 6 bottles quarterly (you pick up the bottles or they ship them to you). For the 3 bottle club, you get a 15% discount on all purchases, and the 6 bottle club is a 20% discount. Great if you regularly buy cider!
Stop by, taste the cider, roam the farm, pet the farm dogs. It’s a great time!

Tasted here several times. $ 5 is such a great deal. Love going to the farm. Also available at Ballard market, Ballard farmer’s market, Bottleworks, whole foods…
I favor the dry hopped, spring honey release, farmstead, and black currant brandy wine.

This is definitely ground zero for cider on the Olympic Peninsula. They’ve helped revive an old tradition that has continuously thrived in England and France, but only bounced around in the shadows over here. Even if you’re a native Washingtonian, you might not realize how many apples are grown on this side of the Cascades, until you start learning about cider production.
There are many good cideries on each side of the mountains, concentrated mainly in the Methow Valley, the San Juans, Yakima, and up here in the northern end of the OP. I haven’t been to all of them, but FR is pretty sweet. Hard to imagine a better one.
There are two other cideries between here and Port Townsend. They all hide back in the woods, with long winding narrow gravel driveways. Getting in to FR means snaking through some mature trees, over a little brook bridge, and past many signs reminding you to slow down so you don’t make noise, stir dust, and bug the non-​cider-​making neighbors that share the long driveway.
You go past a few properties and past some fetching farmhouses to get to the red barn, where it all happens. There are plenty of signs helping you down the path. There’s a fairly squared-​off parking area, all gravel, fairly well-​drained. There are multiple outbuildings, with stacks of production equipment and big apple boxes stacked well overhead in several spots. It’s a busy, working orchard and cidery, with indoor and outdoor gathering areas and a steady stream of customers. Kids are welcome; there’s even a kid-​sized activity table with some games and such. The cidery is named after a couple sons of people who work there, so family life is appreciated as part of the life of the farm. There’s not much to do here besides drink and walk around, though, except when they serve food. So plan on making an effort to entertain Junior.
The barn has a well-​heated tasting area, with a real bathroom off to the side. The rest of the building is full of fermenters, with a small work area that looks like it has a bit of lab equipment there. They’re expanding all the time, even after just 8 years, which is great to see.
The tasting room has a bar that’s more like a counter, with minimal seating. There are over a dozen different ciders, sparkling ciders, and brandies out for sale. There’s a big framed picture of an FR employee disgorging yeast plugs from a cider they make in methode champenoise – a low-​tech, old-​school, labor-​intensive way to produce crisp sparkling wine. It’s the required method in France to be certified as real champagne – it’s very cool that FR works so hard to produce their sparkling artisanal cider this way. They riddle and disgorge the yeast, which takes months to finish, and there’s some loss along the way. But you get a drier, lighter product by letting the tough yeasts ferment the apple pressings for so long. Right away you know this place is getting more and more serious about their work.
The staff is very bubbly and outgoing as well. The owner comes out to host the tastings; she walks the whole room through a series of pours, starting with the driest and working to the sweetest. Her husband runs production; we didn’t see him at all. She has a great staff of charming young women who aren’t exactly milk maids, but are pretty close to being modern versions of the fresh-​faced farm maidens who must have helped build the communities out here back in the day. She poured the sparkling artisanal first, working her way up through plain ciders, ciders with multiple fruits, and up into fruit brandy blends that topped out at over 18%. You’re getting very small pours of those.
Between the four of us we bought over a case, which waives the $ 5 tasting fee. They offer bulk discounts, and repeat customer discounts. As it warms up, they turn Sunday nights over to pizza night, firing up the wood-​fired brick oven and serving everybody at long beer-​hall-​style picnic tables in a covered area with removable walls.
When they got the business started, they went up into the Skagit River Valley when they heard a good cidermaker there was retiring and giving up his property. They hand-​dug over 1,000 cider apple trees and ferried them back from Mt Vernon to Chimacum. They get a lot of different fruits from all over the OP for all their different concoctions, but those apples are the base for much of what they do. It’s so cool they saved them at such great effort and expense to themselves. You can’t quite see that orchard from the farm now; it’s a couple miles up the valley. But it speaks volumes to how hard they’re willing to work to keep things going. They even make their own version of Fire Barrel, a bourbon-​aged cider that was a flagship for Red Barn before they saved all of Red Barn’s trees.
They make great ciders if you see them pouring or on the shelves in town, and they show you a fantastic time if you make the trip out here. Come visit before it gets too discovered. They’re on their way to the big time for sur

If I were a bit more hippy or even outdoorsy I probably would of appreciated this place more. I get a little antsy in such a laid back environment (which is odd since I bitch about how crowded and busy Seattle can get).
The staff were contagiously friendly, the farm is gorgeous, and the overall experience was worth the drive. I should mention that I normally do not drink cider or any type of sweet wine. We did the tasting, which was pretty cool because you got to sample almost everything they offered. About 10+ tastings. I found a few of them to be pretty good, but the most stand out for me was the champagne. Who knew there even was sparkling cider? AND its extra dry!
After the tastings we decided to get 2 mini glasses, a reusable bottle carrying bag, 2 ciders and one cider champagne. We also ordered a pizza, which was a «personal» size. Enough to share as a snack but order your own if you want a meal. The grand total was $ 72…a little steep!
The pizza was a-​mah-​zzinnggg… we saw the owner pick the cherry tomatoes as he was making the pizza! It had a bomb pesto sauce, the dough cooked evenly and was super thin. Their seasonings (which I HIGHLY regret not buying) were legit. We added their jalapeño seasoning, it made the pizza over the TOP good!
We will be back any time we are in the area (about a 10−15min drive from 101), cider for my man and pizza for me!
Also: Fun Fact: They do what they call a «World Apple Day» where you bring in your own home grown apples and they turn it into a community harvested farmstead hard cider. They also donate some of the proceeds to a local food bank. Pretty damn cool.

We had an awesome experience at the cider tasting room here. Finnriver is a working organic farm as well as a cidery, complete with muddy fields, chickens and farm dogs.
We had two different cider-​pourers while we were there, both of whom were really knowledgeable and super-​nice, and one of whom was fresh from the farm, with pink cheeks and old carhartts.
It’s obvious a huge amount of care goes into all their cider varieties. Some of the seasonal varieties were great, others were just good, but I really appreciated how much effort and love were in all of them, and we left with three bottles.

Met Christy at a tasting here in Poulsbo and she encouraged us to stop by for a visit. The review from Kimberly S is really excellent and the only things I would add are that the tasting room is just off to the Right when you park and around the side of the Red barn. The signs were hard to read the raining evening but we were rewarded with a wonderful tasting that included a peek into the back room with the holding tanks and the sparkling cider racks. You can feel the passion for the product when you listen to them speak. I hope that they thrive!
Very enjoyable!
Tip: The lot can get pretty muddy when it rains so bring boots.