'I'm really excited': Owners of craft cider brewery in Fredericton, N.B. expand in more ways than one

Fifteen years after opening their craft cider brewery, the owners of Red Rover Craft Cider in Fredericton, N.B. are expanding in more ways than one.

The couple who own the cidery just signed the official ownership paperwork for Sunny Bank Farm, known to many locals as the Neill Farm on the city’s north side.

"We really didn't believe that we could be this lucky and that we could have the opportunity to continue such a big piece of history,” said Adam Clawson, co-owner Red Rover Craft Cider.

For Clawson and his wife, Nicola Mason, Jan. 12 was a big day. The couple went from signing papers with their lawyers, straight to welcoming their second child, a baby boy named Rowan.

"We had been waiting for a few days for the paperwork to come though from our lawyers and we had obviously been waiting for our due date. You never know when a baby is going to arrive so to have them on the same day was quite spectacular,” Nicola Mason, co-owner Red Rover Craft Cider.

Mason and Clawson admit that turning the dairy farm into a craft cider production is going to take some work, but they have ambitious plans for their business.

"So, the hope within the next year or so is to have our production that we're currently doing in some rented space actually moved across to here and actually start making existing products, such as our ciders at this farm location but also starting a boutique hotel, a café and general store,” Clawson said.

The pair hopes the business will become a focal point in the community for people to enjoy.

“We have a lifetime to work on this place, and some of the things that we’d love to achieve here would be to have multiple different types of fruits being grown here for u-pick purposes, also an ability to have wedding facilities," Clawson said. "And also farmers markets and festivals, and even have like a little miniature train running around."

For now, they want to get their primary business, making cider, up and running.

"I'm really excited to bring all of that to the farm here, so that we can show people the process of cider making, so that we can involve the community as much, or as little, as they want to be involved,” Mason said.

For Clawson and Mason, it’s important to preserve the farm’s heritage and keep it going for future memories to be made.

"It's both really an amazing privilege and a really great responsibility that we feel like we're putting on ourselves and we're not just continuing the memories of the Neill family here but everybody who has grown up around here for the last 160 years,” Clawson said.