Jonathan Moore and Diana Powell, owners of the soon-to-open Broad Street Cider & Ale, spent over a year looking for the perfect space for their cider-making and pub operation. They ended up on South Broad Street, in a space that was once home to an upholsterer and a woodworking school, now owned by Green Coast Enterprises.
Also, they live right down the street, which is very convenient and not just logistically — they are contributing to the community in which they live.
Broad Street Cider & Ale, opening on Saturday, July 22, from noon-8 p.m. is the culmination of a dream of providing something new to the New Orleans libation scene. Moore and Powell, frequent world travelers and local beer nerds, knew from their experiences overseas that fermented cider could be so much more than the sweet stuff that is available in the U.S.
Moore calls apple juice “the chicken of the juice world,” because it takes on the flavor of anything you can throw at it. Broad Street Cider & Ale will use different yeasts and additives like hops and botanicals. They’re also collaborating with neighboring distillery Atelier Vie by filling a donated barrel originally used to age Euphrosine gin with cider fermented with Champagne yeast to create a cider called “The Gin Craze.”
Moore and Powell worked with Chad Gleason of Gleason Construction, LLC to create the butcher block style bar, made with maple, walnut, and cherry wood, and the tables, made with oak and cherry wood.
One of the previous tenants of the space constructed an interior wall of windows, which is an inherited visual focus of the space, which Powell calls, “not too fancy, and not too dive-y.”
They have a small amount of outside seating (along with a secure bike rack) in an adjacent narrow alley, but plan to build out the back yard space they have in time for cooler weather.
The first few weeks of operation will be without their own cider, as they await their first juice delivery and then take the time to let the yeast do what it does. In the meantime, there will be eight guest taps of beer, including Southern Prohibition Crowd Control IPA, Bayou Teche biere noir, Ommegang Hennepin farmhouse saison, and Avery White Rascal Belgian-style witbier.
Broad Street will also have two guest ciders (Virtue Cider’s Brut and Harvest), as well as wine by the bottle or glass.
A note to the gluten-intolerant: the beer system and cider system are totally separate, meaning there’s no way any gluten from the beer gets into the cider.
Once the cider program is up and running, look for different variations such as a red wine yeast-fermented cider named “Belle,” a Belgian beer yeast-fermented cider called “The Battle of Waterloo,” and an Earl Grey tea infused cider called “The Duchess of Devonshire. They will also be dryhopping fermented batches of cider with various hops, including Citra, which has been the most consistent in their test batches.
This weekend, Powell says, she hopes it’s a curious and not too overwhelming crowd. “We’ll be visiting and talking with people, introducing our space and our concept, and having fun.”
Broad Street Cider & Ale, 2723 S Broad St., broadstreetcider.com. Open Saturdays noon-8pm and Sundays noon-7pm. 21+ only. Dogs only permitted outdoors. Follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@broadstcider)
