Citizen Cider was founded by three friends, Justin Heilenbach, Bryan Holmes, and Kris Nelson. They each had day jobs, but leased a production space for Cider making in Fort Ethan Allen in Essex, VT. For the first few years, they only made Cider in the evenings and on weekends. In 2012 and 2013, they quit their day jobs to focus on Cider full-time. In 2014, they broke ground in a new, larger facility in Burlington, VT, to accommodate their growing batch sizes. Hype: Citizen is one of Vermont’s premier cideries — they’ve even been awarded Best Hard Cidery by Seven Days Vermont an incredible 7 times!