Rochester's first hard cider-only bar opening
Rochester is a "craft town."
That's the attitude expressed by the two men behind the city's newest craft venture. Patrick Jaouen and Sam Conjerti Jr. are opening Rochester's first hard cider-only bar, Mullers Cider House, 1344 University Ave. It's slated to have a soft opening this week.
"In Rochester, you have the ability to do something craft," said Jaouen. "Rochester has this charm and low cost of living with the amenities of a bigger city. People are interested in tasting and doing new things, which is why you’re seeing the movement with things like pour-over coffee shops, specialty cheese places and chocolate places, things that are dedicated to one unique way of doing things.
"These places specialize in making that one product or making that one experience for that product perfect. I think that you can see that people appreciate that here. Those type of businesses succeed."
Jaouen and Conjerti Jr. envision Mullers, located next to Joe Bean Coffee Roasters on the outskirts of Rochester's Neighborhood of the Arts, settling into that community comfortably. After searching for a location for six months, the pair picked the University Avenue location for its access to great restaurants, other bars and breweries, and craft-centric consumers.
"I think it’s time," said Jaouen. "And just from the response we’ve gotten so far, people are ready for something new. There’s a million craft beer places and wine bars. When they come into Mullers, it’s going to be a new experience. I think people are craving that.
"I think that with the passion we have for this, that we have for cider, we’re going to be able to expose people to a whole other world that they weren’t aware of."
Mullers has already garnered over 700 Facebook likes. The 1,500-square-foot bar, which will be adorned with reclaimed barn wood and other rustic touches, will have room to seat about 45 people. There will be 12 draft ciders and 100 bottled options to choose from.
There also will be a focus on gourmet kettle corn as the staple food item. Mullers had a specialized kettle corn cooker constructed for its space. They plan to feature a specialty kettle corn creation for each season (think peppermint bark-flavored kettle corn for the holidays). The kitchen will feature simple salads, soups and panini (with numerous gluten-free options).
"We want to bring back that mix of the American and what they’re doing over there in Europe," Jaouen said, noting that cider was the alcoholic drink of choice prior to Prohibition. "It’s kind of like what people are doing with craft beer right now, something like those hopped ciders and different casked stuff. Once you get into it, you fall into drinking nothing but cider."
"That’s why education from our perspective is important," Conjerti Jr. added. "There’s not a lot of exposure to these ciders in our area. We want to bring the world to Rochester."
According to Jaouen, there were just five hard cider producers in this state five years ago.
The two business partners and friends met through connections in the music industry. Jaouen is a musician and Conjerti Jr. works in licensing. They discussed how they could partner and thoughts drifted to a beverage that they are both passionate about. The whole process began in November of last year. Now it's inching closer to becoming reality.
The hurdles have been plentiful. There have been numerous construction delays. With such a narrow focus, gathering the ciders has proven to be one of the bigger challenges. Where a traditional bar might have to deal with only four or five distributors when building a portfolio, Mullers has had to dig deeper to assemble its offerings. They've gone directly from farms and reached out to craft cider importers like Brooklyn-based Rowan (home of some amazing ciders like downstate's Aaron Burr and Vermont's Eden).
But the finish line is in sight. And they are excited to share their passion with the Rochester community. You can sense the passion when you ask the pair to talk about their favorite ciders and why they think a concept like this will work in this community, such as when Jaouen enthusiastically talks about some of the Spanish sidras (ciders) he really enjoys.
"They are different than anywhere else in the world," Jaouen said. "It’s like you can taste the sunshine in Basque country in Spain. It’s got this citrusy characteristic, like you’re in the orchard in Spain, the sun is coming through the trees, and you’re drinking this amazing cider. I want people to experience that here."