Pour The Core Hard Cider Festival

I had a WONDERFUL time with my free tickets thanks to Unilocal!I never thought there would be this many ciders and flavors to choose from, and was really impressed with many of them there (except for Virtue — which was straight vinegar, bleh). It was a perfectly gorgeous and oddly hot day, which made it incredible for this festival.
Pros:
1. Huge selection of ciders!
2. Vendors were all super nice and most over poured that 2 oz mark!
3. Lots of Freebies! I had a LOADED bag of free Kind bars, free Mrs. Cookies, free chips and all this other great stuff by the time I left.
4. Great selection of food trucks from arepas to cheesesteaks
5. Awesome crowd! We made friends everywhere we sat or stood, people were just in a fabulous mood.
Cons:
1. Music!!!
It was limited to the strong bow tent — which let’s be real was a scene straight from a VIP lounge in the club. Loved it. They had GREAT music, but that was about it. The venue could have really benefited from a live band or DJ or something.
I really enjoyed myself, actually way more than I anticipated and look forward to future Cider festivals… I will just remember to book a hotel room closer to the venue!

I won two tickets to this festival (thanks, Unilocal!!) and when it turned out to be an 83 degree day, I was ecstatic. We took the Broad St line all the way down to the stadiums, where a big yellow school bus picked us up and dropped us off right at the festival gates. Lines moved quickly getting in, which was nice.
To prep for cider drinking, we checked out the food trucks, which had a nice variety. After chowing down on some crab cake sandwiches and cheese curds, we headed for the cider lines. I was incredibly impressed by the huge variety and the friendliness of everyone pouring. Only thing I didn’t love were the lines, which got hot and confusing under the big tents. It seems that the festival might have grown at a pace a bit faster than the planners.

My boyfriend and I got there early so we were able to try every single cider under the 1^st tent to the right as you walked in. As I sampled the ciders I thanked the universe and whoever thought of inventing hard cider. I must be a serious light weight, though, because I didn’t make it past the 1^st tent before the earth started spinning and I started laying stretched out in the grass. After laying in the grass for too long my boyfriend finally said «let’s go» lol so we left after less than 2 hours of being there. I had an awesome time while I lasted! I really hope the festival comes back next year… next year I plan to pace myself much better lol

Cider = Deliciousness, so of course when I saw on the Unilocal listing for this event that there was a $ 20 Amazon Local deal for this event, I quickly purchased tickets for my husband and I. I’m not sure if I’d pay $ 40 a piece normally, but it was completely worth the $ 20.
We took the free shuttle from AT&T Station on the Broad Street Line. It was waiting for us outside of the station. The driver was nice, and took a group of us over there and didn’t make us wait around until the bus was crammed full. That was much appreciated.
We arrived and got through the line and into the event at about 12:40. The first pour wasn’t until 1:00. We started in the tent on the right side with a lot of import ciders in it since those were mostly ones I’d never had before and wanted to try.
In the first hour the lines weren’t so bad, so we moved around pretty quickly. However, after about an hour the place got way more crowded. The lines still moved fairly quickly for the most part although it was was difficult to often tell where the line was. There was one tent over to the left that had venders at the back, so the line couldn’t fit out of the tent. That place was a claustrophobic person’s nightmare. I got a couple pours in there and decided I’d had enough. They really could have thought of that layout better.
Everyone working the event was really nice. Our favorite cider of the event was Thistly Cross Cider with ginger. It had just the right amount of sweetness and a nice touch of ginger that wasn’t overpowering. It was one of the first cider’s we tried. We came back through the line again before we left and the guy who worked for Thistly Cross remembered us! I don’t know how with that many people. He must have an amazing memory or something. I told him that his cider was the best because it was. It apparently comes from Scotland. If you like cider, pick some up. It’s seriously good stuff! I’m going on a hunt for it this weekend.
Most of the people attending the event were good people as well. We got some cheese curds from The Cow and the Curd food truck, and some nice people offered us their blanket to sit down on. I only met one rude probably drunk person. She poured her cider out all over the top of my foot while looking me directly in the eye. Creepy…
My only complaint besides some of the line organization, is that there was no shade other than the tents that the cider was served in. The sun was blazing that day. Thank goodness I had packed on the sunscreen and also brought my parasol. It was hot like a summer’s day though and all those chairs and tables in the middle of the event were worthless when there is no shade. I agree with Alicia O. in that having a tent set up in the middle would have cut down on some of the congestion inside the cider tents as many people were in them just for shade and not even waiting in line for a pour.
I was a fan of all the free samples, especially the Kind bars. I didn’t know they made savory things. The jalapeño one was quite tasty although it could have used a whole lot more heat.
Getting back to the station was no problem as there was a shuttle waiting. It was a different driver than the one who had taken us over, but he was just as friendly! I’ll definitely go again next year if I can catch another Amazon Deal. I love cider!

First off, so much cider!
They had just about every kind. Dry, tart, sweet, pear… there was even a lemon basil cider? Basically, it’s cider heaven. You definitely get your money’s worth with the Amazon deal. They had lots of food truck options to choose from. I tried some pork tacos and chili from the Oink and Moo truck. Glad I ate something before consuming all the cider.
They also had lots of free samples and shuttles! Cabot had cheese samples, Kind bars had free bars, and Food Should Taste Good gave out bags of their multi– grain chips, and free shuttles from the subway since parking options in the Navy yard were limited.
My only complaint was the warm weather and the lack of shade. I’m sure they planned for a nice fall day, but it was warm in the middle of a giant field with limited trees. They had some tables and chairs set up in the middle of the field, but nobody was sitting in them cause the sun was beating down on them. I think the cider tents would have been less crowded if they had more tents set up for people who just wanted to get out of the sun. I also agree with Melissa P about some of the vendors. I got a couple samples of lukewarm cider, which was disappointing.
Otherwise, it was a great time and I’d love to come back next year. But yeah, more tents next year, especially in the middle of the field where the tables and chairs were set up, would be a HUGE plus.

My sister and I are pretty hardcore (see what I did there? don’t worry there’s plenty more where that come from) about our hard cider. This may stem from the fact that the apples don’t fall too far from the tree. We got a bushel of people together, and although it was sometimes hard to find each other in the large tented crowds, we had a great time. If you’re debating between festivals, here’s why you should pick this one.
PROS
-$ 20 Amazon Deal was totally worth it (thanks for the heads up Unilocal!) (I think it’s still worth the $ 35 early bird price too). There’s also a $ 10 DD ticket that gets you in without a cup.
— 4 hours of All You Can Drink Cider from at least 30 different vendors, some of which had up to 10 kinds!
–Shuttle schoolbus takes you from AT&T Station (which can be kind of seedy, tbh) back to your days of giving your teachers apples, and into a festival of a totally different kinds of apples.
–FREE THINGS-​Kind Bar people were KINDa awesome, and way too kind with their jalapeño almond bars and honey smoked BBQ, bottle openers, coozies, cookies, multigrain chips, sweet potato chips, jerky samples from the Jerk Hut, and cheese!
–People selling pretzel necklaces for charity made us feel a bit bad about our homemade ones, but whatever.
–Food Trucks!
–Frecon Farms and Strongbow tents with cold cider were amazing!
–Cornhole and giant roosters to take pictures with!
CONS
–That Bloody Mary Mix tent– NOPE. Maybe bring some more ice next time?
–It was really hot out and the only shade was in grass. If you don’t want your face turning as red as… hm, an apple? bring suncreen.
–Some lines were super long/​disorganized.
–Some of the vendors ran out or were serving lukewarm cider. Bad apples.
Just a generally awesome good time, unless you’re a boring old Granny (I actually saw an awesome grandma-​aged person and she looked like she was having a great time), if ciders are the apple of your alcoholic eye, this is basically a Gala for people who get really excidered about cider. How bout dem apples?

I’m glad I went, but I don’t think that I’d go again. I thought that it was a bit disorganized. The event was in a large field with a couple of tables and chairs in the middle. The lines for the 2 ounce pours of cider were pretty long, you basically got your cider and then drank it while standing in the next line. I think lines would have moved a bit faster if there was a separate line for each cider tap. Each person in the line needed to decide which drink they wanted to try, which prolonged things.
It would have also been pretty great if there were servers wandering around offering pours in the middle of the field. Basically were jammed under the tents throughout the entire event, with no one in the middle area (granted, the unexpectedly warm sunny day had a lot to do with that).
I have never drank that much cider in my life. By the end, all of the sugar was getting to me. I was very happy whenever I saw a table that offered a beer as well, that way I could mix things up a bit.

I love cider and this festival made me feel like a kid in a candy store. They had a nice variety of different brands and flavors. The place was packed but I thought they did a good job at keeping the lines moving. Most of the time people were just hovering around and there were no real lines. Not only did they have delicious ciders but they were giving away cookies and chips for free. Who doesn’t like free cookies right? They also had food trucks on the side but the lines were too long to bother waiting for the food. Overall I thought this was a very well organized event with lots and lots of delicious ciders and you definitely get your money’s worth.

All cider beerfest… Yes please! Pore the Core had the best and the rest in terms of ciders, be it apples or pears. The tent was kind of a mess, but the lines didn’t take as long as you would think. It also offered a few food truck options for those looking for a break from the sweet drinks…