About

In 2013 the company’s founders, John Clowney, Ben Inglod, AJ Nelson, and Ryan Bogard wanted to tap into the hard cider movement. At the time, cider production was quickly growing around the country. However, it was still young in North Carolina, having less than five cider producers throughout the state. The four friends would meet in a backyard and cut North Carolina apples, use a portable grinder (a modified garbage disposal) to make the pomace (think of it like mash), and a wooden press to extract the apple juice. It took some experimentation and a few bad batches, but eventually, the “Cider Bros” created our flagship cider, Off Main, which serves as the base for most of our ciders to this day.

The first cider bar opened a year later in Downtown Durham in a 1947 truck service garage on Elizabeth Street, at the site of the old Carpenter Motor Co. The partners called the company Bull City Ciderworks to pay homage to the birthplace of the company, Durham, NC, which is nicknamed “The Bull City”. Everything was bootstrapped from the plastic tanks, to the reclaimed bar and the makeshift plumbing. The Elizabeth Street location was a barebones cidery selling growlers of three different flavors directly out of a cooler. Through word of mouth and a lot of support, it grew into one of Durham’s most beloved places for friends and family to connect.

The taproom operated from the original location until early 2016. Plans for a Durham Police Department Headquarters on that property forced the cidery to close and find a new home a few blocks away in a single story warehouse on Roxboro St. During the transition, the company expanded production and opened a second taproom about 90 miles away in Lexington, NC for a more centralized location to distribute statewide.