Grey and Gold is a cidery located just south of Thornbury in Grey County, about two hours north of Toronto. The award-winning cidery is owned by David Baker and his wife Kim. David went to school at UofT in the mid-80s for law. He practiced it for about a year before turning to newer things. After 30 years of working behind a desk doing magazine publishing and business development, he grew bored and wanted to escape the city and find a new passion that was more creative and free. They visited County Cider on a trip with his wife to Prince Edward County. After tasting their cider he wanted to be able to make something like that. He searched for how to create this excellent drink, after finding out how “I made my first batch of cider from store-bought apple juice. It was terrible. But I didn’t give up; I doubled down. I read Claude Jolicoeur's The Cider Makers Handbook from cover to cover. I had found my bible. I went to the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Conference where Claude and Chris Haworth of West Avenue Cider were speaking. Claude signed my book. Over lunch, I chatted with Chris and Tom Wilson of Spirit Tree Cider. I was a 55-year-old fanboy but they were so open and supportive. I had found my community.” He started his cider-making journey with a small apple press that took him several weeks to fully grind and press. He tested and experimented with many different ingredients, processes, and filters. All of his hard work paid off when he entered his ciders into a large international non-commercial competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He got a gold medal for his cider Modern Girl after receiving a perfect score, the judge told him to “Go Commercial!” So that’s what he did. David has been commercially bottling and selling his cider since the spring of 2020.

 

The barn in which David Baker runs his cidery is one of the oldest barns in the valley, and it dates back to the mid-1800s. Historically it was a cidery, there are still several apple trees on the farm that are around 75-80 years old. The barn has stood for a long time and hasn’t aged too well over the years. There are some beams in the barn that are starting to rot and causing a bit of a problem. As a matter of fact, David said that parts of the barn were only being held in place by the grape vines that enveloped some exterior of the barn. Although the barn seemed to be falling apart, David had quite the operation going on in there, with all the brewing, fermenting, and bottling going on within the confines of the barn. Getting the shots that I wanted was sketchy, with powerful winds hitting the barn it sounded like it was going to fall atop me. The floorboards creaked with every step, but I liked exploring the barn. Before he bought the farm, it belonged to Major Perkins who also sold cider. He used to grow apple trees as well as cherry too. In fact, one of the old signs for Major Perkins is hung up in the upper part of the barn. Speaking of the top part of the barn, there was a room closed off by a locked door that I thought held the brewing part of the operations. Though I could not have been more wrong, there was a recording studio for a local band called “Too Loud for Tina” that David lets record in. My jaw dropped when David opened that door for me, I could not believe it! A local rock band recording within an old creaking and falling apart barn. What a pleasant surprise. 

 

The barn at Grey and Gold has had a long history of growing apples and making cider, although it seems to be falling apart David is making it work. This barn has stayed intact for a very long time and is allowing David to pursue a creative passion in the art of cider. David is a wonderful guy with a wonderful idea and even more wonderful cider. This barn has given David a community of loving and supporting people, and he has given back to the community with incredibly fine ciders and fun events at the farm. So if you are ever near Thornbury or Clarksburg, I highly advise you to visit David at Grey and Gold, on Grey County Road 13.