Norwegian cider tasting in Bergen: what it is
In short: the shortest thing on this list and the only one built entirely around a protected local product. Ninety minutes at Bergen’s first dedicated cider bar in the city centre, wheelchair accessible, working through craft ciders from Hardanger with the history, the production methods and the producers explained as you go. It is a very good ninety minutes on a wet afternoon. It is not a substitute for a meal, and it does not pretend to be.
Why Hardanger cider is worth ninety minutes
Most places that run a cider tasting are pouring a drink. Hardanger is pouring a rule book. “Sider frå Hardanger” has been a protected geographical indication since April 2009, which means the apples must be grown in the seven Hardanger municipalities, apple concentrate is banned outright, and the pressing, the fermentation and the storage all have to happen inside the region.
The part that makes it taste unlike cider anywhere else is the fruit. Hardanger uses dessert apples rather than dedicated cider varieties — Aroma, Discovery, Summerred and Rød Gravenstein are the four you meet most — because at roughly 60°N, about as far north as commercial fruit growing goes, even an eating apple keeps enough acidity to ferment properly. Warm summers, cold autumn nights and water throwing light back onto steep orchard slopes do the rest. The result reads light, fresh, markedly sharp and very obviously of apples.
Fermentation runs cool, somewhere between 6 and 12 °C, on wild yeast off the skins or on cultured yeast added deliberately. Monks brought cider to Hardanger in the Middle Ages and commercial production dates from the early 1900s. Some producers bottle-ferment, and the protected-name framework was modelled on Champagne-style appellation rules, which is where the local billing as Norway’s answer to champagne comes from. That is marketing rather than chemistry, and it is fair to report it as such. The whole cider story.
What ninety minutes at the bar is like
A tasting is a sequence, and the order decides whether the last glass still tastes of anything. You work through craft ciders from Hardanger with the history, the production methods and the producers explained as you go, seated, indoors, in a bar small enough that the person pouring is the person talking.
In a region of seven municipalities the producers are known by name, which is why the talk can go past “this one is drier” and into who grows what and on which slope. Nobody wanders in expecting dinner: this is a tasting and it is over in an hour and a half, so plan a meal after it rather than around it.
Bergen gets something like 2,495 mm of rain a year across about two hundred days, and the wettest month is December. Ninety minutes indoors, seated, step-free and pouring is a better answer to a wet afternoon than any walking tour in the city. What the rain actually does to a day here.
The address, and the things the listing does not publish
You meet at Bergen’s first dedicated cider bar, in the city centre. The exact street address is not published on the listing, so it arrives with your booking rather than before it. Group cap: not published. The not-included list: not published. Minimum age: not stated on the listing, though alcohol is served, so Norway’s own age rules apply in practice. What those rules are.
What is stated is the thing that matters most for a lot of readers: it is wheelchair accessible. Only one other listing in Bergen says that, and it is a three-and-a-half-hour walk. The access page.
What works
- Ninety minutes — the only listing here that fits in an afternoon gap
- Wheelchair accessible, and indoors throughout
- Built around a protected product, with the producers explained
- Bergen’s first dedicated cider bar, in the city centre
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead
Worth knowing
- It is a tasting, not a meal — you will want dinner afterwards
- The street address is not published until you book
- The group cap is not published
- The not-included list is not published
- Alcohol throughout, so it is not a booking for everyone in a party
What the listing commits to
- Ninety minutes of guided tasting, in English
- Craft ciders from Hardanger
- The history, the production methods and the producers explained
- A wheelchair-accessible venue in the city centre
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before it starts
What it does not
- A meal, or anything approaching one
- A published street address before you book
- A published group size
- A published not-included list
- A stated minimum age — though alcohol is served
Who should book it, and who should not
Book it if you have ninety minutes and it is raining. Book it if you want the one thing in this city that is genuinely, legally local and are happy for that thing to be a drink. Book it if you need step-free access and do not want to commit to three and a half hours on your feet. Book it alongside something else, rather than instead of it.
Do not book it expecting to be fed, which is the Taste of Bergen walk or lunch in somebody’s house. Do not book it if anybody in the party is not drinking, because there is nothing else on offer. And do not book it as the food part of your day, because ninety minutes of cider is not a meal and does not pretend to be. The other drink tastings here.
The alternatives
The Taste of Bergen walk below includes three cider tastings inside a longer afternoon. The aperitivo tour is three hours of drinks and tastings, for ages 20 and over.
The only real food walkBergen: A Taste of Bergen Food Tour with Fløibanen Funicular
New · ages 20+Bergen: Food and Drink Aperitivo Tour with Tastings
A day out, not a food tourBergen: Old Town and Waterfalls Guided Tour with Waffles
Frequently asked questions
Is the Bergen cider tasting wheelchair accessible?
Yes. It is one of two listings in Bergen that state wheelchair access, and it is indoors and seated for the full ninety minutes. The access page.
What cider do you taste in Bergen?
Craft ciders from Hardanger, an hour or so east. The name has been protected since 2009: the apples must be grown there and pressed, fermented and stored there too. Why it tastes so sharp.
Is the Bergen cider tasting a meal?
No. It is ninety minutes of tasting rather than eating, so eat before or after it. The listing with the food in it is the Taste of Bergen walk, at three and a half hours and thirteen tastings. How I would choose.