Cider to the People
Mad Hat Cider, locally made and served at Draughtsmen Aleworks in Goleta, CA
Draughtsmen is making and selling our own hard cider called Mad Hat. (A nod to our head cider maker, Eric Hatton.) We love creating fresh hand crafted beverages - beer, wine AND cider. Our goal is to give you - selfishly us - a solid menu of hand crafted beverages. No loyalties to any one craft beverage. It just has to be good!
We have been making cider and testing cider in small batches over the past year. Our team member, Eric Hatton is taking the lead and getting creative with some of the flavors. As a home brewer initially he caught the brew bug and progressed to commercial brewing in Santa Barbara at Telegraph Brewing where he especially enjoyed the creativity involved in the barrel aging and sour beer program. In 2020, Eric found his new home at Draughtsmen and he worked on developing our first hard ciders. Eric was born in Maui but moved to Santa Barbara at three. He's been a local ever since, attempting to move away a few times but has always been lured back by everything the community has to offer (including the woman who eventually became his wife). Outside of work he's drawn to creative, physical hobbies such as fire spinning, martial arts, and even pirate-themed sword demonstrations. He can be seen riding his decked out electric bike around town.
About the Cider.
We try and keep two ciders on tap at the brewery in Goleta. On tap you’ll consistently see one traditional hard cider made from an apple blend. It is a dry style with a touch of sweet and mild tart notes. We usually have a rotating hard cider on tap that has some creative flair. Past flavors have been: "blueberry hibiscus" "cran, rooibos" "lemongrass, ginger" "Maui mango" "ginger, sweet peach" "cherry, elderberry" "passion fruit, black tea" "watermelon" and "Moroccan Chai”.
Up Next.
Our current flavors up next are "blackberry bellini" and "orange lemonade”. You just never know what we will dream up next! Both our ciders are pretty complex blends, yet they remain clean, refreshing and easy to drink.