Pivot Brewing - Lexington, KY

We've been focusing almost exclusively on restaurants here in town, so it's high time that we ventured into the other side of our namesake and started checking out some of our city's really awesome breweries! First up on our brewery tour is Pivot Brewing, which opened in October of 2016 and is located on Delaware Avenue near Winchester Road. While Country Boy Brewing was technically the first brewery in Kentucky to make a cider, Pivot Brewing is the first brewery in Kentucky to focus almost exclusively on brewing and serving ciders! If you're not familiar with cider beer then you're in for a real treat; it's made from the juice of apples, which makes it a sweet, delicious alternative to beer. Cider beers also tend to have a lower ABV (alcohol by volume) percentage than most beers; in fact, all ciders must fall below 7% ABV or they are considered a wine! While I know a ton of people who love a big, boozy beer, I also have several friends who prefer a good cider. Ciders are a good alternative to beer for people who suffer from Celiac's disease or other gluten sensitivities since they are made with apples instead of grains. Either way, you really can't go wrong with heading over to Pivot to try one (or all) of the ciders they have on tap!

We had the pleasure of sitting down to talk all things cider with Bevin Morgan, director of sales and marketing for Pivot Brewing, and she gave us the low-down on all the cool stuff that's going on behind-the-scenes! The name Pivot has two different origin stories: Owner Kevin Compton was an environmental engineer before he pivoted to a career in brewing; he also had a border collie named Ranger, and the idea of such a small dog being able to pivot on a dime while herding large animals really resonated with him. Kevin built the taproom and the brewery himself and wants to stay true to his environmental engineering background by incorporating green processes into the day-to-day operations. He hopes to be able to install solar panels and grow hops on-site by 2019, as well as work on other sustainable solutions for the brewery in the near future. As far as making the cider, Bevin took us on a tour of the brewery side to show us where the magic happens! We got to see where the apples are pressed (although they're not currently brewing any cider), as well as the two 90-barrel fermentation tanks that hold the pressed apple juices. The process is really neat; first, the apples have to sit in the warehouse to "sweat" before they can be pressed. This allows for the apples to soften up and continue to ripen so that they can produce a sweeter juice for the cider. Once the apples have had enough time to "sweat", they are passed through a grinder and wrapped in several layers of cheesecloth before they are crushed by a hydraulic press to get all of the juice out of the apples. The juice is then transferred to the aforementioned 90-barrel fermentation tanks so that the brewing process can begin. The folks over at Pivot like to use 3 different types of apples to make their tasty brews; Macintosh, Jonagold, and the ever-elusive Arkansas Black (this is a seasonal apple that is a little hard to get, so when they get their hands on a batch it's very exciting!). Most of the apples come from Eckert's-Boyd Orchard in Versailles, while others come from a farm in Michigan. The apples are stored in bins that hold up to 600 lbs, and a batch of cider typically uses around 50 bins (or 30,000 lbs) of apples! The most exciting part of our behind-the-scenes tour is that we got to sample a few of the ciders! First, we tried Vintage, which is their best-selling, quintessential cider; it's a little dry, almost like a Riesling wine, but still sweet and very tasty! Second, we tried Kentucky Sunrise, which is a cherry and pear flavored cider; it's my current favorite of all the available ciders, as it's sweet but not too overpowering (plus it's a really pretty red color!). We ended our sampling with Fincastle, which is a caramel apple-flavored cider; if you were thinking the name is on point then you would be correct - it really does taste just like a caramel apple! Pivot likes to keep at least 8 ciders on tap at all time (both their own plus guest ciders) but would love to expand that number to 10 of their own ciders by this coming summer. They also have 6 of their own beers on tap, as well as an occasional local guest beer. 

Bevin also told us about a bunch of cool events and other stuff that goes on at the brewery. They host a fundraiser once a month for the Lexington Humane Society called Yappy Hour, where you can bring your dog and have a beer, and they donate $2 from the sale of every flight of ciders (a flight is 4 small ciders) to the shelter! So far, Pivot has raised $2000 for LHS - how awesome is that? Dogs are always welcome at Pivot, of course; they even plan on building their own dog park soon so your puppers can have a place to play while you enjoy a drink! You can also host your own event here at Pivot; they have a large event space located off of the taproom that can be used for any kind of activity. You can use the event space for free from Sunday through Thursday; it's also free to use on Friday and Saturday, but your group needs to spend at least $250 at the bar. Just go to the Pivot website to submit a form, or shoot Bevin a quick email! Unlike some of the other breweries in town, Pivot does not feature an on-site restaurant; however, they try to have food trucks available on the weekends, and they have partnered with Pasta Garage to set up a delivery service for fresh, homemade pasta (the two are neighbors so the food can be there in no time!).

Pivot Brewing is a rapidly growing brewery that has its sights set on the future. In addition to the ciders and beers they have available in their taproom, Pivot is also beginning to get into distribution. They started branching out this past December, and since then they've been picked up by 40 different venues in Lexington alone! March hopes to bring Pivot into the Louisville area, and they would like to start canning by the end of 2018. Once they start distributing their cider across Kentucky, Pivot's ultimate goal is to become the cider of the South, making their way into all of the southern states as their business grows. Besides being super yummy, Pivot is also special because they are one of the only cider breweries to press their apples on-site, so you're getting the freshest cider possible - it doesn't get much better than that! I can't express enough how cool this place is; you really do need to check them out! Pivot has a little something for everyone as far as alcohol goes, and the staff is very personable as well! So drop what you're doing and get on down to Pivot Brewing - we know you're going to love it! Cheers!