Award-winning Ficklewood Ciderworks closes citing post-pandemic challenges
The cidery has been a part of Long Beach's East Village since 2020.
Downtown Long Beach's Ficklewood Ciderworks has closed, according to an announcement posted on its Instagram page on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
"Unfortunately, the unprecedented challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our business, and despite our best efforts, we were unable to achieve the sustainability needed to continue," the post read.
The concept was created by two best friends, neighbors and Long Beach residents, Joe Farrier and Stefan Enjem. They would often climb a ladder over the fence that separated their two homes to explore different ciders together which set them off in pursuit of creating the perfect cider.
Long Beach breweries have thrived in the city for decades, but the opening of Ficklewood Ciderworks in the East Village offered something different – a place focused almost exclusively on dry ciders that were gluten-free and low in sugar content.
"We spent a couple years working on the product, then a couple more building out space in the former DMV for the Long Beach area," Farrier said in a statement. The pair worked with architects, engineers, city planners, city engineers, traffic analysts, and more to transform the space. Farrier said the city, and Congressman Robert Garcia, were helpful during the development phase of the project.
The cidery went on to win awards for its Ficklewood Original, Yonderhop, Tropicalixr, and Bramblebark ciders.
After opening in early 2020, the new business was faced with a global pandemic that put the world on pause. The duo knew they would need a runway of cash when they opened the business to account for the time it takes to become profitable, but the unprecedented pandemic forced them to use the spare cash "managing a multiple of challenges that came at everyone during those times," Farrier said.
Additionally, the economics of cider has become increasingly challenging as different factors like any increase in fuel prices will affect the cost of shipping apple juice from an orchard, Farrier said.
As the world recovered from the pandemic, Ficklewood quickly became a go-to place for the community. Hundreds of commenters under the business' announcement expressed not only their sadness over the closure, but were quick to offer re-tellings of special memories they had there.
Farrier also reflected on special moments like spending evenings with drag queens, community members who used their talents to support the business and sponsor events, meeting travelers passing through, employees from Roscoe's standing in front of the store during the 2020 riots, and extending love and community to unhoused residents in Downtown.
"The journey has been incredible," Farrier said. "The community has been overly supportive, our employees have been dedicated and faithful beyond what we could have imagined, our families have been supportive every step of the way, the experience has been rich and rewarding, and Stefan and I are still very close friends."
The business' last day of operation was Aug. 7.
Ficklewood employees Julie Lotz and Eric Willms, who Farrier credited as the "heart and soul of Ficklewood," will likely be serving at Long Beach Craft Beerfest for one last round.
To keep up with whatever comes next from the business, follow Ficklewood Ciderworks on Instagram.
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