OK Cider Co Takes Center Stage

The world of theater is an unlikely point of origin for a pair of guys to end up starting the only cidery in Oklahoma, but for Tim King and LukE Hadsall, their stagecraft background led them from building sets to fermenting juice.

Tim and LukE met 13 years ago at the UCO theater department. It seemed like a career they’d never completely stray from, with decades of combined experience in the field and a strong passion for creating sets and coordinating all the stuff that goes on behind the curtains.

LukE was a technical director for several theater companies in OKC, including building sets at OU, OCU, and many of the theater production companies in town. Before Tim moved to Oklahoma in 2010, he was doing traveling productions and working on big awards shows — like Emmys and Grammys big.

Outside of work, they bonded over craft beer and learning how to home brew. LukE put in some time at COOP Ale Works in its early days, wanting to learn more about the process. Things changed, however, when Tim discovered he had a gluten intolerance. They had to switch gears from their all-grain beers to something they could both share. The solution was cider; the trick was making cider that could still satisfy a beer fan. In 2017, they accepted an invitation to the Oklahoma Craft Beer Festival and found an enthusiastic crowd who seemed thirsty for more, plus a wide-open market.

After hustling to find funding, the OK Cider Co dream came together and it became time for Tim and LukE to apply their know-how. The duo’s skills with the industrial arts came in handy when building out their taproom: The furnishings, from the tables and chairs to the bar itself, were built by Tim and LukE by hand, almost entirely from reclaimed materials.

Tim was working at Oklahoma City Ballet when he noticed its dance floor was being replaced and did an assemblé to obtain it. Much of the tables and chairs were built from that historic floor. Some of the tables are mounted on spent barrels from Norman’s (405) Brewing Co. LukE rescued doors and windows from dumpsters in his neighborhood for decorations, and also made a wall-mounted sculpture titled “Powering Through” that is cobbled together from scrap electrical and plumbing equipment they found in the building when they moved in. LukE also built their bottling line, recalling some of his knowledge of automation from theater work. All of this contributes to a uniquely rustic, worn-in vibe to the space.

“Putting together a theater production, you’ve got all the different parts and pieces and details, and we both do that,” LukE explains. “‘Okay, when do I need product going? When do I need to start? How long is it going to take?’”

As for the cider itself, they have a general philosophy of “beer-inspired cider,” but with individual takes on that.

“If you look at the board, you can tell which ones are his and which ones are mine most of the time,” Tim says. “His are going to be much more beer-forward, I’m more fruits and roots.” That difference being, LukE is often thinking of how to make a cider reminiscent of an IPA or a Belgian witte and Tim’s ideas may more often be informed by a cherry sour farmhouse ale. Ultimately, they want to produce ciders that challenge OKC’s idea of what that drink can be, without getting too pretentious.

One specific OK Cider Co creation was directly inspired by their friends down I-35. “There’s one specific brewery-inspired cider that came from 405 Brewing,” LukE recalls. “It’s the Mandarin Fluff. They had a beer a few summers ago called Bromosa, an orange and marshmallow beer. I thought it was going to be terrible. I drank it, was really surprised and crushed the six-pack in a night. I had never conceived of those flavors going together.”

There is careful consideration that goes into the different yeast strains they pick out to pair with adjuncts like watermelon and jalapeno. On the other hand, the OK Cider flagship beverage is Naughty Apple, a classic English dry cider, and that is the template for what comes next as they consider winery practices like blending or barrel-aging. At the end of the day, however, they just want their guests to have a good time.

“We do not take ourselves seriously,” Tim grins.