‘Wickedly good’ Tri-Cities cider company closing. ‘We can’t afford to stay in business’
D’s Wicked Cider, a popular Kennewick cider house known for its Baked Apple brew, is closing.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of our facilities at 11 p.m. on Saturday April 26, 2025,” D’s announced on its website and social media this week.
D’s invited friends and fans to stop by to say goodbye and get a pint, growler or even a last nacho before it closes for good.
The business confirmed orders had fallen dramatically and it was struggling with potential new taxes in the comments section of its Facebook page.
Orders drop
Two of its three main distributors haven’t placed orders since January, it said. “Top that with a bunch of tax stuff coming down the pipeline, we can’t afford to stay in business.”
The Washams couldn’t be immediately reached by the Herald on Friday.
Daniel Washam established D’s more than a decade ago largely for his wife, Heidi, who didn’t care for beer but fell in love with cider after sampling it almost by accident in Seattle.
She told the Tri-City Herald in 2014 that she’d pointed at a cool-looking tap handle and asked for a sample.
Washam and his father own Sun River Vintners, a Kennewick winery.
His own recipe
Washam’s winemaker wasn’t interested in hard cider, so he experimented with ideas until he perfected his own recipe. He called it Baked Apple Cider and it was a hit with his wife, his friends and with bars where he took samples.
Baked Apple is made from a mix of juices from several apple varieties enhanced with a cinnamon-infused syrup Washam created himself.
Wondering if it would sell, he took a sample to the now-closed Fox and Bear Public House in Richland. It was a hit.
D’s Wicked Cider — “wicked because it’s wickedly good — joined the Sun River Vintners lineup.
Distribution deals followed and the business operated from quarters at 9312 W. 10th Ave., in Kennewick.