It's only fitting to drink cider in Wenatchee, the town so deep in apple production that it holds an annual festival dedicated to the fruit. Located on the east side of the Columbia, Snowdrift cites both the plentiful sunshine and its namesake snow as being responsible for their apple quality. Located out in East Wenatchee's farmland, the cidery is clearly a family operation—meaning visitors get to connect with the cidermaker himself, but must reserve ahead.

In the rolling farmland just south of Port Townsend, the Finnriver orchards stretch across 80 acres using more than 20 different varieties of apple tree. And for good reason; the menu is long and varied. With both its own kitchen and visiting vendors dishing food, Finnriver is set up for a most-of-the-day visit. The farm also hosts art classes, poetry readings, line dancing, and workshops, plus regular live music.

Though a quaint water wheel turns outside the wood cabin–style cidery, it's there for decoration, not power production. But it makes for a nice backdrop in one of the state's most extensive outdoor areas devoted to cider—firepits, picnic tables, a pond. The drinks menu shows an affinity for the wild forests that surround the small town of Eatonville by featuring huckleberry and marionberry. Flatbreads and street tacos hold down the menu, with burnt-end sliders topped with slaw a real highlight. On warmer evenings, crowds stop here on the way home from nearby Mount Rainier National Park.

Though one of the state's dominant cideries is named for Tieton—the small town in which it was launched, and in which its fruit is still grown—today its tasting bar is settled square in the middle of nearby Yakima. Familiar to anyone who's gotten fruit-forward drinks on draft in Seattle, Tieton makes crowd-pleasing apple standbys, but has also spread lavender honey and bourbon peach into the local mainstream. The tasting room has a bocce court outside and a machine for cider slushies, both well suited to the Yakima sunshine; a new food concept is coming soon.

Like the rest of the San Juan Islands, the cidermaker near Roche Harbor is a small-batch, artisanal operation, the cider made in concert with liquor at San Juan Distillery. The owners pick the heirloom variety apples themselves from a small orchard nearby and make only three cider types; the driest uses no sugar at all. The cidery is open to visitors on weekends much of the year, but if you catch someone at another time you might score a chat and a taste.

It's a two-fer! Vashon Island, a short ferry ride from Fauntleroy, is home to two different cidermakers, making it ideal for a comparison tasting by car or even bicycle. Nashi Orchards specializes in apple cider as well as perry, which is a similar drink made with pears—not apple cider flavored with pears, as so many pear ciders are. They turned an old artist's studio into a tasting room but do require tasting reservations.

Dragon's Head, just a mile away, grows most of its own apples and focuses on highlighting the individual varieties in each cider.  The tasting room is more of a picnic area with Adirondack chairs next to the orchards. Curated tasting flights help visitors compare the subtleties between types.

The menu at this far north cidermaker reads like a produce stand: Rainier cherry, cucumber lime, and raspberry rhubarb, among others. Their imperial line reaches above 8 percent ABV. The downtown restaurant in quirky Bellingham has a patio that overlooks a park and the bay, dishing pizzas and a full dinner menu. It's definitely more of an in-town experience than a connection with the orchards and makers, but all the ciders are made of Washington apples, and the bar includes a cider slushy machine.

Okay, this is kind of a cheat; this idyllic farm makes mead, not cider, so it's not an apple product. Still, the sweet, wine-like drink made from honey has such strong farm flavors that it fits better with its apple cousins than it does hoppy breweries or refined wineries. With flower fields and a pumpkin patch, plus cute farm animals, it's a full-day destination; you'll need a few minutes to recover from the mead flights, which can include varieties made in bourbon barrels or spiced with smoked peppers.