Brewery in a Forest: Sagada Cellar Door, Mt. Province

One of the main reasons I wanted to ride up North by motorcycle was to visit Sagada Cellar Door, the first and only craft brewery in Sagada. Andrew Chinalpan of Cerveza Sagada Craft Brewery has been brewing craft beers since 2014 and initially this beer was available only in this outdoor bar.

Though I’ve tried most of the variants during craft beer festivals and bars in Manila, you always want to try craft beer direct from the source. I absolutely love the natural and unique outdoor set-up of Sagada Cellar Door. Imagine drinking quality craft beer while sitting by a bonfire under the stars in the middle of a forest surrounded by pine trees in the Philippines!

Location

Sagada Cellar Door is located in Lallalai in Sagada, Mountain Province in the Cordillera Region of the Philippines, almost 400 km or over 10+ hours drive from Metro Manila. The brewery is hidden in a forest area 1-2 km further up from the main strip of restaurants in town.

By motorcycle, it took us about 5-10 minutes to get up from the town proper. If you’re walking, it will take you 15-20 minutes to get there. Look out for the colorful sign along the main road right after Sagada Pottery, then head up on the path on the right where there’s a paved doubletrack leading to the parking area. From there, you’ll need to hike uphill a couple of minutes more to get to the cabin and restaurant area. For those who don’t want to walk, you may need to hire local transportation (P250-300) from the town proper.

Ambiance

Sagada Cellar Door has two main areas, an outdoor area with a bonfire pit and the indoor wine cellar with lots of brick and wood details. The whole place is just stunning! The private wine cellar serves a variety of imported wine which are displayed around the area.

Groups can also enjoy fine dining of Igorot and Ilonggo buffet meals here (strictly by reservation only). They have limited seats (about 20 pax only), so be sure to book ahead of time especially during peak season if you want to dine here. How beautiful is this set-up?

There’s an amazing collection of local and imported craft beer bottles displayed around the place!

The outdoor area is more relaxed and casual. You can order craft beer on tap and bottles as well as local sausages. The weather can get really cold in Sagada at night, so the fire pit area is just perfect. I highly recommend you bring thick jackets at night.

Look out for the brewery’s friendly dog who likes hanging around for the sausage.

Sagada Cellar Door also has a 130-year old traditional hut which you can book via AirBnB ideal for couples who want to stay overnight. I initially wanted to stay here and tried to book it for easy access to the brewery, but a Dutch couple beat us to the room. We later had drinks with them there. 🙂

Beer Notes

Cerveza Sagada is uniquely made craft beer brewed in Sagada using local ingredients and flavors like Heirloom “Balatinao” black rice, orange zest and wild sunflower honey in their beer styles. The mountain town’s fresh spring water and natural temperature in bottle conditioning makes their signature beer truly unique. The beer is available in tap and bottles. Some of their main beer variants include:

“Gusi” Violet Ale – a one of a kind naturally colored ale with a hint of purple from the heirloom black rice “Balatinao” of the Mountain Province
“Inti” Brown Ale – a hint of Sagada Arabica coffee on a light and easy to drink dark ale
“Alig Wheat Ale” – a refreshing wheat ale with the sweetness of wild sunflower honey and aroma of orange both locally harvested
“Tumok” Banana Stout – a creamy taste of organically grown native banana on a rich dark ale
“Sa Eng” Pine Pale Ale – infusing a part of the most abundant resource of Sagada, Pine, with Cerveza Sagada’s version of their Pale Ale. “Sa Eng” is a term that pertains to the light of Igorot ancestors way before electricity was produced
“Konig” Turmeric IPA– in the local dialect, turmeric is referred to as Konig. In Germany, Konig is referred to as King. Thus, Cerveza considers this their King of Beer

While there, we tried all their beers on tap including the Wheat Ale, IPA, White IPA, alcoholic Root Beer and a couple of bottles of Gusi and Kopi. I really like the White IPA and Root Beer.

Price Range

Sagada Cellar Door has a minimum order of P250 per person and serves craft beer, wine and sausage. Each 330 ml glass costs about P150 – P180.

Craft Beer Sampler : P 250 / 50 per glass ( 5 / 1 USD)
Craft Beer: P250 – 300 for 680ml (8 USD)
Sausages: P 120 per piece (2-3 USD)
Standard Dinner: P350 per person minimum of 10 persons and reserved one day before
French Dinner: P 550 per person minimum of 15 persons and reserved 3 days before

Sagada Cellar Door is definitely worth the long ride for the lovely and unique set-up and great locally brewed beer. We only stayed 2 nights during our recent trip but ended up going here both nights to drink. We visited during weekdays (Tuesday and Wednesday after a long weekend), so there weren’t a lot of tourists and the place felt very cozy and private. I imagine it gets more crowded during weekends and Holy Week.

Sagada Cellar Door is open only from 5pm to 9pm, so I suggest you have dinner early in town and then head straight up for beer as soon as you can. Cheers!