What do you get when a doctor and a heavy duty mechanic lean into their hobbies? Well, in the case of Kelli Burdek and Brett Mack, a thriving cidery.
Prairie Bears Cider Co. started in 2014 with the couple’s attempt to make wine from found fruit in Red Deer, Alta., where Burdek was completing her medical residency. “It was terrible,” she says with a laugh.
Still, the experiment set them on the right path, this time pointed towards cider. “Our travels were a little bit of the inspiration,” Burdek says. “We spent some time in the U.K. and there are some huge cider regions there. And also in B.C., where we go frequently, there’s some farm-cider culture there.”
In Alberta, though, there weren’t many people growing their own apples to make cider. “Brett was ready to be done with being a mechanic and move to a different pace of life. We wanted to have something that we could build that was our own,” Burdek says. When she landed a physician job in Onoway, they realized they could buy a piece of land and pursue that dream. (Look at the dreamy images on their website — sun-dappled lines of laundry, purple wildflowers, big, blue skies and long-swaying grass — and you might rearrange your life goals too.)
While it took some learning — both hands-on and formal courses — in 2025, their 300 trees led to about 200 litres of juice. In March 2026, their hard work also paid off when they earned silver at the Canadian Cider Awards for their Farmhouse Dry Cider, Original Apple Cider, and Prairie Berry. Their Chai Fruit also won bronze. Those awards came on the tail of several honours at the Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition in 2025.
“We’re chasing gold,” Burdek adds, laughing. “Cider in Canada is kind of a new thing. Even the Cider Association of Canada is only five years old. Having that kind of national presence is new.”
With momentum building, Prairie Bears has outgrown its space. They recently bought True North Cider from a couple exiting the industry in order to offer their customers a canned option. This year, they’re also adding trellis trees (a technique to grow trees in a quicker timeframe with less space) to grow their offerings.
“We’ve maxed out our capacity on our shop like 10 times over,” Mack says. “We’re at the point now we’re looking to do a bit of expansion and build our manufacturing areas and get it set up a little more efficiently. It’s coming together slowly.”
It might be busy — on top of her job as a doctor, Burdek also penned a cider-themed cocktail book — but the business offers creative balance.
“There’s a huge dichotomy to one version of me and the other version of me,” she says. “But it’s a nice escape. When I can deliberately flex those muscles, it’s bringing a natural creative tendency to light.”
You can find Prairie Bears Cider at more than a dozen liquor stores and restaurants around Edmonton.
