By Jeff Morrow

All Daniel Washam was trying to do was make some apple cider for his wife.

Instead what his wife Heidi received was something spectacular in d’s Wicked Cider.

And then somebody wanted to buy Washam’s cider.

That was in 2013. And that was when Daniel Washam knew he had a big thing on his hands.

“I thought, ‘I think we’re gonna catch a wave,’” he said.

How big is that wave?

“Last year, we only made 42,000 gallons for the whole year,” he said. “We’re making 8,000 to 10,000 gallons a month this year. Our stated goal is 250,000 for 2017.”

Not bad for a 36-year-old man who dropped out of Kennewick High School.

But Daniel Washam has always had a drive for business.

As a teen, he started working for his father, Glenn Washam, at his company Sun River Electric.

By 2007, all of the Washams – Daniel, Heidi and Glenn – started Quality Sign Services.

Three years later, they opened a winery called Sun River Vintners.

“I always thought it would be great to wake up in a vineyard,” Daniel Washam said.

The Washams intended to start those businesses.

But d’s Wicked Cider – the ‘d,’ which stands for Daniel, is lowercase because “it looks better in the logo that way” – was an accident.

Daniel Washam and his wife were in a downtown Seattle restaurant.

“I didn’t drink then. I do now. But Heidi was looking for something that wasn’t beer,” he said.

Heidi found an apple cider she absolutely loved. But when they later tried to track down more of it, they couldn’t because the company that made it had folded.

So in 2012, Daniel tried to make it.

“At (the now closed Richland restaurant) Fox & Bear, we had five gallons there because Heidi and I were there all the time when we needed to get away,” Daniel Washam said.

Other people tried it and liked it.

“Then Bookwalter Winery wanted it. Then Barnard Griffin wanted it,” he said. “And then Budweiser wanted it.”

Well, not the St. Louis parent company — not yet, anyway. But the Spokane regional distributor, King Beverage.

In 2013, Daniel and Heidi Washam decided to take a few containers of the cider to the annual Cork and Keg trade show.

Their eyes were opened fast.

“Everyone was in line for the cider,” Daniel Washam said. “There is no drug, no drink, that can get you so high on life than what happened that day.”

He admitted that he didn’t try selling it commercially, or really even seriously thinking about it, until people lined up at that trade show wanting it.

One of those people in line was someone from King Beverage. He convinced them to bring the cider to the King salespeople.

They were impressed enough with the product that he was asked how they could get more, and when.

“Mind you, I’d never made more than 30 gallons at a time,” Daniel Washam said. “So I said, ‘600 gallons?’ I had to change the recipe up, but I actually made it better. That’s when I knew this was gonna go.”

And it has.

The company makes four different apple ciders, and according to its website, is sold in 127 stores, restaurants and bars throughout Washington state.

And because the company is based in Kennewick, it has its biggest penetration in the Tri-Cities, where it’s sold in 68 establishments.

But word has gotten out outside the state too.

“There are 1,200 wineries in Eastern Washington competing for shelf space around here,” Daniel Washam said. “Meanwhile, Denver has 27 wineries. It’s easier to get into there.”

The product is also sold in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Hawaii and several other states.

Daniel spent a week recently in New Jersey working out contract details to sell the cider there.

“We’re growing as fast as we possibly can,” he said. “At any time, we have 23 to 24 employees with the weekly bottling.”

In October, the company will open up a new tasting room and bar at its Kennewick location at 9312 10th Ave.

“There will be light fare, and reciprocal taps for beer from places that put us on tap,” Daniel Washam said.

Some day, Washam thinks a bigger company will make an offer to buy d’s Wicked Cider.

“There has been an inquiry,” he said.

But he’s not ready to jump off the wave just yet.

“There are a lot of things I want to do,” he said. “In 2020 I’d like to have a sailboat, the (two) kids will be home-schooled, and we will travel the world.”

But only for a quarter.

There will still be things he’ll want to do as an entrepreneur.

For tasting room hours and a full list of stores, restaurants and pubs that carry d’s wicked Cider go to dswickedcider.com, find on Facebook or call 509-627-3100.