Cider

Acclaimed Cornish brewery Sharp’s of Rock near Padstow has teamed up with Cornish Orchards to produce a cider for the UK market.

Orchard Cider is made from 100% local cider apples and is being trialled in selected outlets in Cornwall and Devon.

Joe Keohane, of Sharp’s, said: “Our introduction to Cornish Orchards was the Eden Project. We are incredibly proud of the cider produced as a result of this partnership.” Orchard Cider is the only draft cider available at local tourist attraction the Eden Project.

Sharp’s said there are plans to extend the distribution of Orchard Cider next year.

Another brewery, Bath’s Abbey Ales has launched Hell’s Bells, produced by the Tricky Cider Company, situated in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

Abbey Ales managing director Alan Morgan said of his company’s new product: “We will be offering it to our existing customers initially, and in our own pubs, the Star, the Coeur De Lion and The Assembly Inn.” Distribution will be extended later in the year.

Heron Valley Cider

We ordered one bottle of Heron Valley Cider to try and it arrived today so we made a tasting video to share our reaction on opening the bottle and trying some of the cider.

Heron Valley Devon cider is claimed to be “Authentic Devon Cider”

None of this ‘serve over ice’ rubbish…. We make our award winning cider in an entirely natural and honest way, using local Devon Cider apples, many from ancient orchards, pressed in our hydraulic press through Acacia boards and cloth, and then allowed to ferment and mature naturally using the wild yeasts present on the skins of the apples. No added yeasts, water or sulphites, just pure Devon cider apple juice fermented and nothing else.

and yet the label says that it’s only 6% and lists as an ingredient, “organic cane sugar” so there’s a bit of an anomoly there.

The cider was clean tasting, fruity and sharp but perhaps not quite dry enough for my preference, but I could easily drink a pint of it in one go, and then maybe another.

So we ordered a whole bag-in-box of the Heron Valley Dry cider and made another tasting video when it arrived.

Excellent cider and all made with 100% organci cider apples, and no added sulphites. There are some people would have you believe that it’s impossible to grow apples organically on any scale, and that making cider without using sulphite is a horrible gamble, but fortunately the good people at Heron Valley Cider aren’t listening to any of them.

One box of Heron Valley Dry cider cost £35 delivery included so that works out at £3.50 a litre which is less than £2 a pint for some of the best natural cider you can buy anywhere.

videos by Cider Workshop

A California-based travel Website called VirtualTourist.com chose Spain’s Asturias region to top its list of the world’s “Top Five Places for Cider.

1. Cider makers in Asturias embrace showmanship in its pouring rituals, allowing the public to watch as the cider and its destined glass are kept two to three feet apart during pouring to aerate the beverage.
2. La Route du Cidre, a 25-mile stretch of road in France’s Normandy region, was picked as No. 2 on the list for the massive number of cider producers lining the road.
3. New York was third on the list for the farms, apple orchards and cider mills that work in tandem to create the freshest cider for visitors.
4. Fourth was the Frankfurt region of Germany, which boasts several pubs serving Ebbelwoi, a traditional alcoholic cider variant popular with locals and visitors alike.
5. Fifth was Somerset, England, which has embraced cider as part of its local tradition since the 1600s, with frequent festivals, tastings and educational lectures devoted to the drink.

Here at UKCider we decided to make up our own top five cider and perry regions, to see how they would compare.

1) The Three Counties of Herefordshire, Worcester and Gloucester for having the largest diversity of cider and perry makers and producing the largest volume of real cider and perry.

2) The Basque region of Spain and France for the greatest revival in traditional cider making and for producing the most delicious natural ciders.

3) Wales for reintroducing  perry making and for celebrating Welsh cider in new areas.

4) Kent for keeping the Eastern counties style of cider going and for growing huge numbers of apple trees.

5) Devon for maintaining traditional farmhouse cider methods against all advice to adopt modern scientific techniques.

Just for fun, I wonder which would be your choices for the top 5 cider regions?

Cider Workshop

Agnes from Abundance is holding a Cider Workshop on Monday 26th October in Manchester and is looking for someone from this group to do a short talk about making cider.

Abundance is a group which works to harvest and redistribute surplus apples and other fruit and veg in the city of Manchester, similar to other urban scrumping schemes, and the forthcoming cider workshop will be in association with the Manchester Permaculture Network.

There will be an apple crusher and press available for the cider workshop, so it was thought that people could bring along 2/3litre clean containers with them together with juicing apples to the workshop, for a practical demonstration as well as a short talk, provided that somebody knowlegeable can make themselves available in the area on that night please.

Cider Workshop - A mill and press could be available

Cider Workshop Contact

If anybody is available and would like to help out at the Manchester Cider Workshop, please get in contact with Agnes via the Ukcider group