The cider fruit are then washed down in trays using a hose pipe, and piled into the hopper of the scratter or apple grinding machine which turns the apples into mash ready to be pressed.

The big cider press squashes the cheeses filled with the apple mash and the juice is squeezed out, dripping through the cloth and racks into the collecting container.

You can see  the freshly pressed apple juice later starting to ferment and being stored in large oak barrels.

Let’s just all act like grown ups as if there isn’t a Llama in the room shall we?

THE GREAT BRITISH CIDER, BEER AND FOOD FESTIVAL AT BROGDALE

THE NATIONAL FRUIT COLLECTION - Brogdale

 

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Sorry about the dead rat reference, that’s not got nothing to do with how to make cider whatsoever.

Helford Creek Cyder

Originally uploaded by AndyRob

I bought this bottle of Helford Creek Cyder in the Costcutter shop at Carnon Downs in Cornwall on the way between Truro and Falmouth. At £3.99 I didn’t know whether to expect a good quality craft cider or a bit of a touristy rip-off but the credentials on the label seemed sound and there wasn’t any other decent cider available in the shop, unless you like cans of Rattler or Merrydown. The label didn’t give too much away:

Helford Creek Cyder
Sparkling Medium

6.5% vol

Situated in the heart of Cornwall, near the Helford River, on a small 18th century farm.
Helford Creek produce delicious apple juice and cider traditionally matured in oak barrels

Produced in Cornwall on the Lizard peninsula.

Mudgeon Vean
St Martin
Helston
Cornwall TR12 6DB
Tel: 01326231341 01326231933

The cider was good quality, nice and clean tasting with a high juice content I think, but definitely some water added. Not a high proportion of westcountry cider apples, more subtle than that in the new wine style cider with some eating apple varieties included I would suspect. It tasted more interesting once the initial fizz had died down the cider was allowed to warm up a bit. You don’t want to drink it straight from the fridge, not that it ever gets that boiling hot in Cornwall anyway.

Compares well with a bottle of Tillington Hills cider from the Coop, if you can ever find any.

An interesting touch is the wine like stamp on the back label, which reminds one of a rioja label Denominacion de Origen Calificada. It’s a badge which implies approval by Cornwall County Council, my old employers no less and says:

Made in Cornwall

Cornwall County Council Approved Origin Scheme

Made in Cornwall - Approved Origin Scheme - CCC

So there.

cider taste grading

1. = Very Sweet Cider
2. = Sweet Cider
3. = Medium Sweet Cider
4. = Medium Cider
5. = Medium Dry Cider
6. = Dry Cider
7. = Very Dry

So that’s an attempt to differentiate down to quite a fine level really, on the Sweet/Dry axis. But perceived dryness can also be affected by factors other than the actual proportion of sugar per volume. Real ciders should be full juice and not strengthened then watered down so the character of the original apples is what really matters. Some will have more bittersweet varieties in the blend than others, and the eventual amount of tannin and acidity in the cider will change the way it tastes to an extent that possibly eclipses the sweetness indicator when it’s trying to be meaningful at the 1 in 7 level.

Of course ultimately all that matters is whether you enjoy drinking it but how would you grade real cider for taste?

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.

Video by Cider Workshop

Cider Brandy

An award-winning Devon cider maker has started making a new cider brandy. After five years of patient waiting for the potent drink to mature in barrels, Yarde Real Drink has now come out with its own brandy.

Yarde Real Devon Cider Brandy

Yarde Real Devon Cider Brandy is understood to be the first apple cider brandy to be produced in Devon. Husband and wife cider makers, Paul Gadd and Rebecca Jack, said the brandy had been a long time coming but had been worth the wait. Mrs Jack said distilling cider into Calvados-like brandy had been a natural extension of their cider and juice business.

Every year we set aside one barrel of our cider to distill into brandy. The first year we sent our cider to the distillers, they sent us back a sample. It was like fire water. But after five years of slowly maturing in oak barrels it has become quite smooth. It’s very nice and is best drunk after dinner like any good brandy.

The cider brandy, made from the aromatic juice of Devon cider apples, is first fermented into cider and then double distilled through old Calvados stills.

The couple produce only 800 bottles of brandy and 1,500 gallons of cider every year which is the cider company’s legal duty limit.

This year’s Cider Apple crop

We are extremely excited about this. As far as we are aware it’s the only Devon cider brandy on the market. It’s been a long time in the making, lots of people have been very patient but it’s definitely been worth the wait. It’s generating a great deal of interest.

Just looking at the orchard across the road, there are already small apples on the trees. We’ve been lucky with the blossoms. We avoided any frost and strong wind. It’s looking pretty good. The rain will have helped. We had some sunshine in June, rain in July now we’d be happy with some more sunshine to concentrate the sugar in the fruits. Last year we had a good crop. We should have another good one this year.

Cider Brandy Online

Yarde RealDrink was among the first producers to introduce ‘provenance’ or place of origin to their range of products, naming orchards of origin on their labels. They
also offer a wide range of premium juices, cordials and ciders, all made with fresh local fruit and flowers grown and harvested in traditional orchards and hedgerows around the South Hams and Torbay areas of Devon.

The very first bottles of the limited five-year-old 40 per cent ABV cider brandy were available to buy at the Yarde RealDrink stand in the Food Hall at this year’s Totnes Show, back in July, and a small quantity of cider brandy is planned to be made available to buy online.

Licences to make Cider Brandy in the UK are severely limited, with The Cider Museum at Hereford being granted a licence in 1984.

The first written records of Cider Brandy in the UK go back to 1678.

The Somerset Cider Brandy Company at Burrow Hill also claims to have the first full cider distilling licence in recorded history, granted in 1989, so Yarde Real Drink is now either the proud holder of only the third such licence to distill cider brandy in the UK, or else they are making use of one of the other two licensed distillers to get their own cider made into cider brandy and then matured on their own premises.

SEPT 18th-19th (FRI-SAT)

Horse And Groom (formerly Blanchfields Bar),

1 Southend Rd, Rochford, Essex SS4 1HA.

Open Fri 4pm – 11pm & Sat 11am-11pm FREE ADMISSION.

20 Ciders and Perries.

Full list to be confirmed but ciders including the following have been ordered:

Totham Kneecracker,

New Forest Snakecatcher,

Janet’s Jungle Juice,

Hecks PortWine,

Springfield Red Dragon,

Dan-y-Graig,

Crossman,

Olivers,

Wilkins,

Gwatkin, and more!

Approx 5 mins from Rochford Station on Liverpool St to Southend Victoria line.

100% Pear

Originally uploaded by LoopZilla

Magners Pear Cider Advertisement claiming 100% pear.

A breakthrough for ingredients labelling?