Its reputation has waxed and waned, nonetheless – the 20th century noticed the rise of mass-produced cider, typically constituted of diluted concentrated apple juice and bulked out with water, sugar, preservatives and different components (cider legally requires a minimal of simply 35% apple juice). In distinction to the meteoric rise of craft beer, cider has struggled considerably with a picture downside – all too typically seen as an affordable, low-quality, sickly candy drink.
Fortunately this has modified in recent times, with a wave of thrilling new producers that champion the sophistication of the class, creating seasonal, small-batch, naturally fermented ciders made with 100% apple juice that simply rival wine and beer relating to nuance and complexity – and sometimes within the course of doing sterling work relating to reviving lesser-known British apple varieties and conserving the nation’s many historic cider orchards.
Cider types
Cider is now made throughout the UK however historically there’s a tough geographical divide relating to fashion. Producers within the west of the nation (Somerset, Devon, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire) make ciders from bitter, tannic cider apples – both in a mix or as a single-varietal drink. There are a whole bunch of cider apple varieties, lots of them evocatively named, from Kingston Black and Somerset Redstreak to Foxwhelp and Dabinett. Ciders made within the West Nation fashion are typically full-bodied and richly fruity, with advanced tannins.
Whereas the West Nation has traditionally lengthy been related to cider, there’s an equally sturdy cider-making scene in japanese counties corresponding to Kent, Sussex, Suffolk and East Anglia. Right here, primarily sweeter consuming and cooking apples are used (assume varieties that you simply’d discover within the grocery store corresponding to Cox and Gala), leading to crisp, sharp, acidic ciders. In addition to this, cider has additionally historically been made throughout Europe, from Brittany in France to Galicia in northern Spain.
Extra like this
There are lots of ciders to discover throughout the nation, however listed here are just a few of our favourites…
Greatest ciders to attempt
Dukeshill Whisky Cask Cider, £16/six x 330ml bottles, dukeshill.co.uk
Matured for six months in single malt scotch whisky casks, it is a pretty cold-weather cider, lush and warming, with notes of oak, honey and delicate spice.
The Normal cider, £35/12 x 500ml bottles, sandfordorchards.co.uk
This classic cider from Devon’s Sandford Orchards scooped gold at 2023’s Worldwide Cider Problem, aged for six months in oak and utilizing a mix of evocatively named apples together with Tremlett’s Bitter, Dabinet and Yarlington Mill. It’s a wealthy, autumnal cider with baked apple, spice and dried fruit flavours. Lush with a protracted end, it could make a beautiful sipper alongside a roast pork dinner.
Biddenden Ice Cider 2021, £13.30/50cl, Biddenden Vineyards
Made by freezing freshly pressed apple juice, this ice cider has intense sweetness balanced by energetic acidity and mild tannins. Scrumptious with a cheeseboard.
Sassy Cider Rosé, £3/330ml, Harvey Nichols
Made with 18 totally different apple varieties, this Normandy cider is delicately refreshing, with recent crimson fruit and apple flavours, and a touch of funk.
Hogan’s Peaty Deep & Smoky Cider, £3.75/500ml, The Whiskey Alternate
We liked this full-bodied cider and its rounded, seductively smoky, earthy character – a necessary bonfire or campfire tipple.
Galipette Rosé Cidre, £2.50/330ml, Waitrose
Made with red-fleshed Pommes à Chair Rouge apples from Normandy and Brittany, this gorgeous pink cider makes for a beautiful low-ABV various to rosé wine, with numerous tart summer season berry flavours. Do additionally attempt their Brut Cidre, a winningly juicy cider with numerous energetic apple flavour, a crisp, clear character and mild bubbles.
Wignac Cider Rose, £3.49/330ml, The Bottle Membership
A French cider made within the Ardennes from 100% apple juice, this will get its fairly blush hue from a contact of pure grape juice. It is juicy and tart, with baggage of apple flavour.
Henry Westons Classic Rose Cider, £2.20/500ml, Tesco
Blush-hued ciders have grow to be more and more widespread on the drinks scene and this instance is a good alternative for on a regular basis consuming. Clean, gently candy and glowing, it’s finest loved additional chilled, ideally in a sunny backyard or park.
Secret Orchard Exmoor Mellow, £27/case of 12, secretorchardcider.com
This award-winning outfit makes small-batch, minimal-intervention ciders utilizing apples sourced from orchards throughout Cornwall and Exmoor, and every batch is split in response to its geographic origins. Exmoor Mellow is a beautiful instance of a West Nation cider, easy-going and full-flavoured, with mellow funk and delicate spice.
Westons Outdated Rosie Cloudy Cider, £6.25/2 litres, Ocado
Crisp, dry and gently tangy, this crowd-pleasing cider is one for many who choose conventional scrumpy-style varieties. Extensively accessible, it’s a terrific choice for those who’re on the lookout for a good cider in a rush.
The Cotswold Cider Co No Brainer Basic, £22/4 litres, cotswoldciderco.com
Followers of nonetheless, cloudy, scrumpy-style cider will take pleasure in this extremely gluggable, bone-dry quantity. At 6% ABV it’s dangerously easy-drinking for one thing you’d probably have by the pint – these on the lookout for rather less punch can attempt the glowing model, at a extra sessionable 4.8%.
Pulpt Flare, £2.35/500ml, Tesco
A glowing mix that includes Chisel Jersey apples, this has crisp apple aromas and a recent sweetness balanced by well-judged acidity.
Little Pomona Desk Cider, £10/750ml, littlepomona.com
Launched in rolling seasonal batches, that is designed to be drunk with meals and you may count on juicy fruitiness, somewhat funk and pleasing tannins – pure wine lovers could have a selected affinity with this. Take heed to Little Pomona founder Susanna Forbes chat all issues cider on the olive journal podcast.
The Newt in Somerset The Winston Glowing Cyder, £35/568ml, store.thenewtinsomerset.com
Packaged in an imperial pint bottle in honour of Winston Churchill’s fondness for the same-sized bottles of champagne, The Winston is a relatively stylish cider. Made utilizing the standard technique (like champers) and matured for 2 years, it has delicate mousse, crisp inexperienced apple notes and refined dryness. Drink as you’d a glass of fizz (it is acquired an identical ABV of 11.5%) – this may make a positive aperitif. Maintain an eye fixed out additionally for the Newt’s wonderful Advantageous Rosé Cyder. Launched each summer season, it is made with crimson Pink Love apples that tinge the cider a fairly blush pink. With scrumptious strawberries and cream notes, it is the proper heat climate tipple.
Sandford Orchards Katja Prosecco-Fashion Cider, £54/six x 750ml bottles, sandfordorchards.co.uk
A recent and stylish fizzy single-variety cider constituted of Katja dessert apples, with summery inexperienced apple and strawberry notes.
Pilton Somerset Keeved Cider, £3.99/330ml, piltoncider.com
Made utilizing a conventional technique of naturally sweetening cider known as keeving, this elegant, toffee-hued cider has lusciously mellow, stewed apple flavours. Could be scrumptious with a cheeseboard.
Be taught extra about cider…
Founding father of The Advantageous Cider Firm, Felix Nash, deep-dives into cider, together with the historical past of the drink, the proper cider season and the last word pairing with meals.
What’s the origin of cider?
Simply as there’s a backyard in New South Wales that has the primary Granny Smith apple tree, and a backyard in Nottinghamshire that has the primary Bramley, all domesticated apples will be traced again to the apple forests of the Tien Shan mountains in Kazakhstan.
The fruit from these forests was carried alongside the Silk Highway and into Europe. Within the seventeenth and 18th centuries apple juice grew to become prized by the English gentry and was used to make positive ciders. As John Evelyn, a diarist of the time and a peer of Samuel Pepys’ mentioned, cider was “the native English wine”.
It was drunk from cider flutes, decoratively etched and engraved, and the most effective vintages might fetch 60 instances the value of widespread cider. There have been even blind wagers, pitching the best ciders in opposition to the most effective wines accessible, by which cider typically received.
What’s the finest season for cider making?
The cider-making course of begins in spring, with blossom season. After the blossom is pollinated the fruit grows and basks in the summertime solar and ripens by way of autumn and winter.
The apples are then pressed for his or her juice, which turns into cider over the winter months. Because the climate varies 12 months to 12 months, so do the apples, and every season’s cider is barely totally different in the identical manner that vintages of wine are totally different.
What kind of apples are used to make cider?
Right now there are recognized to be over 7,000 apple varieties on this planet and lots of 100s if not 1000s of them are cider apples
These varieties are usually not good for consuming or cooking, however are good for cider-making. Simply because the small array of apples we all know from the grocery store are named, so cider apples have names corresponding to Foxwhelp, Dabinett, and Yarlington Mill.
They’re like wine grapes, every with its personal character.
Some are acidic, others mellow, some splendidly tannic.
What are the various kinds of cider?
There are lots of totally different types of cider: nonetheless and glowing, dry and candy. Typically the tactic of manufacturing in a sure area has arisen from the properties of the native apple varieties. The place positive cider is worried, glowing shall be naturally glowing relatively than carbonated.
The strategies to make cider sparkle naturally return to the seventeenth century, earlier than even champagne, when the primary glass was created that might take the strain that glowing drinks exert on a bottle.
It was invented in western Britain and the French titled it ‘verre Anglais’. Aristocrats then started to experiment with making cider and wine sparkle, utilizing cork from Portugal to seal bottles.
What’s pear cider?
The true identify for pear cider is perry. And simply as there are apples for making cider, there are pears for making perry, for instance Thorn and Blakeney Pink.
Perry pear bushes will be over 200 years outdated and the perry from their fruit beautiful: it was as soon as known as the ‘English champagne’ by Napoleon.
What to serve with cider?
Cider pairs with meals maybe higher than every other drink. The wedding of its succulent acidity with the fat in pork is well-known, however the identical guidelines apply to a wealth of combos: cider and cheese, cured meats, shellfish, even sport.
Serving
I prefer to drink ciders as if they’re summer season wines. Being decrease in alcohol, they’re great with lunch and into the afternoon. They’re made slowly and must be loved slowly.
For the proper pour, chill them, however take away them from the fridge 5-10 minutes earlier than consuming, as you’ll lose style in the event that they’re too chilly. And by no means use ice, as this may merely water-down the style.
