Mansfield CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival

Open season has been declared on cider and perry at the Mansfield CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival (Thurs 2nd - Sun 5th April). Ray & Gail of Mansfield & Ashfield CAMRA (and makers of the award-winning Torkard Cider) have put together a very attractive range of ciders and perrys for this year's festival, with a particular emphasis on East Midlands ciders.

There are now nearly a dozen small-scale cidermakers in the East Midlands, all producing ciders with a truly distinctive flavour from locally sourced apples. These four local ciders represent a modest sample from the much wider range now available throughout the East Midlands, and I know that Ray & Gail would have liked to offer more from the region had they been available.

A cider bar as good as this has definitely got to be worth a visit. I'll be sampling my way through a few during the Friday 12-6pm session, probably starting at the top and moving downwards...

East Midlands Ciders

Nottinghamshire
Floppy Tabs (6.0%). Torkard Cider, Hucknall.

Derbyshire
Three Cats Cider, Morley.

Lincolnshire
Skidbrooke Cyder, Skidbrooke, Louth.

Northamptonshire
Sulgrave Orchard Cider (6.4%). Rockingham Forest Cider, Middleton.

Welsh Ciders

Monmouthshire
Dan Y Graig (6.0%). Dan Y Graig, Grosmont.
Old Barn (7.2%). Springfield, Llangovan.

Glamorgan
Pyder (6.5%). Gwynt Y Ddraig, Llantwit Fardre.

English Ciders

Gloucestershire
Day’s Cottage. Day’s Cottage, Brookthorpe.

Herefordshire
Sarah’s (7.0%). Sarah’s Cider, Bosbury, Ledbury. Blend.
Yarlington Mill (7.5%). Denis Gwatkin, Abbey Dore. S.V.

Somerset
Home Orchard (7.0%). Ben Crossman, Hewish, Weston-Super-Mare. Blend.

Port Wine of Glastonbury (6.5%). Hecks, Street, Glastonbury. S.V
Parson’s Choice (7.0%). Parsonage Farm, West Lyng, Taunton. Blend.
Legbender (6.0%). Rich’s, Watchfield, Nr. Highbridge. Blend

Perries

Herefordshire
Oliver’s Draught Perry. Made by Tom Oliver in Ocle Pychard
Newton Court Draught Perry. Made by Paul Stephens, near Leominster.