Cider Jar of the Month - Taunton

A slightly topical stoneware cider jar this month, what with Taunton's recent 'ruffling of feathers' over a reduced strength and sweetened up Blackthorn Cider. Taunton Cider Co founder, the Rev. Thomas Cornish, is presumably spinning in his grave, though never having liked Blackthorn myself it's hard to see what all the fuss is about.

The Taunton Cider Co were at one time the only serious competition to Bulmers dominance of the UK cider market. Blackthorn and Autumn Gold were their principle brands, both industrially produced ciders in direct competition with Bulmers own Strongbow and Woodpecker. By 'industrially produced' I mean ciders which contain a relatively low percentage of apple juice, possibly as a concentrate rather than freshly pressed, and often bulked out with sugar syrups, colourings, and artificial sweeteners. The antithesis of a pure juice, craft produced cider.

The Taunton Cider Co is now a somewhat reduced entity as part of the massive Constellation Brands Co, and as the news item above suggests, their 'ciders' are now principally distributed to a loyal customer base in the West-Country. Bulmers and Magners seem to hold sway nationally, though another sub-division of Constellation is more widely represented through the various Gaymers brands.

The days when the Taunton Cider Co would have produced the kind of full-juice ciders which may have been sold in these stoneware jars, are sadly long gone. Only the 'pseudo-real' cider Taunton Traditional has any pretence to authenticity, and in my experience even this 'cider' falls way short of the full-juice, craft product. If it's a reasonable quality cider you're after, we have to turn again to the Gaymers division who put their name to one or two interesting bottled products, notably the Orchard Reserve and County series of ciders available through supermarkets.

So what manner of cider would have been sold in these (probably not so very old) jars. David Mabey's book Good Cider (1984) lists a couple of possible candidates. Special Vat was in those days a strong, medium dry cider, available in bag-in-box as well as the more usual bottles and cans. Exhibition is described as a strong, still cider, so could also have been available in stoneware.

Which brings me to the slightly scary gentleman, holding forth with his glass of cider and an accusing finger on the front of these jars. Could this be the Rev. Thomas Cornish, the man who having started making cider in the 19th century, set up the mill at Norton Fitzwarren which would later become Taunton Cider? He certainly appears to be in full preaching mode. Perhaps he's warning about the folly of chasing quick profits at the expense of quality. Amen to that!

Cider Jar of the Month - Perry Bros

As you can see, the people at Somerset cidermaker Perry's seem to have a bit of a thing about stoneware jars. I hadn't realised just how many of their jars I had until I started to collect them together for a photo-call, and even then I suspect that one or two more may be lurking at the back of a cupboard somewhere. Perhaps it's me that's got the thing about Perry's cider jars! They do make for a lovely collection though. Proper old-fashioned stoneware, though no less a collection of tourist trinkets than the more gaudy 'Zumerzet' versions if truth be told.

I'd put Perry's in the same stable as their near neighbours Sheppy's. Similar in size, they're both family concerns making award-winning ciders with some pedigree. Both farms are well equipped for the tourist trade, with museums of farm implements, an on site shop for tastings and sales, tea room etc. I really must give Perry's a visit next time I'm travelling through Somerset.

One major difference between Perry's and Sheppy's, certainly from our perspective in the Midlands, is that Perry's ciders are not nearly so widely distributed. This is a great shame as their ciders are very good indeed. The nearest outlet for Perry's ciders that I'm aware of is the delicatessen Browns of Stilton in Cambridgeshire. Hardly local, but I'm lucky enough to work over that way occasionally, so had the opportunity to pick up flagons of their single-variety Somerset Redstreak Cider, and more traditional Farmhouse Cider recently.

They're both very good. The Redstreak is a medium cider with a lovely rich fruitiness, very easy-drinking, but with a reassuringly grown-up splash of tannin in the finish. The Farmhouse is more robust, slightly drier, though perhaps sweeter than the Medium/Dry Perry's claim for it. The tannins in this cider are less sophisticated, and there is a slight bitterness in the finish. I'd prefer it a little drier, but it's a good, pint-drinking cider nevertheless.

I couldn't help noticing from the website that Perry's still sell cider jars and mugs from their shop, a nice tilt-of-the-hat to tradition. I was particularly pleased to see that the family are now making use of a more modern method to advertise their range of fine ciders. The new Cider Diary, written by Perry Bros current manager George Perry, is a blog I'll be following with great interest throughout the coming year.

Cider Jar of the Month - Sheppy's

The farmers and cidermakers of the Sheppy family must have introduced a huge number of people to the joys of real Somerset cider over their 200 years in the business. Their award-winning ciders are available nationwide through several supermarket chains, and the base of operations at Bradford-on-Tone near Taunton welcomes visitors from near and far for tours, teas, and of course the sampling of their many blends of cider.

Sheppy's are one of the few supermarket distributed ciders I'm happy to buy, not because of some snobbish belief that only the smaller producers can make decent cider (though this is sadly all too often the case), but because Sheppy's ciders are to me much more distinctive and true to form than many of their competitors.

The cider sections of the larger supermarkets can give the impression they offer a great choice of distinctive ciders from producers large and small, but in my experience this is often far from the truth. Unfortunately most of the better quality ciders available from supermarkets seem to have been blended by committee. The supermarket buyers don't want distinctive ciders, they want ciders which appeal to as many people as possible, albeit in an unexciting and formulaic way. I'm sure that many of the cidermakers which supply this market make very good cider, but by the time their wares have been filtered, pasteurised, carbonated, sweetened-up, and who-knows what else-d, we're left with a good range of fairly decent ciders which sadly all taste the same.

Sheppy's on the other hand make ciders which somehow manage to survive the committee process and cling on to their individuality and distinctiveness. Their single variety ciders are a good example of this, remarkable in that they actually taste of the apple varieties they're made from. The Dabinett is very different to the Tremlett's Bitter, and probably not to everyone's taste, but then what would be the point of making it if this wasn't the case! My personal favourite has always been their Gold Medal Farmhouse Dry Cider, a still, full-flavoured cider, made from bittersweet and bittersharp cider apples. Too rich and tannic for most peoples taste I'd guess, and this is presumably why it's not so widely available.

I bought a bottle of Sheppy's Farmers Harvest to try whilst writing this, a new cider unveiled in 2008 to celebrate the centenary of the National Farmers Union. Now that I've big'd-up Sheppy's I have to admit that this isn't one of my favourites. It's quite a lightweight cider, very drinkable, with a bit of sweetness and a fair amount of rich bittersweet character, but the flavour fades a little too quickly for my liking. It's similar in style to some of the lighter Westons ciders, and I would imagine it would be quite popular as a draught cider, maybe even 'over-ice'...

Oh well, I guess this is what you get when it has to meet the approval of the committee. A kind of cidery Collective Bargaining.

Cider Jar of the Month - Symonds' Scrumpy Jack

Herefordshire cidermaker Symonds' was established in 1727, and stayed a relatively small, and well respected family concern until 1984 when the company was purchased, and massively expanded by Cheshire brewer Greenall Whitley. Only four years later the fully modernised ciderworks at Stoke Lacy was sold on by Greenalls to H.P. Bulmer, along with the Symonds' brands which included Scrumpy Jack.

Scrumpy Jack was one of the most popular of the old Symonds' brands, and therefore ripe for development as a national brand. Sadly the popular traditional version of this cider died with the closure of the old Symonds' site in the 90's, and we are now left with the keg national version which is really nothing to write home about.

The image on these lovely little cider jars is of the horse-drawn cider mill which graced the frontage of the old Symonds' ciderworks. These old mills litter the Herefordshire countryside, though very few indeed are still used for their original purpose. At best they stand as monuments to a once proud tradition of rural cidermaking, many more are planted up with flowers in peoples front gardens!

The Symonds' story is not all bad news though, the old ciderworks at Stoke Lacy is now occupied by the award-winning Wye Valley Brewery, brewers of one of my favourite beers, the pale and hoppy Hereford Pale Ale. But perhaps even better news is that the family tradition of Herefordshire cidermaking continues in Sarah's Cider of Bosbury. Sarah herself is the granddaughter of Neville Symond, the man who ran the Symonds' ciderworks until it's untimely demise in the 90's.

Cider Jar of the Month - Hills

The jolly, scrumpy-swigging yokel is an enduring West-Country image, one which crops up all too often on another West-Country perennial, the stoneware cider jar.

It's hard to say where this rather cliched image would have originated from. I've seen literally hundreds of images of cidermaking from throughout the 1900's, and can't say that I've come across a single example of these bucolic, bearded cider cider folk. Even the Wurzels didn't wear smocks!

The West-Country yokel was of course a useful marketing tool for the nascent cider industry, particularly during the post-war years when there would have been an influx of thirsty holidaymakers to the West-Country. The yokel image tells a story of good old fashioned farm labour and wholesome country produce. Buying a flagon of farmhouse cider with one of these jolly figures on the label put a smile on your face, hopefully a foretaste of the pleasures to come, or maybe a distraction from the sour, vinegary contents within!

This jar of Hills Devon Farm Scrumpy Cider is a fine example of the style, the yokel is almost identical to those on jars from many other West-Country producers. Perhaps it was Pearson's of Chesterfield, the manufacture of these stoneware jars, which created the logos and imagery, the yokel figure being as generic to West-Country cider as the image of an apple!

The original cider business of FC Hill & Son was a huge regional cidermaker occupying a four acre site near Totnes in south Devon. They sold out the business to the even bigger concern of Whiteways Cyder in 1935, before setting up a new business at Barkingdon Manor, Staverton which thrived, servicing local pubs and the tourist trade until 1987 when ill health contributed to the business finally being wound up.

So has the yokel image endured? Perhaps surprisingly I couldn't find a single example on a trawl of Devon and Somerset cidermakers websites. Not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion, cider's image has come a long way since the bad old days of farmyard rocket fuel, and it's probably high time we left these rustic images behind. The predominant image of modern cidermaking is the apple, a consensus we at Rockingham Forest Cider heartily subscribe to.

Cider Jar of the Month - Mannings

There's not a lot I can say about this long defunct Devon cider business. In common with most of the (presumably) successful regional cidermakers which were either swallowed up or bit the dust in the latter part of the 20th century, information is rather thin on the ground.

The only bit of history I've managed to dig up on Mannings & Sons is this website for Mallard Cottage, a self-catering business on the site of the original Mannings ciderworks in Tuckenhay near Totnes. There's a nice picture of an old bottle label, but little else to flesh out the story of Mannings Vintage Devon Cider.

It's a nice jar though.

Cider Jar of the Month - Norbury's Black Bull Cider

Black Bull Cider from the Norbury Cider Co was one of the first 'real' ciders I ever came across. Camping and partying in the Black Mountains of Wales occupied many of my weekends in the early 90's, and we always seemed to drive past the distinctive roadside sign for Norbury's Black Bull Cider on the journeys there and back.

The sign is long gone now, but anyone who would have taken the road from Worcester to Hereford in those days may well remember the huge white barrel, lofted high on a platform and bearing the image of the company's Black Bull logo.

The Norburys started making cider around 1980 following the slump in the homegrown fruit market as a result of the UK joining the EEC. The ciders are made from a range of traditional cider apples blended with dessert/culinary varieties grown in their own orchards, and are well made and clean tasting. The 'Black Bull' title is derived from the French 'noir' (black) and 'boeuf' (bull) from which the Norbury family take their name. I think it makes for a handsome and authentically 'rural' image on cider jars such as this one.

A range of bottled Black Bull ciders can be found locally at Brockleby's Farm Shop near Melton Mowbray, and Norbury also attend several East Midlands Farmers Markets.

Cider Jar of the Month - Creedy Valley

The Creedy Valley Cider Co were one of several sizeable Devon producers which would have benefited from the burgeoning West Country tourist trade of the 60's. This era would have presumably been the peak of Creedy's business success, but it's doubtful whether the company lasted into the 80's since there is no mention of the company in the earliest cider guides which date from this time. But if you thought that the early demise of this regional ciderworks would make their cider jars hard to find, you'd be very wrong.

Creedy Valley cider jars come in all shapes and sizes, and crop up more frequently than perhaps any others. They are very common on eBay, can be found in charity shops the length and breadth of the country, and are occasionally passed off as rare and valuable antiques when in fact they are very common and have little monetary value.

It is perhaps surprising that a company which produced so many of these gaudy cider jars for the tourist trade, and presumably had a good reputation in their local area of Crediton, made such a minimal impact in the few books and online resources which deal with the history of English cidermaking. The only reference I've managed to find is in Mark Foot's excellent collection of history and anecdote 'Cider's Story Rough and Smooth' (1999), in which we learn that the Creedy Valley Cider Co fell victim (at some point) to the voracious appetite for takeovers which helped Bulmers grow to its current position as the worlds biggest producer of cider (of a sort!).

I said that Creedy cider jars come in different versions, and you can see that the most unusual jar in my collection is one made for the Old Inn, Widecombe, which depicts 'Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all' on their way back from the famous Widecombe Fair. I've seen other designs too, including one with the slightly misleading appendage of 'Greetings from Cornwall', suggesting that Creedy Valley's cider sales extended throughout the West Country, and possibly beyond.

Cider Jar of the Month - Hancock's

Until quite recently a visit to Hancock's cider farm would have made an interesting diversion on a holiday spent in the North Devon/Exmoor area. Like many of the long established family cidermakers in the West Country, Hancock's had developed the farm to cater for curious visitors with displays of cidermaking equipment, a self guided tour of the farm, and a video of the cidermaking process, all this in addition to the well stocked shop selling cider and other local Devon produce. Sadly Hancock's now only sell their ciders wholesale so the chance for casual visitors to explore the farm has gone.

This attractive stoneware jar presumably dates from around the early 70's or later, when the farm must have shifted quite a bit of their prize-winning ciders to visiting tourists. The rear label bears testament to the quality of the ciders, with awards stretching back over the 100 years this family business has been trading. Indeed David Kitton states in his 1984 Traditional Cider Directory that Hancock's were held in high regard by Jeff Williams, doyen of the Long Ashton Research Station. High praise indeed since this was the centre of excellence for the cider industry throughout most of the 20th Century.

The striking Stag logo is still in evidence on the modern bottled and draught ciders, presumably reflecting Hancock's close location to Exmoor, populated as it is with many Red Deer. Hancock's continue to thrive, and I look forward to trying their medium cider which appears on the provisional cider list for the forthcoming Peterborough Beer Festival

Cider Jar of the Month

Well, what can I say about this blast from the past...

Langdons were a well regarded traditional cidermaker based at Hewish, near the tourist hot-spot of Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset, and produced a range of 'Fine Farmhouse Ciders' principally for this huge seaside tourist trade. Langdons were listed in a couple of the early cider guides, including David Kitton's Traditional Cider Directory (1984), but not in Ted Bruning's CAMRA Guide to Real Cider (1996). A relatively short stay for a business making several thousand gallons a year and with a captive market, though competition has always been fierce around this part of Somerset.

Interestingly, the Cripple Cock brand appears to pre-date Langdons, with John Dix of Dixie's Fine Cider producing a cider of the same name up until the mid-80's. John Dix plied his trade in the heart of Bristol, not too far from Langdons, and was a well known character and advocate of traditional cidermaking and orcharding. It is of course quite possible that Langdons bought or inherited the brand when John Dix ceased pressing, and similarly, when Langdons threw in the towel the Cripple Cock brand was perhaps deemed too sale-worthy to let die, and was relocated even further into the West Country of Devon.

A bottled cider bearing the label 'Cripple Cock Farmyard Scrumpy', which features the same one-legged rooster on the label, can still be found in supermarkets and tourist traps throughout the West-Country. It's now produced by the Fowlers Scrumpy Co, a Cornish producer who's other products include the 'hilariously' named Fowl Scrumpy and Scrumpy Willey (ahem!)

These quirkily named ciders don't appeal much to me. They perpetuate an image of cider which is rooted in the bad old days of rough farm scrumpy, and drinking the strongest tipple available as an aid to getting as drunk as possible. However, they do seem to come from quite a long and (dis)honorable West-Country tradition, one which continues to this day. Perhaps when Fowlers have finished with it, they'll be looking to hand on their one-legged Rooster brand to another willing cidermaker. We'll be sticking with Diana's lovely apple logo for now, we think it sends out the right kind of message. Our cider is made from Apples, and definitely not Fowl!

Jugs, Jars, and Mugs

In the absence of any real news at the moment, I've decided to add a monthly pic from my small collection of stoneware cider jars. Resisting suggestions to call this feature 'Jugs of the Month', I'll be documenting the collection with a few notes on the producer where known.

These jars have been collected from junk and charity shops, car boots, and occasionally the antiques trade, though to describe any of these relatively modern pieces of memorabilia as antique would be misleading. Most date from the 60's/70's onwards, and some can still be bought new from the more touristy cider farms. I particularly like the jars made by Pearsons of Chesterfield, which have a more weighty 'classic' look than the more modern pottery versions. None have cost me more than a few pounds, and some, such as the Creedy Vintage Cider jars, are very common indeed.

So here's a brace of jars from the Godshill Cider Co, a thriving 30 year old cider business originally based in the picture postcard village of Godshill, Isle of Wight. Godshill produce a reasonably traditional cider at the Island's Ventnor Brewery, selling much of it through their two shops at Godshill and Shanklin. Considering how hard it is to find Godshill cider off the island, there are a surprisingly high number of these jars available secondhand. Presumably every visitor to the island must have brought one back, a rather expensive taster of Godshill's farmhouse cider. I have several more jars from Godshill in assorted designs which I may add here at a later date.