A First Class Return To Dottingham - Pt.2

Nottinghams impressive Motorpoint Arena, as viewed from the main entrance on Thursday afternoon of the 2018 Nottingham Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival. Beer, almost as far as the eye can see. A comfortable crowd for a Thursday afternoon, starting to fill out as we called it a day at around the time the workers of Nottingham started clocking off and arriving. We'd done our job, the volunteer staff were sufficiently warmed up and ready for the locals, no need to outstay our welcome. Besides, whatever our goals were at the beginning of the session, there was little hope of achieving them by close of play, the choice, as ever, was really quite bewildering...

The Cider Barn, the beer festival 'safe space' for those of us slightly overwhelmed by the huge barrelage in the main arena. A smidgen warmer too, certainly cosier, something of a festival within a festival. Not an exclusive zone though. At least one of our party favoured beer for the afternoon. Nobody said anything...

There was an American cider (above),which was rather good by all accounts. I wouldn't know, I forgot it was on.

I did however try the award winners in this years East Midlands Cider & Perry Competition.

Cider
Gold: Sneinton Cider Co Completely Wholesome Apple Beverage - A straightforward sharpish dessert apple refresher. A bit apple crumble, cloudy.
Silver: Three Cats Medium - On the drier side of medium. Clean, sharp, fruity, russet tannin.
Bronze: Oakfield Farm Taste The Orchard - Sweetish medium, vinous cideriness, fruity, sharp, slight apple pips astringency.
Perry
Gold: Blue Barrel Colwick Perry - Light, aromatic/perfumed, apricot and melon, with a bit of drying tannin in the finish.

Really good quality in this years winners, and surprisingly none were too sweet to my taste. Well done to the cidermakers who definitely seem to be raising their game year on year, and to the organisers and judges who've clearly recognised this. The whole point of competitions like this is to encourage and reward excellence, and I think we can safely say that based on this years results, the East Midlands competition is working.

Did I mention there was beer at the festival? Loads of it actually, including for me what is one of the best aspects of the Nottingham festival, the numerous stand-alone brewery bars dotted about the place. The outdoor bars have the feel of funky fringe venues to the main event, with bands, food stalls, and unlimited sunshine whilst stocks last. The Nene Valley Brewery bar (above) kept winking at me seductively, their delicious Pulping On Your Stereo a particular favourite that always gets my juices flowing, but we're regular visitors to the brewery tap in Oundle so it's all yours Nottingham.

A snapshot of the comings and goings at our bijou table in the Cider Barn. Just out of shot is the lengthy queue of friends and acquaintances awaiting their turn at the head table and a private audience with top cider and perry guru Ray Blockley of Torkard Cider (mutton chops, Rolex watch). Other notable appearances during the day included the infamous Charnwood Cider Jug Band.

What of the new venue? Well, from my perspective, as someone who generally arrives, stands at one or both of the cider bars, drinks a bit, then goes home, it all seemed pretty-much the same. Facilities are better, staff and volunteers nothing but helpful and professional, yes it's different, but not 'that' different. Thankfully there was plenty of seating available on a Thursday afternoon, as the arena seating itself is really not ideal for social drinking in my view. Besides, I climbed to the top to take the photo below, and felt a bit giddy when I got there...

It was good, very good in fact for what is in effect a debut in a new venue, and knowing Nottingham CAMRA and their work ethic, I've no doubt they'll be looking to make it even better in the years to come. I'm still no great fan of beer festivals, but the Nottingham CAMRA event is still special, and it's still on for a couple of days, so I recommend you get along and help make it the success it deserves to be. That way I can go again next year...

Ciderhouse News - February Pt.2

• Written confirmation of our Silver award in the East Midlands Cider Competition arrived by hand from competition organiser Dee Wright this weekend. There's an image of the certificate over there on the right, go on, have a look. Gold award winners Ray & Gail Blockley of Torkard Cider were also on hand to take receipt of their certificate, and since the presentation took place at the Canalhouse in Nottingham during a SIBA beer festival, it was a good excuse for a few halves and a natter. I wore a new woolly jumper for the occasion, and tried not to squeeze Dee's hand too hard.

• The trip also gave us the opportunity to deliver a barrel of early season Medium/Sweet Blakeney Red Perry (4.9%) for the forthcoming Hucknall Beer Festival. This will be the first festival of 2012 where cider or perry from all three of the East Midlands regional winners will be available, which includes the Bronze winner, Scropton Cider of Derbyshire.

• Another opportunity to try ciders and/or perries from the top three will be at the rapidly approaching Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival. We'll be sending the very last barrels of our 2010 vintage, including the Kingston Black/Sweet Alford blend which won Silver. There's a strong rumour that our friends from Torkard Cider will be sending their first ever perry, expect this rarity to sell out very fast. In other recently leaked news, rare and otherwise excellent ciders have been ordered from Ermie & Gerties, Tricky, and Bridge Farm. We still hope to break the full cider and perry list exclusively on here, because some traditions are far too important to let go.... aren't they Susan!

• Work has stalled briefly on the Middleton Village Orchard Project. With temperatures down to -12C this weekend, the frozen ground has proven more than a match for the hardy workforce, even with the help of a digger. The dilapidated walls are all down, we're now waiting for them all to go back up again.

• ...and finally, here's a nice pic from this morning, featuring the old Bramley in our own garden orchard covered in Hoar Frost. A proper cold snap like this can only be a good thing for our trees, hopefully forcing a good period of dormancy, and maybe killing a few pests along the way too.

Ciderhouse News - February

• The season gets under way even earlier than usual this year, with a barrel of our very popular Blakeney Red Perry making its way to The Hucknall Beer Festival, c/o our friends at Torkard Cider. This special new-season perry is the result of our recent racking, blending and topping-up adventures. We used a smaller fermenter of Blakeney Red for topping up the big tubs, and ended up with 5 gallons of beautifully clear, naturally sweet, and modestly strength'd (4.9%) perry, going spare and needing a good home:

• Work has now started on the renovation of Middleton Village Orchard. Walls are being re-built, with landscaping and better access planned. More details can be gleaned here, and I'll be popping across the road with my camera to record progress on an irregular basis.

• Our garden orchard is currently enjoying a welcome cold-snap, much needed if we're to avoid the trees budding up too early and suffering frost damage. It's going to be touch and go over the next few weeks whether we get a proper spell of cold, encouraging dormancy, and safeguarding this years crop for orchardists everywhere. This picture features one of the few remaining Bramley apples which the Blackbirds and Redwings haven't had a peck at yet. They are of course, very welcome to them.

Ciderhouse News - November

That's it, our cidermaking is all over for another season. No more apples will darken our doorway, we've had our fill of the Mill, and early morning Pressing has become thoroughly depressing. We've ran out of room, we have no more fermenters. So no more! Here is the news:

The final batch of bittersweet Vilberie apples reached full maturity well ahead of turning rotten, which is always a bonus in cidermaking. They were surprisingly juicy, and have helped pushed our fermenter capacity to the limit. In fact over the limit, as there are still six sacks of apples left we've no room for which will now end up as pig food in nearby Keythorpe. So here's the final inventory of what seems like the longest cidermaking season yet:

Ciders

Home Orchard Blend (70 litres) 1.060
Dabinett/Harry Masters' Jersey/Yarlington Mill Blend (70 litres) 1.062
Yarlington Mill Blends (1340 litres) 1.057 - 1.062
Vilberie Blend (470 litres) 1.060 - 1.062

Perries

Malvern Hills (240 litres) 1.069 - 1.071
Blakeney Red (190 litres) 1.060
Green Horse/Oldfield/Blakeney Red Blend (120 litres) 1.065
Red Longdon (120 litres) 1.058
Unknown Perry Pears (120 litres) 1.066

In other news, I feel I must draw your attention to the latest edition of award-winning CAMRA publication, Nottingham Drinker. Always a good read, with a stronger than average focus on cider issues under the editorship of Hucknall cidermaker and CAMRA activist Ray Blockley. The latest edition has confirmation of all the winners in the recent East Midlands Cider of the Year Competition held at Nottingham Beer Festival. We came a commendable second to Torkard Cider who took the top spot, with Scropton Cider of Derbyshire third. We also rated very highly amongst the Nottinghamshire Constabulary...

The soon to be announced 2012 Cider Workshop Photographic Challenge will be announced... soon. More details will appear on the Cider Workshop webpage just as soon as it's been agreed that pressing for 2011 has finished. We've finished! Get on with it Jez...

Welcome Break - Nottingham

Home grown Dabinett cider apples

After a couple of weeks of cidermaking inactivity, it's nearly time to get back on the horse and make a bit of cider.

Putting our feet up last weekend, as we did, turned out to be less relaxing than I'd hoped for. With nothing much ready to harvest, and very little at home to press, it was hard to shake the feeling that we should be doing something. Anything really! We're in the cidermaking zone now, and a weekend off just doesn't seem quite right. I've missed being in the orchard, and I'm acutely aware that the nights are drawing in, and the clocks will be going back very soon. Daylight hours for pressing will become that little bit more... err... squeezed.

So we're off to Worcestershire tomorrow to get the Yarlington Mill harvest in. I'm hoping that most of the fruit will still be on the trees so we can shake them down onto a clean tarpaulin, rather than digging fallen apples out of the grass. It's a crucial difference since the sooner we get finished in the orchard, the sooner we get to the Crown & Trumpet for well earned refreshments.

Today would have perhaps been a better day for orchard work. The sun has been shining all day, and after the early shock of a ground frost, it's been a wonderful warm Autumnal day. Unfortunately, none of the harvest team were in the mood for the obligatory early start, largely owing to a day of intensive 'research' at the Nottingham CAMRA Beer Festival yesterday. It's taken a couple of weeks, but we're finally getting the hang of these 'days off'.


Ru in full flow

This was my first visit to the festival on its new site at Nottingham Castle, and I must say I was very impressed with the whole setup. Professionally run, and with a real 'Festival' atmosphere created by the various food stalls and outdoor music. The range of ciders and perries at the festival was so extensive it had been split into two (three if you include the bijou Castle Rock Bar). We started at the West Country & Wales bar, efficiently run by local CAMRA activists Dee and Ru. It was hard to know where to start, or indeed finish, but I particularly enjoyed the Raglan Barn Owl Perry, and the Dry version of the Dorset Nectar.



We then moved up the hill to the Main Marquee, if only for a change of scenery. The cider bar here included a range from the Three Counties, and the ambitiously titled Rest of the UK. I recall enjoying a Checkley Brook, and a Marches Cyder Circle Kingston Black, but perhaps the highlight of this bar was the extensive Local & East Midlands selection, which featured examples from every county in the region, and quite a few rarities never before seen at a festival. Congratulations to the cider bar organisers for assembling such a ridiculously wide range of quality ciders and perries.

The winning cider

Congratulations must also go to Ray & Gail Blockley of Torkard Cider fame for winning the Best of the East Midlands Ciders competition with their 256 Cider, just pipping ourselves into second place.



Weekend Welland Valley Wanderings... and Wing

Some memorable moments from one of the biggest weekends in the Welland Valley year:

The view from the George & Dragon, Seaton







Barrels and Mr Bip at the Red Lion


• Local legend Mr Bip rocks the Red Lion Middleton on Friday night, aided and abetted by a bus load of extremely up-for-it drinkers from the Shoulder of Mutton Weldon. If you want to know why our Green Horse Perry temporarily ran out on Saturday (and why the Red Lion floorboards may need replacing), the good folk of Weldon must (ahem!) shoulder some of the blame. Videos of the evening available 'under the counter' at the Red Lion...


• Excellent cider and perry range at Welland Valley Beer Festival newcomers the Fox Inn, Wilbarston. The Burrow Hill Cider was my pick of the festival, closely followed by the Parsons Choice. Served cool and delicious from the outside bar at the Fox, accompanied by the fleet-footed men and women of Braybrooke Morris. An excellent debut from the Foxters.


• Multiple cider re-orders for the Red Lion Middleton, as thirsty festival-goers drink the bar dry. Around 300 pints of our cider and perry were consumed over the weekend at the Red, plus another 100 or so of cider and perry from our friends at Charnwood, Ross, and Torkard. Excellent work from all the staff, particularly the glass washing team. You can't drink real ale and cider without a glass...



Ales, Cider & Perry at the Red Lion



• Whoever it was that organised the Lancaster Bomber to fly low over Lyddington on Saturday, top job Sir (or Madam)! Or was it just passing through to an air show...

• Vintage buses. Lovely!



• The mighty Skibbereen do what they do best on Saturday night at the Red Lion, as thirsty customers do what they do best at the bar. A slightly surreal night as the Red seemed to turn into a ciderhouse, and the Skibbereen Pipes player warms his instrument up in the Gents...



• The wind-down session at Wing Village Fete was a little bit on the wet side, but just the job nevertheless. A glass of Welland Valley Festival Special Cider helped ease the pain, with tea and cakes in Zia's terrific Veranda Cafe, and more Spaniels and Labradors than you can shake a sausage at, all wrapped up in a thoroughly traditional English Summer drizzle. Well worth getting a hangover for.

Ciderhouse News - June

A busy day in the ciderhouse today. Barrels and boxes have now been filled ready for the next round of festivals and local deliveries. Barely a drop passed my lips... honest!

First up is a delivery to our friends at the Criterion Freehouse in Leicester, with a box of our new season Green Horse Perry. Like our other perries, this has finished with quite a high gravity of 1.014, giving a rich medium perry of 4.6% abv. Green Horse perry pears make a naturally opaque perry, with a pleasant citrusy sharpness, and just a hint of Ginger to my taste buds.

The cider and perry list for our village local the Red Lion has now been firmed up ready for this weekends Welland Valley Beer Festival:

Rockingham Forest Red Kite Cider (Med/Dry) 7%

Rockingham Forest Welland Valley Festival Special Cider (Medium) 7.5%

Rockingham Forest Green Horse Perry (Medium) 4.6%
Rockingham Forest Blakeney Red Perry (Med/Sweet) 4.2%
Torkard Floppy Tabs Cider (Medium) 6.0%
Ross Blakeney Red Perry (Med/Dry) 6.0%
Ross Browns Apple Cider (Med/Dry) 6.5%
Another local-ish cider (tbc)

This seasons Welland Valley Festival Special has emerged with a bit of soft tannin from the Russets we pressed, and a lovely orchard-fruits aroma. This cider will also be crossing the border to Rutland for the inaugural Rutland CAMRA Beer Festival later in the month, along with the very last barrel of this seasons Blakeney Red Perry.

Cidermaker Scooping at Leicester Beer Festival

So another Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival has come and gone, well up to its usual standard I might add. From my position at the Cider Bar, things seemed even busier than usual, although this could have been down to myself being even slower than usual.

This years festival was something of an East Midlands cidermakers summit. I 'ticked' cidermakers from Charnwood, Eves, Torkard, and Three Cats. In fact there were so many of them milling around, I had to take a couple home in Pandas Pops bottles to enjoy later...

So congratulations to all the volunteers and organisers on yet another successful festival. Here's a few candid pics from the cider bar for your pleasure:


A Nice Pair



Work in Progress

Peters Slider Rules



A 'Tump' of Cidermakers

2011 Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival

'Holy Mackerel', it's only Nineteen Sleeps until the 2011 Leicester Beer Festival opens its doors. Put another way, that's only twelve working days, or a measly three weekends, only one of which features Six Nations Rugby. It's come around so quickly again! I've not even thought about how I'll be getting there, or more importantly, how on earth I'll get home again! I've got absolutely nothing to wear!

Thankfully for those of you thinking of going to this great festival, the organising committee are well on top of all the little things that need organising, as well as the larger things, such as Beer, Curry, and of course the Cider and Perry.

Thanks to our 'Mole' on the cider bar, a few juicy bits of information are starting to trickle out with regards to the ciders and perrys which will be available. Here at Rockingham Forest Cider, we are nothing if not indiscreet, so here's the current Scrattings from inside the cider bar:

• New local Leicestershire cidermakers, Charnwood Cider, will be sending a box of their Medium Cider, possibly the first showing for this producer at a CAMRA beer festival.

• Our friends in the north, Ray & Gail of Torkard Cider have boxed-up a fresh young Floppy Tabs for the festival, which will be Medium, and somewhere around 6% abv. The term Floppy Tabs is apparently 'Northern-Speak' for when a Border Collie has had too much strong cider and its ears go all wonky! or something...

• There will be more local Leicestershire cider from Farmer Fear of Mountsorrel. Their Thirsty Farmer Cider is usually only available as Medium, but hard bargaining from cider bar manageress Susan has resulted in the procurement of a tub of naturally Dry cider too. Nice work Sue.

• Exotic foreign cider enthusiasts can look forward to a consignment of Cambridgeshire's finest from Pickled Pig Cider, including Sweet Little Pig, a cider containing a high proportion of Cox apples. Don't worry, I'm assured that no pigs are used in the production of these ciders!... except for the final bit where the dry pomace is fed to pigs... obviously!

• We'll be sending the last of our 2009 vintage, a Vilberie Medium Cider (6%), and a Malvern Hills Perry (8%), but we won't be drinking any of it! That would be silly, we've got loads of it at home...

• You've got even less time to plan for the Loughborough CAMRA Beer Festival, which starts on the 3rd of March. The cider and perry list is now up, looks a little too sweet for my taste, but has local interest with East Midlands Cider from Three Cats of Derbyshire.

Local Ciders for Local People

Is this the largest range of East Midlands Ciders and Perries ever assembled in one place? Probably, but even seven producers is less than half  the total now producing locally. These are the bottles I'll be taking to a talk and tasting session for Rutland CAMRA at the Plough, Greetham this week. More details of these and other East Mids producers can be found in a new leaflet, available to download here from the Nottingham CAMRA website. It is hoped that an even wider range of local ciders and perries will be available at the Nottingham CAMRA Beer Festival in October.

L-R: Skidbrooke Cyder, Spalding Scrumpy, Roundhead Cider, Rockingham Forest Cider & Perry, Torkard Floppy Tabs Cider, Beeches Cider, Marron Pear Cider

Ciderhouse News - February

'Ahoy There!' It's very nearly the time when the good ship Rockingham Forest Cider weighs anchor, and sets sail on the choppy waters of the 2011 Beer Festival season. It's been a long, cold winter in dry dock, but we've not been idle. The barnacles have been scraped off the barrels, we're fully provisioned, and ready to cruise the highways and bye ways of the East Midlands and beyond. There'll be a cider in every port, and hopefully a girl in every cider. Yo-Ho-Ho! Shiver me Timbers! and that's quite enough nautical nonsense I think.

First up is bijou northern event, the Hucknall Beer Festival, opening its doors this weekend, and featuring all that's local and best in ale, ciders, and well-filled Cobs (that's Crusty Rolls to our more southern readers). There'll be local Torkard Cider, and we've sent along the very last box of our 2009 Rockingham Forest Cider (7%), and another of Malvern Hills Perry (8%). There's a Farmers Market on the Friday, live music on Saturday evening, and I've been assured there's absolutely no restrictions on the wearing of Flat Caps at this event, so go along and fill yer (Hobnail) boots.

Further on down the line is the annual Leicester CAMRA Beer, Cider & Curry Jamboree. Same venue, similar huge range of quality real ales, ciders and perrys. We're aiming to send barrels of Malvern Hills Perry and a sweetish Vilberie Cider, and we've been assured by bar manageress 'Zoider Zusan' that there'll be other local ciders available, including a smooth Torkard number, a Thirsty Farmer, and something rare and fruity from new boys on the block, Charnwood Cider. The full cider and perry list will be 'broken' here, just as soon as we've persuaded Sue to give it to us before anyone else....

I figured it might be a good idea to get some practice in ahead of

all this festival activity, with a short trip to the Slug & Lettuce Beer Festival in downtown Leicester. Not a huge selection of ciders to be honest, but it was nice to see the range included something a little different to the usual from Orchard Pig of Somerset, and full-bodied organic Devon cider from Heron Valley. The ciders provided a bit of welcome interest in the flat ocean of Irish/Italian rugby mediocrity. We appear to be back at sea!

Ciderhouse News - January

Things are fizzing away gently in the ciderhouse, and the time for racking the perry off its sediment draws ever closer. Once again I'm having to buy more fermenters as we've filled every available tub, and have nothing to rack into. Full tasting notes coming soon, meanwhile, here's latest news:

• The dates for the innaugral Rutland CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival have been leaked to us here at Rockingham Forest Cider. Make a note in your diaries for the weekend of 23rd - 26th June. A wide range of beers, ciders, and perrys are promised, including something fruity from the Rockingham Forest Cider cellar. Venue is the Rutland County Museum in Oakham. More details when we've got 'em.
• Don't forget, we'll have cider and/or perry available at both the Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival (9th - 12th March), and the Hucknall Beer Festival (11th - 13th February) c/o our friends in the North, Ray & Gail of Torkard Cider.
• 30 (that's Three-Oh!) Ciders and Perrys are promised at this years Swan & Rushes Cider & Cheese jamboree in Leicester. Start date for this cracking day out is 29th April, continuing until the last crumb has been nibbled. Toast the Royal nuptials with a drop of Prince Williams favourite, and a truckle of what does a Princess good. Check the Swan & Rushes website nearer the date for the all important cider, perry, and cheese listings.
• Coming soon: Fun Cider Photo Competition. Have a good rummage through your hard-drive, and post your best (clean!) images from the 2010 cidermaking season to the 2011 Cider Workshop Photographic Challenge. For more details and where to upload your images, watch this space....
• 'Leicester Tigers thrash Northampton Saints in 12-try demolition job....' says Mystic Mark earlier today.
• Wikio Blog Ranking slips to all-time-low..... Bah!

Fun in Brum

In the bleak midwinter there's nothing I like more than standing knee-deep in snow, inadequately dressed for the weather, nursing an ice-cold Weissbier in frost-bitten, gloveless hands. Sounds a treat doesn't it? Did I mention Birmingham as the venue? Mmmm!

I like Birmingham. It's really come on in recent years. A little bit London only a little bit friendlier. Full of Brummies rather than Londoners... I'll say no more. I like Frankfurt too, though sadly I've never had the opportunity to go there yet, so I'm basing my view of Frankfurt on Birmingham. Naturally!

Throughout the month of December, Birmingham does a pretty passable impression of Germanys fifth largest city, decking itself out in Singing Mooses and Rotating Santas at its annual Frankfurt Christmas Market (the clue's in the name). Possibly the best German Christmas Market outside of Germany itself, certainly better than the lame or non-existent offerings I've visited in other Midlands cities recently (you know who you are...).

This was my first visit to the Birmingham event, and probably the first time it's been forced to close early due to a totally expected heavy snowfall. Apparently things got pretty treacherous later in the day, but there's no doubt the sub-zero temperatures and thick carpet of fluffy snow made it a very Christmassy Christmas Market. It also made Mulled Cider the drink of choice (or at least one of the drinks of choice) for cold toes and chilly noses. One of the big attractions of this Christmas Market is the numerous speciality bars set up around the site. Plenty of German Beer to be sure, Gluwhein for those that like it, but also real ales from Woods Brewery, and excellent cider and perry from Hogan's of Warwickshire, and Orchard Pig of Somerset.

The Orchard Pig Cider Bar had their award-winning draught cider, cockle-warming mulled cider, and a selection of snow-covered barrels to stand around. Concentrate really hard, and it's almost like standing in a Somerset cider barn on a hot Summer day... well, almost. Top Somerset Cider nevertheless, if we can just persuade them to come to Leicester next year...

Warwickshire was slightly easier to visualise at the small, but perfectly formed Hogan's Cider Bar. More of that lovely Mulled Cider was available, plus bottles of the outstanding Hogan's Perry for those who needed cooling down. More snow-topped barrels to stand around, and by now the the silly animal hats were starting to make an appearance. Well done Hogan's, and well done too Birmingham Wetherspoon for helping out with the necessary comfort breaks.

It was getting really, really cold by now, so off to the Kölsch Bar for an ice-cold Schwarzbier. Brrr! It was slightly warmer at the back of the hut, but by now a group of lively Brummie gentlemen had started singing, so we headed next door for a chilled Weissbier at the sign of the Singing Moose..... outside!..... in the snow!.... Why!

It was time to beat a retreat to one of the city's noted hostelries. The cider selection at the Wellington was disappointing, but the Wye Valley HPA was in superb condition, and more importantly, not ice-cold. We'd thawed enough by now for the short trip to the palatial splendour of the Old Joint Stock, for some top quality London beer... oh well, can't win 'em all.

I'll skirt quickly over the 'Total and Utter Shambles of Disorganised Chaos at Birmingham New Street Station', and say what a great day out it was, in jolly good company, with a jolly good Bratwurst to finish too. Recommended.

(someone else's) Ciderhouse News...

Our friends in the north Ray & t'Gail of Torkard Cider have hit the headlines in a big way recently. Everything from the Skegness Bugle, to the mighty BBC East Midlands Today programme are falling over themselves for a piece of Torkard Ass at the moment. All I can say is they must have done something very bad to warrant this kind of attention...

The blanket media coverage has got so bad recently that Wayne Rooney himself is apparently '... a bit miffed...' with the Hucknall Headline-Grabbers. There simply isn't enough bandwidth available on this blog to list every piece of Press, Radio and Television coverage the 'Hucknall Two' have appeared in, so here's a link to the latest offering. Two and a half minutes of hardcore Hucknall cidermaking, presided over by Nottinghamshire's answer to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall... in the bath! View from 16.10 minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vn75v/East_Midlands_Today_03_11_2010/

Coming soon: Ray & Gail host their own television series: 'Drink Up T'Cider Me-Duck'

Peterborough Perry Festival

Well that was a wet one. The rain fell without break from the moment I alighted at Peterborough bus station, until our belated delivery of cider to the Red Lion back home in Middleton several hours later. As the waters rose, and the slightly bored food vendors sank into the mud, our merry band clung tenaciously to the Cider & Perry Bar (enter festival, first on the right).

It's rare indeed to find a festival so well stocked with decent Perrys that the Ciders don't even get a look in. I'm pretty fussy in my drinking, and if there's not enough tubs of genuinely Dry or Medium/Dry on offer, I'll resort to the worthy-but-dull offerings of the Malt'n'Hop variety. No such problems here. By my (slightly addled) reckoning, I tried 8 different Perrys, none of which were too sweet, along with a few sips begged from other peoples glasses along the way. Worthy of mention were a Moorcroft from Malvern Magic, Greggs Pitt Aylton Red & Blakeney Blend, and the Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Co, all from Herefordshire. But the pick of the bunch for me was a properly dry Springherne Perry, also from Ross-on-Wye, and the surprise winner was New Forest Perry, from well outside the traditional Perry making area, in deepest Hampshire. Juicy, well balanced, some tannin and a little Rum if my senses don't deceive me.

Here's a few pics from the festival:










Bar staff were friendly and efficient, moving far too fast to catch on camera

Stillages groaning under the weight of all the ciders I didn't get a chance to try

CAMRA supports Real Cider & Perry. Paul merely supports his glass of Cider

Torkard Cider's Ray Blockley adopts a typical 'Northern' pose whilst surveying a Red Lion Beer & Cider Festival poster

Oh! Almost forgot. Freeth stepped on a Guide Dog. Sadly no pictures are available...

Ciderhouse News - Welland Valley Beer Festival 2010

Following a visit from our friends in the north Ray & Gail, and a succesful trip into the heart of Herefordshire ciderland today, we can now confirm the cider and perry list for the Red Lion, Middleton during the forthcoming Welland Valley Beer Festival:

Broome Farm - Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire

Cider (Dry) 6.5%

Blakeney Red Perry (Med/Dry) 6.0%

Rockingham Forest Cider - Welland Valley, Northants

Cider (Med/Dry) 7.2%

Welland Valley Special Cider (Med) tbc%

Blakeney Red Perry (Med/Dry) 6.0%

Torkard Cider - Hucknall, Notts

2 Bees Cider (Med) 8.4%

Ciderhouse News - May

Things are really hotting up in the ciderhouse. Not literally of course, a heatwave in the ciderhouse would be very bad news indeed for our ciders and perrys. What I mean is the ciders and perrys are all ready to go, and demand over the next few weeks is very high. Here's a round up of some of the events we'll be supplying:

The cider bar at the Northampton CAMRA Beer Festival has gone from strength to strength since a relatively modest start at Delapre Abbey in 2006. We're sending around 60 gallons of cider and perry this year, which may sound quite a lot, but if last year is anything to go by, don't be too surprised if one or all have sold out before Saturday. That's not to say the cider bar itself will be sold out, there will be plenty of other good ciders and perrys available, but possibly not ours, and my advice is to go on Friday for the very best range. I'll be propping the bar up during the Friday session, and may have something interesting in my pocket for sampling so do stop me and try one if you like. Here's what we'll be sending:

Rockingham Forest Cider (Med/Dry) 7.2%
Rockingham Forest Bulmers Norman Cider (Med) 6.5%
Rockingham Forest Perry (Med/Dry) 5.6%

Newark CAMRA are having their well-established Beer Festival on the same weekend as Northants, which is a shame as I'd have liked to have gone to both. Rockingham Forest Cider and our Blakeney Red Perry will be available here, as well as a range of ciders from our friends in the north Ray & Gail of Torkard Cider.

I don't know many details on this one, but Ray & Gail of the aforementioned Torkard Cider have strongarmed some of our own cider and perry for a Vegan Beer Festival in Nottingham (5th - 6th June). Ciders like ours are of course entirely free of animal derived products, though it's perhaps inevitable that the odd Wasp may have found its way into the juice at some point. We can certainly guarantee that no animals were hurt in the making of our ciders and perrys (just humans), and if anything did die in the making, well, it surely died happy...

Further on down the line, we've noticed that the dates for the Criterion Cider & Perry Festival have been changed to 19th - 25th July. You can't shake us off that easily Russell. Change the dates as often as you like, we'll still be delivering our cider and perry whether you like it or not.

Meanwhile, our cider continues to be available at the Red Lion, Middleton, and Wing Hall Farmshop and Cafe-Bar. We hope to bring you up-to-date news of the forthcoming Welland Valley Beer Festival just as soon as anything interesting reaches our finely tuned ears.

Newark Beer Fest - Cider List

The cider & perry list for the forthcoming Newark Beer Festival (28th - 30th May) is now available here. Nice to see a few East Midlands producers represented, including Skidbrooke Cyder of Lincolnshire, and Our Friends in the North, Torkard Cider of Nottinghamshire, as well as our own Rockingham Forest Cider and Blakeney Red Perry.

When Twigs become Trees

A recent discussion on the excellent new Cider Workshop forum prompted me to take a closer look at my apple tree grafts. The question on everyone's mind was, when to remove the tape protecting the grafts?

The tape serves to add a little strength to the join before the wood has callused over and provided a strong union, but perhaps more importantly it also keeps the graft from drying out before the join has healed sufficiently. Take the tape off too early and you could be jeopardising this healing process resulting in a failed graft, but leave it on too late and the tape may restrict the swelling of the wood which will form the trunk of your infant tree.

I'd been keeping a watchful eye on our grafts for some time now, and thought all was well. The two dessert apple varieties I grafted under tuition had already expanded beyond the confines of the rapidly degrading tape, but on closer examination I discovered one of the Dabinett's had become quite restricted by the freezer bag tape I'd used. I decided it was time to remove the tape from all of the trees and hope for the best.

As you can see, the grafts are all looking good, and they seem strong enough. I'll be keeping all these trees in a sheltered spot for the rest of the Summer, just in case of high winds, and they'll also need staking when I plant them out in the Winter. The restriction on the Dabinett is quite pronounced, though I'm sure the tree will recover. The tape we used on the grafting course seems to have done a better job, degrading as the union swells from the callousing. Freezer bag tape needs to be removed earlier, perhaps even as early as late May or early June, as it doesn't seem to stretch in the way I thought it would.

The more careful examination of these trees also helped me to spot a small patch of Woolly Aphid tucked into a leaf axil. Ray & Gail of Torkard Cider have had these for years, and I was starting to feel a bit left out, so I'm pleased to say we now appear to have the full set of Aphid pests to contend with, and something new to bitch about when next we meet.