Roll Out the Barrels

Eager young casks of Cider & Perry wait for a space on the Leicester CAMRA Cider Bar stillage

Find out why some of these casks have travelled from as far away as Somerset, Wales, and even Hucknall-in-the-North, by visiting the 2011 Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival, which kicks off this Wednesday. Details below:

Respect Your Elders

Our recent Spirit Cask Cider experiment was reasonably successful (albeit that no 'Casks' were actually used in its production). We're determined to get ahead of the game and develop the next big thing in cider marketing, but let's be honest, Cheap Cooking Rum and lightly toasted Hungarian Oak Chips are never going to deliver the kind of 'story' our increasingly picky customers demand. It's got to be genuine old Spirit Casks, and we haven't got any, so I guess it's back to the drawing board...

Anyway, it's now become apparent that we were wasting our time searching for the cider-zeitgeist in a bottle'o'rum. Apparently, Flowers are where it's at. Elderflowers to be precise, and needless to say, someone's already picked them. We've missed the boat... again!

Homemade wine enthusiasts have been putting these delicate Spring blossoms in their fruity concoctions for years, and one or two craft brewers have dallied with a bit of blossom in their time, but now it's the turn of cider. The distinctive flavour of Elderflower is widely regarded as a 'positive' taste experience whenever it occurs, so it's perhaps no surprise that someone's decided to shoehorn it into their cider. Although needless to say, it came as a complete surprise to us.... harumph!

The 'someones' who've already done it are the ingenious folk at the Sampford Courtenay Cider Co, who make jolly good cider in deepest Devon from apples grown on their own farm. Described as 'undiluted', 'lightly sparkling', and only 'slightly sweetened', it sounded right up my street. I just wasn't sure about the Elderflowers!

The first surprise came when I popped the swing-top on the bottle. I'd chilled things down nicely, but even so the cider frothl'd invitingly up the neck like a fine sparkling wine. The fizz is anything but harsh though, and certainly suits this style of cider. It's a robust little monkey, full of chunky bittersweet flavour, and just a hint of tangy farmhouse character for added drinkability. The Elderflower is subtle. Very subtle. I got a bit of flora in the nose, but not much in the mouth to be honest. Best of all, it's not the sticky sweetie I was expecting, more Medium or even Medium Dry, which is a very pleasant change. I love it, and so does the missus.... bah!

The packaging is real quality too. A 70cl swing-top bottle, labelled in such a way that a gnarled old apple tree can be seen shimmering through the golden liquid. You'll be pleased to learn that this cider was procured from one of the larger Waitrose stores around these parts (Stamford), and at £4.99 is reasonably good value for a cider of this quality (particularly as I get a lovely swing-top bottle to re-use at my leisure).

Now then, back to the laboratory. I'm sure we've got a bottle of Elderflower cordial somewhere in the house....

Leicester Beer Festival Cider & Perry List

It's here! A Rockingham Forest Cider 'Exclusive', and not a moment too soon. Big enough to satisfy, yet compact enough to fit neatly in your back pocket, it's the 2011 Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival Cider & Perry List. Fresh off the press, and 100% guaranteed almost 90% complete. Just add a stylish Festival Glass and a Crusty Cheese Cob for maximum drinking pleasure:

Brook Farm, Herefordshire
Winter Warmer Dry Cider (7.5%)
Blended Perry

Burrow Hill, Somerset
Cider 6.5%

Chant, Somerset
Cider 6.5%

Charnwood, Leicestershire
Cider 6.0%

Farmer Fear, Leicestershire
Dry Cider 6.0%
Medium Cider 6.0%

Gwatkin, Herefordshire
Farmhouse Perry 7.5%
Stoke Red Cider
Yarlington Mill Cider

Gwynt Y Ddraig, Glamorgan
Black Dragon Cider 6.5%
Haymaker Cider 5.5%
Pyder 6.0%
Malvern Hills Perry 5.5%
Two Trees Perry 5.0%

Hecks, Somerset
Port Wine of Glastonbury Cider 6.5%
Porters Perfection Cider
Blakeney Red Perry
Medium Perry

Naish, Somerset
Dry Cider 6.0%

Newton Court,Herefordshire
Cider
Perry

Olivers, Herefordshire
Cider 6.3%
Perry 6.5%

Pickled Pig, Cambridgeshire
New Season Porker Cider
Rum Cask Cider
Sweet Little Pig Cider 6.5%

Rich's, Somerset
Legbender Cider 6.0%

Rockingham Forest, Northamptonshire
Vilberie Vintage Cider
Malvern Hill Vintage Perry

Ross Cider Company, Herefordshire
Cider
Perry

Thatchers, Somerset
Cheddar Valley Cider 6.0

Torkard, Nottinghamshire
Floppy Tabs Cider

Westcroft Somerset
Dry Cider 6.5%
Janet's Jungle Juice Cider

Willkins, Somerset
Cider 6.0%

Drinking in the Round

The Beer Festival season is well and truly underway in the East Midlands. CAMRA festivals in Loughborough and Leicester are coming very soon, but yesterday I hitched a ride on a fast train 'up north' to the annual Derby Winter Beer Festival, though not for the beer you understand.

Derby has long been known for the quality of its pubs, sometimes claiming to be the Beer Capital of Britain no less. It's also blessed with a brace of highly regarded CAMRA beer festivals, the Winter one being held at the truly impressive venue of The Roundhouse. I only wish I could have captured some of its atmosphere in my photos. I think I did better with the cider bar though, covering almost every aspect of barrels, pouring, and... well, that's about it isn't it!

I was particularly impressed with ciders from the newish Bath Cyder Co, whose Rough Diamond had a very polished and well-balanced flavour. The Oliver's Medium Cider was also a winner, but then I expect nothing less from cider and perry making legend Tom Oliver. The Checkley Brook Dabinett was fresh, young, and typical of a cider apple variety we've had some experience with ourselves. I enjoyed it a lot, though I'm pretty sure this will improve even more as it matures. I was also impressed with the (draws breath) Venton Skippy's Scrumpy Single Variety Pig's Nose Straw-Pressed Whiskey Cask Cyder (phew!). A good, clean Devon cider, exhibiting very little Whiskey or Straw character, which is not necessarily a bad thing...

Of the perries, Mike Johnson's ever-reliable Ross Perry was the one I'd be happy to drink all day long. The Day's Cottage Blakeney Red was nice too, though a little too sweet and underdeveloped for my taste.

All this was washed down with a plate of quality cheeses, and the good company of Torkard Cider's Ray Blockley. I'd like to thank the whole beer festival team for organising such an excellent festival, and Gillian, Alistair, and Pam in particular, for seeing to our every need at the cider bar.

The Spirit of Adventure

I was sipping a cider the other day, feet up, time on my hands, waiting. Waiting along with what seems to be the whole of ciderland. Waiting for fermentations to come to an end, and the brief excitement of racking, blending, tasting to begin. Tum-ti-Tum!

My idle thoughts turned to pondering one of the great imponderables of the cider world. Just what will be the next great 'Phenomemon' in cider drinking! Hmm!


The Cider Over Ice phenomenon which started it all has just about melted away now. Pear Cider?... soooo 2010. Fruity Ciders, meh! So where will the bright young things in the marketing departments take us next I wondered. Hmm!...

How about the tropical isle of Barbados?...

...or maybe the Peat and Sea-spray of rugged Islay?

What about sun-baked Jerez?


Spirit Casks at Broome Farm, Ross-on-Wye



You see it's Spirit Casks that I'm thinking of. Ex-distillery Rum and Whisky Casks in particular. Old news in the Craft Cidermaking world, but shiny, bright and full of sales potential for the lumbering giants of Industrial Cider. You read it here first.

Of course spirit cask ciders are hardly a new thing. Traditional cidermakers have been using ex-distillery casks to ferment and mature their ciders in for as long as they've been available. In fact before the widespread availability of cheap plastics, stainless steel and glass for fermentation and storage, practically all cider was made in wood, albeit often Sherry or Port pipes. So what's the big deal then?

Maturing cider in ex-distillery casks can add a whole new dimension to their contents. At its best, it can produce an award-winning cider such as the Rum-tinged beauty from Green Valley I tasted at a festival last year. But the practice also divides opinion amongst cider drinkers. Whiskey character is definitely an acquired taste, and in my opinion more of a clash of flavours than one of harmony. Rum character on the other hand is generally seen as being very complementary to the taste of a good cider, particularly those made from bittersweet cider apples. But even Rum Cask Ciders have their detractors, and as with most things in cidermaking, a light touch often produces the best results. A full-on Rum character can swamp the flavour of even the most robust ciders, and in my opinion the delicate flavour of perries do not stand up to the addition of any spirit character.

So a little bit of controversy too, which is of course even better for the flash suits in the marketing dept.

Now this got me thinking. We've been a little slow with previous cider phenomenons, and I don't want to get left behind with this one. I'm confident that the Gaudy Marketing Bandwagon is being hooked-up to the Wild Stallions of Passing Fashion even as I sit here writing this, so we're jumping on right now before all the good seats are taken. Now we don't have any spirit casks, and have no intention of getting any (I don't really like spirit cask ciders to be honest...), but that isn't going to stop us developing our very own Rum 'Character' Cider. At the risk of squandering our solid-gold marketing advantage, here's how we've done it:

For every litre of cider, add 20ml of a reasonable quality Rum, a bit of sugar to bring out the 'Authentic Rum Character', shake around for a bit, leave to mature for at least and hour, enjoy.

We're calling this latest potential Cash-Cow our Rockingham Forest Little Rum 'Un Cider, which we think accurately reflects its almost total lack of 'Heritage', 'Authenticity', and other things which sound good in the trade magazines. I'm afraid that if you want to try this unique 'Limited Edition' cider (ooh! that sounds good too), you'll have to be quick. A single bottle will be available for tasting at the Derby CAMRA Cider Bar tomorrow afternoon. Get it while you can.