WOTSIT ON WEST
CIDER WITH RALPH
A superb report, by Roger Bilham, on what 'proper' West Country ciders are available and where to find them!
This is about farmhouse cider. It is not about bright, fizzy, pasteurised stuff in bottles that all tastes the same and makes you burp. It is about the variable, usually not quite bright, still beverage that tastes of the blend of apples that went to make it, is different from year to year (sometimes from barrel to barrel) and is characteristic of the cider mill where it was made.
These notes are those of a visitor to the West Country who has other objectives in life than being permanently blotto, although feeling 'mellow' from time to time is quite acceptable. I am not a fanatic but a casual cider drinker who likes to know what he is drinking and where it comes from. Some of my information is now somewhat dated and therefore may not do justice to the makers whose products are mentioned. For this I apologise. The views given here are my own personal ones, so they will not coincide with yours. Whatever I say, the best thing is to find out for yourself. If you disagree with me or have extra comments you would like to add, .
If you get interested in seeking out places where real cider is made or where it is for sale in pubs, a good starting point is CAMRA's 'Good Cider Guide' edited by David Matthews, published by CAMRA books Ltd in 2005. This replaces previous editions and is an excellent book, listing 42 cider makers in Devon and Somerset alone, so I still have a long way to go. There are also lists of cider makers on other web sites. The South West of England Cidermakers Association has a web page and there is a listing of UK cider and perry makers maintained by Gillian Grafton, which, at the time of writing, has not been revised for several years.
Finding cider makers can sometimes be difficult, so I have included a map reference for each place listed, omitting the 100 kilometre grid square letters, because I tell you where it's near anyway. It is best to phone before you set out to visit these places, although the larger ones will be open during normal commercial hours and at the weekends. I don't usually bother to check and sometimes this means I have come away dry!
Farmhouse cider has a rather short lifetime in containers once it has been drawn off its storage vessel, ranging from a few days to a week. To prolong this I add two Camden tablets per 5 litre container. This puts a measured amount of sulphur dioxide into the cider which delays oxidation. Sulphur dioxide is much used in the winemaking industry to deoxidise and preserve but an excess is unpleasant and, in large quantities, toxic, so use the tablets sparingly. Additionally, some people are sensitive to it and cannot stand any.
Check the location map out for full reports on each cider maker