BEER |
CIDER
FERMENTED
apples
When it comes to golden drinks, beer is the first beverage that springs to mind. But there is another which is growing in popularity every year. FIONA MCDONALD reports.
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TOPS Buy!
1 Having hit the market in April this year, Hunter’s Edge already has a host of keen followers.
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pples ... a lot of importance has been placed on them over the years. Eve tempted Adam with one in the Garden of Eden, Isaac Newton getting whacked on the head while resting beneath a tree led to the scientific exploration of gravity while Switzerland apparently staved off Austrian occupation in the Middle Ages due to William Tell’s ability in shooting an apple off his son’s head with a bow and arrow! And then there was Steve Jobs who gave us Apple technology. But the fruit itself is delicious – in both its raw or whole form and when it has been pressed and fermented to make cider. In the United Kingdom, a pub without a cider or two on tap isn’t worth visiting – but it says something about the popularity of cider. According to 2016 figures quoted by the head of Distell, South Africa’s liquor giant and the second-largest cider producer in the world, the global market for cider is 2 177 million litres. Of that total, the United Kingdom is the single largest consumer, happily glugging down 981 million litres while South Africa consumes a more modest 299 million litres.
In South Africa, that’s the equivalent of nearly 100 Olympic swimming pools versus Old Blighty’s 326 pool’s’ worth! Around a third of Distell’s annual multibillion rand revenue is generated by the cider and RTD (Ready to Drink) category. Globally, the market is dominated by large commercial brands – and in South Africa those brands are Hunter’s and Savanna. Growth in cider consumption is more rapid than any other category within the liquor market currently. Financial analyst Siphamandla Shezi reported in 2015 that growth in cider sales over the past 10 years “has outpaced all other major categories of alcoholic beverages by an average 5 – 6% per annum”. As a result, he said, “the category’s share of the market has doubled in the past five years”. Reasons for the popularity were attributed to the growth of the black middle class “a group that has shown strong affinity to aspirational brands”, along with the fact that it appeals to women drinkers, it’s seen as a health conscious alternative to
