B. United International, Inc. Heck’s Traditional Farmhouse Cider

Somerset, United Kingdom

Description:

Sixth generation cider makers, Chris and Andrew Hecks, are incredibly proud of their heritage, being raised on the family’s cider farm in the heart of the Cider Making County of Somerset, in the West Country of England. Their parents, John and Mary, still live on the premises in Street, which have been in the family since 1896. The cider making history of the Hecks family can be traced back to an 1841 census, when first generation cider makers, also John and Mary Hecks, lived and farmed at Lord Lease Farm in Chard, Somerset.

The Orchards:

Lenmore sits a few miles south of the cider farm. This traditional orchard, with deeds dating back to 1760, has been in the family for generations, yielding a silver medal at the Imperial Fruit Show, Crystal Palace, London in 1922 for Bramley apples. To this day, we celebrate by making a barrel or two of single varietal Bramley cider from the fruit of the very same tree! A wonderful orchard, planted with vintage quality cider apple cultivators with just the right mix of tannic bittersweet and bittersharp varieties to produce a perfectly balanced juice for fermentation.

The apples used to produce all of our ciders are harvested within six miles of the cider farm, from our own and surrounding traditional orchards of standard cider apples trees, where sheep and cattle graze amongst the abundance of wildlife. In our orchard at the foot of Glastonbury Tor, we grow bush cider apple cultivators together with desert apples and pears.

Cider Farm:

Formerly a 17th century farm, the original stone outbuildings, together with the cider barn built in 1914, forms the cider farm. Having been little altered in over a century, the cider barn simply oozes history, and it is one of the few places where cider is served straight from the wooden barrel.

2013 Vintage Dry Cider

Cider & Perry

Keg Collection

Traditional Somerset farmhouse cider, matured in oak barrels for at least twelve months.

Serving suggestions: Traditionally served at ‘cellar temperature’ (10-12°C/50-54°F) in either half imperial pints or pints. Can also be served in wine measurements as a substitute for wine

Typical of style, and region, this is a traditional Somerset farmhouse cider: it’s big in flavour, 100% cider fruit fermented with wild yeasts, unfiltered and unpasteurised. Clean quenching and moreish

Product Details

Style: Cider Aged in oak barrels

Alc./Vol.: 6.5%

Tasting Notes

Appearance Bright, golden, nearly clear

Aroma

Crushed apple skins, soft fruit, woody vanilla

Flavor Complex: lots of big bold tannins, full bodied, low residual sugar, medium acidity with slightly leathery, fruit notes

Finish Smooth, long lasting tannins, pleasant dry finish

Available Formats:

20L & 30L kegs -

Beer Collection Cider & Perry

Keg Collection Sake & Yuzu Wine

Real Ale Collection Mead

Vintage Collection Spirits

Pilton Cider

Pilton Somerset, United Kingdom

Pilton are artisan producers at the heart of Somerset’s cider-land making whole juice sparkling cider by the old English method of keeving.

Apples are collected from traditional cider orchards in and around the parish of Pilton and slowly fermented for six months in our cool Victorian cellar before bottling.

Keeving is an artisan method for making naturally sweetened cider. Only cider apples are used; no sugar, no water, nothing else. The keeving process involves the formation of a pectin gel, which floats to the top of fresh pressed apple juice in translucent tanks. The gel traps nitrogen and is removed. Starved of its essential nutrients, the wild yeast fermentation stops early, leaving natural sugars from the apples themselves to sweeten the cider.

We bottle our keeved cider when it is still slowly fermenting, and allow it to develop its own natural tiny-bubble sparkle.

Somerset keeved cider

Formats: