IN-CYDER INFORMATION Autumn

LINCOLNSHIRE CYDER

IN-CYDER

INFORMATION

It’s the autumn tipple that’s as pure as it gets and comes straight from Guy Williams’ hallowed orchards in Skidbrooke near Louth. This month we raise a glass to authentic and refreshing local cider!

PURITY is, sadly, becoming a rare trait. Industrialisation, mechanisation and technology have all conspired to make sure that everything we eat and drink has been mucked about with in a factory. Bread is an often-quoted example; just four ingredients – five if you count time – combine to make something really special, but take a peek at the ingredients panel of a mass-produced loaf and you’ll see a bewildering ode to chemistry with added ingredients all designed to facilitate mass production in under an hour and resulting in unholy loaves that go mouldy, not stale. And that mass production extends to drink. Take cyder, for example. When Guy Williams makes his Lincolnshire Farmhouse and Vintage cyders at Skidbrooke near Louth, the ingredients list extends to one –and only one – item. Apples. Simple. Only… it’s not simple at all. First things first… cider, or cyder? The latter is technically from the first pressing of apples. Cider with a ‘I’ is made from a further pressing of the pulp. Over the years, though, the two terms have become interchangeable, and more of a matter of preference. Guy is from Frome in Somerset and is quite the polymath, having trained as a chef and worked in kitchens all over Europe to facilitate his wanderlust. He’s also developed properties both here and abroad, worked in the insurance industry and latterly he was a financial advisor and mortgage broker before moving to Lincolnshire around the millennium so that he and wife Kate can be closer to family. The country surrounding Skidbrooke has a good few orchards, and a sort of microclimate ideal for growing a good crop of apples. Today, Guy has about five and a half acres of apple trees, although he admits to making the rookie error of planting full-standard trees in the beginning, rather than half-standards which are only about 10ft tall, and as a result, are easier to manage and yield a crop of apple faster than their lofty contemporaries. >>

Words: Rob Davis.

>> Guy is also grateful for around 90 annual apple donors, whose gluts arrive in quantities of anything from a single carrier bag to three tonne trailer loads, courtesy of local farmers. Apples are not something that Guy ever finds himself short of, but not all apples are created equally. For every apple that he uses, about 75% of the fruit is extracted as juice. A tonne of apples results in about 650-720 litres of juice. But astonishingly, Skidbrooke Cyder is a blend of up to 60 different apple varieties with 35 different varieties alone grown in Guy’s own orchards. Whilst there is such a thing as single variety cyders – usually with a dedicated variety such as Katy – these lack the complexity of flavour profile that skilful blending achieves. The different varieties are combined in the cyder press but a blend can be further finessed by tasting and blending different pressings to achieve the desired taste and sweetness.

Speaking of which, there is significant regional variation when it comes to cyder preferences too. Western counties’ ciders tend to use high tannin cider apples rather than the mix of culinary and dessert apples favoured in the UK’s eastern counties.

Guy’s most popular cyder is his General Ludd, a medium cyder that’s deliciously drinkable and would undoubtedly satisfy all palates. He also provides a sweeter option in the form of Captain Cobbler – named after the Louth shoemaker who initiated the Lincolnshire Uprising of 1536 – and his Farmhouse Dry. The flagship product is his Vintage which has been racked off into oak barrels and carries a noticeable hint of the wood. Guy’s Farmhouse and Vintage are made with just a blend of apples; Ludd and Cobbler though are back-sweetened. Guy’s trees blossom from about March to May and harvest takes place from September to November, which is when the fun begins… and when the magic happens. Once Guy has selected the blend of apples he’ll use, the process is simple. The apples are placed into a water bath for a good wash and to provide some protection against being buffeted as they’re taken by auger into the scratter. This is a spinning plate which resembles a cheese grater and reduces the apples to a pulp. Successive rollers squeeze out all the juice and the remaining pulp –more correctly known as pomace – is retained as feed for local farm animals.

The press can gobble up half a tonne of apples an hour and Guy ends up with between 1,000 and 2,000 litres a day which is pumped out to fermentation tanks. Commercial cyders are fermented in a short space of time, but all of Guy’s cyders are left for a year for a more mature taste. Notwithstanding the dizzying number of apple varieties used and the artistry in their combination, it’s a simple process. Contrast that, though, with the production of mass-market cyder. Typically, this more rapid, convoluted and less authentic process involves an industrially-produced apple concentrate, to which strong yeast is added and left for six weeks, whereupon its alcohol by volume will be somewhere in the region of 12-15%. To about a third concentrate, two thirds of water is added to reach 5%-ish ABV for retail and then sulphites are used to prevent alcohol developing further, and perhaps at this stage a sweetener is added too. The maximum permitted amount of sulphites in drinks like cyder is 200 parts per million, and it’s a good job they’re capped, since it’s sulphites which are responsible for headache-ey hangovers. Guy has tested several mass-market cyders to compare them to his own and has discovered that often the amount of sulphites in mass-market ciders are really taken to the limit. Guy’s own cyders, by contrast, have just 20ppm sulphites, which occur naturally in his fruit rather than being added artificially. That means – in theory – you shouldn’t get a headache from drinking Skidbrooke Cyder… although we’ll add the usual caveats that this isn’t an excuse to drink to excess, and that you can still fall asleep in your garden hammock on a Sunday afternoon after imbibing it. A cursory investigation into the production of bottled water suggests that it’s filtered through mixed-media filtration, UV sterilised to kill micro-organisms then ozonated before being bottled… so, as implausible as it seems, Guy’s cyder is by our reckoning, even less ‘processed’ than bottled water! It’s also a very ‘green’ drink. A Guardian investigation reports that 168 litres of water is used to produce one pint of beer. The process also involves heat too, whereas the energy it takes to press cyder is negligible in comparison. Guy’s maximum production capacity currently stands at about 30,000 litres with a post-lockdown customer list of 80 pubs and 120 retailers, including the Lincolnshire Coop – one of the few national champions of local food and drink producers – plus farm gate sales. So… looking for a drink that’ll see you into the autumn months? Looking for a drink that’s as hangover-proof as it gets – when enjoyed in sensible quantities – that’s environmentally sensitive and as unprocessed as it’s possible to make? The findings from our in-cyder information are irrefutable… Skidbrooke Cyder’s drinks are the most enjoyable and natural way to raise a glass to autumn. n

Find Out More: Guy Williams is the founder of Skidbrooke Cyder, between Louth and Alford. His General Lud, Farmhouse Dry, Vintage and Captain Cobbler cyders are available to purchased in 500ml, 1 litre, 10 litre and 20 litre denominations, £30/12x500ml. Call 07927 162943, see www.skidbrookecyder.com or search for Skidbrooke Cyder on Facebook.