Craft Cider

How do you like them apples?

Boutique beer producers may hog the headlines, but the craft cider industry is on the rise across the UK. Suzy Pope gets an insight into this burgeoning movement from those tapping into the market across Scotland

For a drink to legally be considered a cider, it only has to contain 35% fruit, and even then it can be from concentrate. Chemical-tasting and massproduced has been the image of modern ciders, but a craft movement has started across the UK. Regions like Devon, Somerset and Herefordshire have vast orchards dedicated to the growth of tangy little cider apples. Scotland may be a little behind, but urban scrumping, communal spirit and replanting the cider orchards of the 12th century are all encouraging a shift towards taking cider a bit more seriously.

Scotland is blessed with a natural larder, especially fruitgrowing. The countryside outside Blairgowrie (aka Berry Town) is home to Scotland’s original craft cider company. Alongside their fruit wine, Cairn O’Mohr have been quietly making rhubarb and meadowsweet ciders from foraged and farmed ingredients, and their King Jimmy apple number is worthy of cork-popping celebration.

Grant Hutchison of Scotland’s only dedicated cider shop, Aeble in Anstruther, is championing Scottish cider makers. ‘As much time and effort goes into a bottle of craft cider as a bottle of wine,’ he says. Witnessing the production process at Cairn O’Mohr is certainly a testament to that. Orchards need to be planted and tended to or ye rs be ore the first b tch o cider les re re dy for harvest.

Further north, as the autumn chill creeps into the air, Novar Cider in the Highlands await their third crop. 2020 s w the first b tch o cr t cider rom their orch rds which have been a labour of love. Most apple trees this far north tend to produce acidic cooking apples. But, after working for a cidery in Normandy, Novar’s founder William Munro Ferguson wanted to bring larger scale craft cider-making to Scotland. Apple varieties that thrive in Normandy didn’t stand a chance in the chill of the Highlands. So, Novar’s 3000+ trees grow Hereford tannic apples for a fresh, crisp cider. Novar are also looking at bringing back some of the ancient apple varieties from medieval Scotland.

In the 12th century, Scotland was ripe with apple orchards. Abbeys and monasteries all had their own orchards for fermentation. Near Dundee, Lost Orchards Cider is all about replanting those traditional Scottish orchards. They started with one grower in 2012 and have expanded to four growers and a few thousand trees.

‘There are really exciting things happening with urban craft cider too,’ Hutchison says. ‘Not everyone can afford the time and land required to cultivate a dedicated cider orchard in Scotland.’ The likes of Clyde Cider in Glasgow rely on a community of casual apple growers, offering to clear lawns of fallen apples in exchange for a few bottles. Hutchison spent a day harvesting apples from the gardens of South Lanarkshire with John Hancox of Clyde Cider as he undertook his ‘apple amnesty’, letting no scrog or Braeburn end up on the compost heap.

‘Cider should be a seasonal drink,’ Hutchison argues, and to celebrate the end of the apple harvest (Saturday 29 October), Aeble are running a pairing session with local cideries at Baern café, part of the Bowhouse food hub near St Monans. In the meantime, if you want to sample Scotland’s craft ciders and you’ve got excess apple stock in your garden, you might be able to exchange fruit destined for the compost bin for a couple of bottles.