Upping The Apples and Pears : Life is Full of Surprises - #RethinkCider
“I am not in love… But I'm open to persuasion”
I (Jim) love beer. I wouldn't put myself through the wringer of doing this event if I didn't. Over the last few years I have had some simply lovely beer - because of an inbuilt mental filter, it's rare that I have a bad one.
I can enthuse about excellence. The breweries that I invite to ISBF have - to me - displayed that excellence. I wouldn't invite them otherwise.
But it has been a while since I've been genuinely excited about beer.
But this year, those things up there have got me. Got my pulse beating just that little bit faster.
Apples and Pears. Cider and Perry.
And that's all down to two lovely people. Dick Withecombe and Cath Potter. And a completely chance meeting with them at Torrside last December.
My Cider experiences had been based around cheap “scrumpy” in the 80s. Waking up (as a teenager) after 4 pints, with a record jumping for Christ KNOWS how many hours.
It was a pathway to oblivion. And inexpensive.
What Dick & Cath have taught me - if anything - is that it is time to #RethinkCider.
Just GO to The Yew Tree at Peterstow. You won't regret a moment.
These two enthusiasts started to drip honeyed words in my ear. In such circumstances, the words of Joan Armatrading (above) come into play.
They talked of (in my words) reimagining the Cider bar at ISBF. They talked of events, possibilities. Stars of this brave new world, coming to Hemsley House. I was a little gobsmacked.
To us? Really? But - and if you know me, you can imagine - they had my complete and undivided attention!
So. I told them. (And it's a repeated phrase), if you can do this, I’m ALL over it.
So they did. And I am. WE are.
So. On the Thursday evening, at this “little” humble do in Salford, we have one of the leading lights of Modern small-batch Cider and Perry coming to talk. Susanna Forbes, drinks writer, author and owner of little Pomona. With a bunch of enthusiasts. And the lovely Jim Rangeley of the exceptional Abbeydale Funk Dungeon & Matt Billing of Ascension Cider.
There'll be tastings, talk about where Cider and Beer meet. All sorts of stuff.
That ticketed audience are privileged. And I'm one of them.
Do you REALLY think I'd miss this?
To start the Presentation, there will be samples of Polytheism. The very special blend especially created by US, with the lovely Ross Cider, for #ISBF6 (Cue my drooling - Ed)
Abbeydale Brewery - Laid to Rest – BA Apple Saison 6.5%
In collaboration with Fyne Ales Origins Project, with oak aged mixed fermentation pale brewed with malted barley grown locally to Fyne in west Scotland. Conditioned on dried apples for two months in freshly emptied Speyside whisky butts for a rounded yet tart beer full of orchard notes, with a pleasing wood character and a dry finish.
Austria – Blakstoc Cider - Wild Tree Hoppy Cider - 4.5%
Orchard apples from the Styrian hills, fermented with English Ale yeast. Then they added a generous twist of American West Coast Chinook and Centennial hops.
Top notes of bright citrus and tropical fruits are followed by a refreshing full taste and well balanced bitterness.tannins.
Burning Sky / Ascension Cider - Cider Apple Saison 6.7%
Working with Matt, Burning Sky selected milled Dabinett and Harry Masters Jersey apple varieties to age their Saison Provision on. Farmhouse funk with apple and grapefruit acidity, this blurs the boundaries between mixed fermentation beer and low intervention cider.
Combined Harvest – Brick Brewery / Hawkes Cider Collab Graff
This is a Graff of 50% soft and silky Braeburn juice, pressed fresh at Hawkes’ Bermondsey-based Cidery, blended together with Brick’s beautifully pale Brut wort while both makers’ wildly different yeast imprint their individual personalities in fermentation.
This Graff starts with a bouquet of apple aroma, but sips like a smooth pale ale. It flirts with funk as the brut base drys out your mouth and the signature sharpness of a cider kicks back in. Some people say it tastes like cider, some people say it tastes like beer, and that’s exactly the reaction we want.
Mills Brewing / Tom Oliver Cider - Lambinett – Lambic Dabinett 8.2%
Lambinett was made by co-fermenting a strong red wort with bittersweet Dabinett juice and cider lees in old oak whisky casks for 15 months. I have a case in my stock, and I think Jim also has a case?
The single best drink I've had this year.
I'm not somebody's hype man. Anyone who knows me knows that what I say is my truth. My belief. A belief that I hold both fiercely and dear. I won't lie. I won't “polish a turd”. I don't believe in wasting words like that. Life is too short for such BS.
But - I kid you not - that bottle above is the single best thing that I've drunk this year.
THAT is a Cider created and fermented 8 years ago. In an Ardbeg whisky cask. By Ross Cider. And it simply messed with my preconceptions of what Cider is. Dry, tannic, fruity, a light smoke and with just THE finest carbonation.
I thank Mike Johnson HUGELY for letting me taste this. Myself & the Arch Nemesis counted ourselves very fortunate.
I'm not THAT self-deprecating that I won't say that I know what good beer looks like.
But this cider list has got that little shrivelled chest muscle ticking just a little quicker.
If you enjoy the tart side of beer, take a walk on the wild (fermented) side. You won't regret that decision.
So what’s is on the Cider Bar?
Well we handed the bar over the people behind #RethinkCider – so it’s a completely modern expression of some of the best ciders you can get your hands on.
There are cider influenced beers - hopped Ciders – and cutting edge wild ferment Natural Ciders – a lot of Single Varieties – some ground breaking keg conditioned ciders - ….and centre stage is a special blend…. a blend of more than ten apple varieties…. an #ISBF6 blend by Jim, Jaz and the team at Ross Cider … made with love and with a commitment to raising funds for charity – the more you buy and drink, the more will be donated to our chosen charity this year
Cider List
Draught
#ISBF6 Charity Blend – Polytheism 7.8% Dry In life there are many godly things, cider is just one of them. To make great cider you need great apples, this uses many of them.
A handcrafted collaborative blend of five different barrels, utilising over 12 varieties: Harry Masters Jersey (25%), oak cask Kingston Black (20%), oak cask Tremletts Bitter (10%), oak cask Sweet Coppin (10%), Mixed Sharps (15%), Mixed Old Orchard Apples (20%).
Complex, pure wild fermented juice madness. Oak cask fermentations, expressions of varieties, melded together by #ISBF Jim and Jaz's cunning tongues and Ross Cider excitement. Cider without compromise.
Little Pomona – Root and Branch 8.4% Keg Conditioned Dry
A blend of bittersweets and Foxwhelp bittersharp, Root & Branch is a wild fermented, part bourbon barrel keg conditioned cider. Big, bold and beautiful.
Ross On Wye Cider - Dabinett SV 7.8% Keg Conditioned Dry
New keg conditioned single variety Dabinett from Ross Cider. Natural Wild Ferment Cider - no sugar – unpasteurised. Pure full juice Dabinett which means spicy vanilla fruit.
Nightingale Cider – Nightbird 4.9% Medium
Nightbird is made from Dessert Apples and is light and fruity cider.
Fermented with Wild Yeast it offers character and complexity in just the right way to keep things interested but not to be challenging.
On other bars:
Mills Brewing /Tom Oliver - Saison Cider Cask 7%
A bitter wort; using barley, oat, and rye malts like traditional saison brewing; was fermented for 11 months in large oak cider casks from Tom Oliver Cider. These were blended and dry hopped with Motueka and Celeia.
Dollar Bill, Australia - Cider Barrel Aged Baltic Porter
Bottles / Cans
Mills Brewing / Tom Oliver Cider - Foxbic 2 6.6%
Foxwhelp Lambic - Foxbic 2 was made using the turbid mash method in the style of traditional lambic producers. The wort was fermented with bittersharp Foxwhelp juice and cider lees in old oak barrels for 16 mths.
Mills Brewing / Tom Oliver Cider - Lambinett 8.2%
Lambic Dabinett - Lambinett was made by co-fermenting a strong red wort with bittersweet Dabinett juice and cider lees in old oak whisky casks for 15 mths.
Burning Sky / Ascension Cider - Cider Apple Saison 6.7%
Working with Matt Billing of Ascension Cider, Burning Sky selected milled Dabinett and Harry Masters Jersey apple varieties to age their Saison Provision on.
Franklin Brewing / Ascension Cider - Glow Up Berlinergraff 5.0%
A traditionally brewed berliner weisse with apple juice and cinnamon added to the boil and FV to create a sour beer with a comforting Autumnal feeling.
Abbeydale Brewery - Laid to Rest – BA Apple Saison 6.5%
Oak aged mixed fermentation pale brewed with malted barley. Conditioned on dried apples for two months in freshly emptied Speyside whisky butts for a rounded yet tart beer full of orchard notes, with a pleasing wood character and a dry finish.
Combined Harvest – Brick Brewery / Hawkes Cider Collab Graff
This is a Graff. 50% Braeburn juice, pressed fresh at Hawkes’ Bermondsey-based Cidery, blended together with Brick’s pale Brut wort while both makers’ wildly different yeast imprint their individual personalities in fermentation.
INTERNATIONAL BOTTLED CIDER
Austria – Blakstoc Cider
Wild Tree Hoppy Cider - 4.5%
Apples from the Styrian hills, fermented with English Ale yeast. Then they added a generous twist of American West Coast Chinook and Centennial hops for flavours of bright citrus and tropical fruits with a refreshing full taste and well balanced bitterness.
Lazy Day Cucumber Cider – 4.5%
This hopped cider is infused with blossoms of elder, fermented cucumber juice and a twist of Lemon Drop hops; which adds notes of green tea, citrus, mint and melon.
Quincy Cassis and Hops Cider – 4.5%
Hopped cider with black currant/cassis with a dash of fresh quince.
Ireland – Longueville House
Dabinett and Michelin - 5.5%
A medium-dry cider
Mór - the Gaelic word for ‘Big’ - 8%
The Cider is fermented and aged for 1 year in Apple Brandy casks. Big taste and depth, well rounded and balanced - a unique cider.
Ross on Wye Cider & Perry - BOTTLED CIDER AND PERRY
Elite Range of ciders from the winners of the BBC Food and Farming, Drinks Producer 2019 Award
Raison D’Etre – Browns and Brown Snout – Two Belly Blend – Harry Masters Jersey – Dabinett blend Pet Nat – Gin and Blakeney Red Perry – Flakey Bark Perry – Blakeney, Bartestree and Barland Perry
Make your own blend! Mix bittersweet with bittersharp:
Bittersweet – Harry Masters Jersey SV – 5.5% - Dry
A bittersweet apple which makes a crisp, fine cider with soft astringent tannins.
Bittersharp - Reinette d’Obry SV – 6.5% - Dry
A mild sharp apple. Light, juicy, fruity, acid driven and less 1.
The Cider bar, this year, is a perfect foil for those beers tending to tart, the Goses, Saisons, Sours, Mixed Fermentations. Come and have a try. Chat to our friends behind the bar. You might just learn something.
And fall for the real juice. Like I have.
Back soon. Be kind to one another.
Jim x